Other Final Projects

I have had the opportunity to review a few classmate's final projects and everyone has done a great job! Marty has posted her Wiki on her blog. This Wiki is a great tool for her to use as an educator and appears to be a great way for her and her coworkers to collaborate! Elisia has created a wonderful website for her church which inlcudes pictures, members, mission and many other great tools for their congregation! She has posted the link on her blog as well for anyone to learn more about the Living Truth Church. Nicki created a wiki and posted the link on her blog as well. Her wiki is for her Black Tie Society group to collaborate on charity work, events, members etc. This should be really great to help them all reduce emails and stay on top of tasks for the group! I think that everyone is class put together some great projects using the technology we learned this semester. Nice Job!

Final Project

Well as basic as it is...I have my final project done. There is a lot that I want to add to it (and I will), but I need to get the link out there and available for all of you to use. I have created a website through freewebs.com (thanks Elisia) that covers the technology we have used throughout this course. All of you have played a role in what has been added to this site as well as what is yet to be added. All of your hard work and great ideas that have been posted on your blogs should eventually make their way to this site. Please let me know what you think and feel free to post in the forum on the site or here on my blog to let me know what you feel should be added. It has been great working with you all and I look forward to collaborating again sometime! http://technologybasic.webs.com/

Overview:

Lauren-
ALOP 298
Final ProjectTechnology Website Overview
http://technologybasic.webs.com/

With Elisia’s wonderful idea of using freewebs.com as a free website tool, I organized the main ideas from our class this semester into a website. I created different pages for a new user of technology to get the basics on some of the fascinating tools we have recently learned about. I included information and definitions of blogs, wikis, social networking, online communication, second life, etc. I wanted this site to be a general overview of what I have learned during this class as well as a tool for any technological beginner looking for some new information. I created a forum for anyone to add what they think as well as links to all of our blogs. I did have some technical difficulties and some of the page titles will just not publish accurately, but I will continue to work on that. As I continue to add to this site, I hope to incorporate links and information from the blogs of other students as well for a more well rounded website. Lauren

Dangers of Technology?

Nicki was speaking about the ill effects of technology on her blog. She mentioned how our youth are getting themselves into bad situations through the use of technology and inappropriate pictures circulating through email or lost phones. We all have been aware of online predators for awhile now (thanks Dateline), but lately there have been issues with teens and young adults having inappropriate pictures and information loose on the web or email. Oprah has done shows on how some young adults have been disgraced, lost job opportunities, etc. because of their pictures and statements on Myspace/Facebook type social networking. We have also heard in the news about the mother who teased and bullied a friend of her child over the internet to the point of suicide and now a similar situation has occurred. The Early Show this morning shared the story about the 19 year old boy committing suicide in his bedroom with the Web Cam on. This young man who had been diagnosed with Bi-Polar Disorder took pills and died as onlookers thought his actions were a joke or something for the benefit of the internet site. Some of them even posted comments on his website to that effect and called him names. It is such a shame that things like this are happening at all, let alone in full view of the world. I believe this is another technological aspect that will require adjusting to. We need to educate our youth on the dangers of not only online predators and posting PII (Personally Identifying Information) , but what they post/upload as far as pictures, accounts of partying, etc. because they could hurt their future careers or reputations if something goes wrong. We also need to teach all people to be 'better safe than sorry' and if they see something online (such as a suicide) please alert the authorities and let them decide if it is a prank or not. There are downfalls to every new advancement, even technology. News articles are stating not to blame the internet which is fine, but how can we use the internet to prevent some of these things? This young man may not have died if someone had noticed and spoken up. Not only did he have people near him, but he was there online for the whole world to have a chance to save him....it did not happen. Only the disease is to blame but this situation had the opportunity of ending differently.

Google's version of Skype

Well it appears that there is a Skype style program available through Google's gmail. Check it out here! I am really wanting to do something like this with my family, some of whom are 8 hours away and some are just 1 hour away (still we only see each other every few weeks). It looks like the cost can be less than $50 to get the audio headset and webcam for each home (see http://www.amazon.com/ or click here). It is great that the programs (gmail or Skype) are free and easily accessable. I also wanted to add that I have been accessing some of my blogs, not only through google reader but also on my personalized igoogle page as well (just add the reader as a gadget).

Audio File

Today we have learned a lot about audio files and I have added my first audio file in this post as well as over to the left in 'LINKS' the navigation bar.  Please listen and enjoy! I have also added the direct audio clip here:  

Nov. 7th Class

In class tonight we learned about Skype. I think we all had some fun with this.  Here is the Skype website  to download it at home.  This evening was very informative.   I enjoyed tonight a lot and the technology was fascinating.  I think we collaborated very well this evening as well.  **I have also fallen in love with Google all over again.  That document 'cloud' is great!

Power Positions

I know that both parties of this election have their stories and there are always some people (dingbats) that ruin it for others, but my concern with this video is not just the political view, but the 'power' this teacher used over her students.  It is my belief that teachers, managers, etc in 'power positions' over others should not push their views onto their subordinates-Especially in elementary schools!  This reminds me of the teacher in CA that took her first grade class to the courthouse to witness her marriage to her girlfriend for a class trip. 

Social Bookmarking

This Common Craft video we just listened to in class tonight is very interesting.  This Social Bookmarking video has shown me another new technology tool I did not know about that will save a lot of time when searching different websites of interest.  I know this will save me time, but how will it aid the rest of you either in your job or with groups you share an interest with? Try out Social Bookmarking .  Delicious!

Top 10 Blogs...

I was looking around for other blogs to follow and found this Top 10 list at blogs.com. It has everything from children's literature to politics or even knitting.

Election Draws Near....

I was posting on another blog in reply to other student's in class and I really liked what I had to say. Wow! That was really conceited of me.. What I mean to say is that my idea about being neither right wing conservative, nor far left liberal was expressed well. My thoughts were... " I think that our political system is a joke (although I would have no idea how to improve it). Our campaigns cost so much and each party understands the psychology of our society and they all just say what will get them elected. We citizens really have no idea exactly how things work in DC and what decisions will be made. Again, who's to say the president will even make much of a difference on any issue. I am also in the middle on many issues and I believe that I have a right to clearly state what I feel about the issues, even if I am not a right wing conservative or left liberal. We, in the middle, are just not afraid of admitting that we have no idea what the best decision would be for our whole country. Being severely left or right is the same thing that is wrong with 'religion'. They think that their's is THE ONLY WAY to be. Sorry, but this world is too big to have 1 religion or 1 political party be THE ANSWER." (please note: I think religion and political parties do allows us an established basis for direction-thought/laws/morals and that is good-I am ranting about the extremes and close minded aspects) That rant, I thought, deserved a space on my blog and so there it is. Please share with me how you feel as this election date arrives in just a few days.

Political Sexism?!

What is wrong with our citizen's and our media that they need to bash our presidential and VP candidates? Why are we so cautious of the racial issue in this campaign, yet still so blatently degrading and making fun of our female vp candidate? Is sexism still that common? I clearly understand the psychology of gender and our roles, but this should not come into play so much in a presedential election. I do not agree with Obama and his campaign, but I cannot say that I have ever ridiculed him for anything and I have not torn apart aspects of his life that essentially have nothing to do with his campaign. People have been discussing Palin's wardrobe costs (please read the article) in a effort to further the liberal gain in the polls and focus on soemthing that is not only irrelevant, but incorrect. I am not blogging here about my political views and I have an open mind and respect (most) other people's views. I am just here stating that I am sick of the aesthetic emphasis we put on our women in politics and the other issues that we bring up to push them down. 'We the people' need to focus on the issues and exactly where each candidate will take this country. Please vote on the issues and stop worrying about what our intellgent capable women are wearing.

Sit. Lead Pic

Though this has been updated to R1, R2, R3, R4 instead of D1, 2, 3, 4 this picture is a pretty good example of the Situational Leadership Model developed by Paul Blanchard and Ken Hersey. (Picture found at http://www.kenblanchard.com/img/pub/SSL_model2.jpg)

Sit.Lead.Pic2

Situational Leadership Model by Ken hersey and Paul Blanchard (pictures taken from http://leadershipchamps.wordpress.com/2008/02/27/what-is-situational-leadership-means/)

Leadership

Sara was blogging about employee motivation and commitment and it reminded me of the Transformational Leadership class I took this summer. We discussed Situational Leadership and the model developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard. I posted the Wikipedia descriptions of this model on her blog and wanted to talk more about it here. I do not work in training currently so I have felt a bit 'out of the loop' regarding some of the blogs posted by other students in class. As I though about this leadership class (also in the ALOP program at Drake) I decided it would be a great thing to share with the rest of you and anyone else reading my Blog. The model encompasses a lot of leader/employee areas, but I found the 'Leader Behaviors' (S1, S2, S3, S4) and 'Follower Readiness' (R1, R2, R3, R4) the most interesting and useful. Essentially the Leader Behavior model of Situational Leadership outlines how the leader/manager's behavior should adapt to the level of readiness their employee exhibits. For example, a leader should use S1 (Telling) behavior and use high task/low relationship behavior with a new employee who is possibly at an R1 level of readiness which means they are unable to do the task and possible insecure as well. An employee that is categorized as an R4 and is willing and confident in their job/task can be lead by using a Delegating S4 style of leadership which is lower task focused and lower relationship as well. I hope I have explained this clearly and I will add more links to help if needed. i look forward to reading what some of you 'trainers' and leaders think about this.

Election 2008

I am more involved with the political process this year than any other voting year. I think this is true for much of our population (at least I hope so with such turmoil in our country). I follow Glenn Beck on CNN and I find him one of the most logical people in the media especially on politics. I can't say when I have disagreed with his thought process. His show is very interesting and I am following the Glenn Beck BLOG as well. Please check it out and the Glenn Beck website as well!

Thoughts on the text...

I wanted to blog about what I had shared in class regarding the conflict that I have with the idea of 'prosumers' in chapter 5. I really believe that it is a benefit to our society that 'we the people' have more opportunity to innovate, collaborate, customize and have a hand in the media through current technology. I think that the 'i-reports' and YouTube type of citizen controlled media are great ways for people to be more involved with the world outside of their own community. I think that the use of this new technology has been able to inspire the younger generation to be more involved with things such as politics and current affairs than previous years. I am conflicted, as I said, in that I am hesitant about the wikipedia or even Blog type of collaboration where any 'joe six-pack' (lol Had to quote Palin once) can sumbit information without any type of scientific basis. I am a person who needs to know that the information I have is backed by research or correct information. I have be in academia for so long that I appreciate solid research and I am leary of information put on a global platform that could be completely outlandish and faulty. I think there is a need for people to be educated on what to believe when using tools like wikipedia online just as we had to adjust to the same for radio and television. Although I wasn't alive, I do know about the mass hysteria that began to erupt from a certain radio broadcast regarding alien invasion. I think that people now are much more aware but we should be informed about these platforms and the possible inaccuracies within. While the flexibility of this new technology is liberating, I am cautious.

First Experience with Podcasts!

I am going to start looking up and watching podcasts this week and decided to read up on them through Wikipedia. I found great definitions and explanations of podcasts and thought I would share with the rest of you!

Mental Health Blog

I found this blog directory that gives people suffering from mental health problems the chance to post and share their stories. Sharing and talking with others has therapeutic benefits and I find this site especially interesting since I have my education in Psychology and Counseling and plan a career in the field. Please check out this site http://mentalhealthdirectory.blogspot.com/ and learn more about mental issues and how we can all be more aware. Please also make use of the blogs and connections if you yourself would like to share a personal story.

Weekend One

I learned so much over the weekend! I have not really been focused on the technology available to me and this was enlightening. I am looking forward to blogging, social networking and discovering how I feel about Wiki websites. I feel the most comfortable with blogging and am still hesitant about Wiki, but I will be reading and researching more about it online. It was great to meet everyone and I look forward to setting up my social networking site with my group!!

SAMPLE-HTML

I am a student at Drake University.

Get it blogged already..

Well, I hate to be such a slacker so I am going to finally post something in here to get started.  More substance to come soon.....I am excited to get started on this...Some more school work to do at work online!!