My Final Thoughts of EDM 310

First of all, I was a little worried about taking this class because I heard from previous students that it was boring and there was a lot of busy work. I thought how could there be a lot of busy work in a computer class? I was also told to take either Mr. Tashbin or Dr. Strange. I was told that Mr. Tashbin was the best and that it would be well worth taking his class. So, I changed my schedule around five times so that I could take Mr. Tashbin and I am glad I did. I have learned so many things this semester. This class has given me ideas beyond measures that I can use in my classroom. I honestly do not have anything bad to say about it because Mr. Tashbin made it interesting with all the articles about Google and technology. I enjoyed the video by Dr. Randy Pausch. I feel that was the highlight of the class. It was very inspirational and it made me think of all my goals in life. The thing that made this class so interesting was because it was up-to-date. It was about things that were going on now. I think things would have been different if we were always on the computer and interacting with one another. I felt the Podcast really opened my eyes on how group projects do not turn out the way they should. This is the only thing I would say that bothered me the whole semester. I was worried as to what I would do my podcast on or how my group members would work. When we were put into our groups and it was time for the podcast to be due, I felt that my group members did not give there all. However, I felt bored after listening to it. So, for future podcasting I feel there should be an option of working alone, adding music, or sound effects. Overall, I am glad that I was introduced to podcasting because I will definitely use it in my classroom. I also enjoyed blogging and reading other students' blog. I will also use this in my classroom even if there is no computers available, I will figure out a way to incorporate blogging into the classroom. I feel that it is a great way to get students involved and not always writing things on paper.

I really enjoyed this class. I wish there were more like this and I appreciate Mr. Tashbin for being the teacher that he is. I feel he always came to class with high spirits and that is great motivation for soon to be teachers. So thank you Mr. Tashbin and also to Dr. Strange because this class would not have possible if it was not for you.

Glut of Google Can Give You a Virtual Fever

I found this article to be true in so many ways. I agree on a lot of levels. Eric Horvitz states that "People have come to look at search engines as question-answering systems." I know in a heart beat if I don't know something I will go to google.com and type in a question or a phrase and see what I can find out. I do that with about anything. Needless to say I have done it with essay questions just to see how much information I can get off of typing in that question. Yes, it is bad that we depend on the Internet or search engines to give us accurate information. I felt like this article was discussing me. The reason I say that is because I have typed in certain symptoms and all kind of things came up and I honestly went into panic mode. Especially when the Swine Flu came about, all I could think about was I had it and it was because the same symptoms were staring me in the face. The more I read the more I became scared and not wanting to be around anybody. I was more dependent on what the search engines were telling me I did not want to go to the doctor. Overall, I feel that we do have to be careful what we believe and how we believe. If we keep going about it the way we are there will be no need for doctors or anything else. We may even have to start paying for the information that we receive.