Reflections Chapter 4

The virtual reality technology is not yet perfect and still too expensive for the common person. The use of high-end VR is mainly restricted to larger companies, and to special areas such as medical surgery and pilot training. Home users are limited to desktop virtual reality programs, which lets them navigate in three-dimensional worlds, but seldom gives the feeling of actually being there. Human beings are social creatures that like to communicate. Because computers make networks, VR seems a natural candidate for a new communications medium (Heim, Michael 1993). Just as the Internet has become our times biggest communication network, virtual reality could have a great impact on how we share information. Imagine a meeting with people from all parts of the world in a virtual room, or playing cricket with people from Pakistan. There is quite a debate on whether or not virtual reality has positively effected education. Some proponents of virtual reality in the school argue the fact that virtual reality has a vast supply of resources as well as the fact that virtual reality will dominate society and will continue to do so. Opponents of virtual reality in education take the position of experiencing things actually and not just on a computer screen, a reality versus virtual reality argument. In addition to this, there is the aspect of time involved with using a computer as opposed to interaction with actual living things. Computers provide for a vast world of resources, which is very helpful in education. Teachers can go onto the Internet to find added information on a topic and find useful fun activities for lessons. Virtual reality will help students to explore information and do research for projects and assignments as well. The danger behind this is the fact that students can also find other means of virtual reality on the computer done by adults and use them as their own works without the teacher knowing. This is not only deceitful, but the students learn absolutely nothing. It seems like the virtual reality technology is inevitable. People initially use technology to do what they do now-but faster. Then they gradually begin to use technology to do new things. The new things change life-styles and work styles for everyday users. The new life-styles and work-styles change society and eventually technology.

Reflections on Chapter 3

Viruses are a global threat to everyone who has their computer connected to the World Wide Web. A computer virus is a computer program that is designed to replicate itself by copying itself into the other programs stored in a computer. It may be benevolent or have a negative effect, such as causing a program to operate incorrectly or corrupting a computer's memory. People create viruses. A computer virus is the same as a viral infection in humans. Of course, most virus creators seem to fail to notice the point that they cause real damage to real people with their creations. Destroying everything on a person's hard disk is real damage. Forcing the people inside a large company to waste thousands of hours cleaning up after a virus is real damage. Even a silly message is real damage because a person then has to waste time getting rid of it. For this reason, the legal system is getting much harsher in punishing the people who create viruses. Computer viruses can be caught very easily and spreads it to other computers without you knowing. One important trick was the ability to load viruses into memory so they could keep running in the background as long as the computer remained on. People have the tendency to write the codes, and test it to make sure it spreads properly and then release the virus into a realm of the unknown. Viruses are a problem because they can make your computer run slower, corrupt files and stop them from working. In extreme cases they can also stop your computer from working. Computer viruses tend to grab our attention. On the one hand, viruses show us how vulnerable we are. A properly engineered virus can have an amazing effect on the worldwide Internet. On the other hand, they show how sophisticated and interconnected human beings have become. You can protect yourself against viruses with a few simple steps. The traditional way is supposed to combat e-mail viruses also but, you should be running a more secure operating program similar to UNIX and McAfee to name a couple. You never hear about viruses on these operating programs because the security features keep viruses and unwanted human visitors away from your hard disk. Be very wary of any email attachments you receive. If you do not know who it is from, delete the message. Otherwise first save the attachment to disk before opening it. As virus creators get more sophisticated, they learn new tricks. The most important rule is never open messages from unknown sources and update personal virus operating programs regularly.

Reflections on Chapter 2

Education Technologies play a grave role in the way students will continue to learn in the future. The knowledge and skills necessary to make informed and reasonable decisions and other consequences should be treated as technological advances. Technology is not simply computers; it is learning to learn technology. Libraries have long served crucial roles in learning. The first great library, nearly 2,000 years ago, was really the first university. It consisted of a zoo and various cultural artifacts in addition to much of the ancient world's written knowledge and attracted scholars from around the Mediterranean, who lived and worked in a scholarly community for years at a time. The libraries we are members of today do not play the role of the university, but ever university has a library. Libraries have adapted over time and have become a teaching and learning tool for educators to encompass all students. Teachers must understand technology and embrace student’s success that will allow new concepts in many shapes, sizes, and temperaments. Student’s quality arises from their individual learning experience, the beliefs they have about teaching and learning, how they conceptualize their work, and the ways in which they interact with technology. Teacher’s personal beliefs and values provide the unconscious foundation for their behavior. The metaphors they use to describe their work shape the world in which they and their students operate. Because teachers' mental models of reality are highly individualistic, no two classrooms are, or can be, the same. Therefore, Technology Education is shaped and molded by educators. Real knowledge is acquired by learning what interests you, through reading, investigation, practice, or any other desirable method. To become intelligent, you must engage in activity with the idea that is you learning because you want to, because knowledge is a goal. Technology influences change, change that is power, power that has the ability to influence change.
Innovative and commendable features of the technology include but are not limited to presenting scenes, screen images, and programs from contemporary school settings. This enables teachers and students alike to visual an artifact that emphasizes data information. The teacher is allowed to have focus groups that appear throughout the learning process. Emerging technological advances that are available, but not widely distributed continue to advance the learning assessment including a large number of application ideas for students of different ages and levels of maturity and abilities. Education Technologies with several innovative and proven ideas for learners will continue to play sufficient roles in teaching and learning.

Reflections on Chapter 1

Education is to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to make informed and reasonable decisions. Any other consequences should be treated as merely incidental. Education is not simply learning things; it is learning to learn things.
Teachers come in many shapes, sizes, and temperaments. Their quality arises from their individual personality and thinking, the beliefs they have about teaching and learning, how they conceptualize their work, and the ways in which they interact with students. Their personal beliefs and values provide the unconscious foundation for their behavior. The metaphors they use to describe their work shape the world in which they and their students operate. Because teachers' mental models of reality are highly individualistic, no two classrooms are, or can be, the same. Therefore, education is shape and molded by educators.
Real knowledge is acquired by learning what interests you, through reading, investigation, practice, or any other desirable method. To become intelligent, you must engage in activity with the idea that is you learning because you want to, because knowledge is a goal. The path to conformity varies greatly from this. Education is power, power that has the ability to influence change…

Self Intro

I am Leonardo English from Alabama. My interest is music which date back to my years in high school, where I excelled in Band, and Music Arts. I am currently serving in the Army where I soon will be commissioned as an Army Officer. I have taken a science class online in the Spring of 2004. My skills with computers are limited but I’m a fast learner. The software I am most familiar with is Micro Soft Office. It seems that in this day of age communication is all around, but I am only comfortable with using email because you can receive feedback on a question without an instrumental amount of effort. I have not used listerv or a discussion board. Blogs, video, and podcast are all technology tools I have heard of but never used. They sound encouraging for everyone to excel in if attempted. I expect to experience a great opportunity to expose the full range of technology all of which tended to reinforce and solidify my intense interest in learning new perspective on the world in which we live.

Hope you all have a great time.

Leonardo