Website Apps!

So I must admit that creating a website is not my forte even though they say it's easier to do as a part of Google. I haven't done very much yet with my site, but I was able to successfully choose a layout and pick colors that I thought would be attractive and professional.  I was able to add some applications that I feel are fun but also useful to physical education and sports. One has updates for the local weather. I can use this to see what activities are appropriate for my classes. If it's too hot and humid I can take that into consideration and make the changes that are necessary. Maybe this small app would make my site more useful to students or parents. I also added the app for daily sports updates. It really has no educational purpose but because it is sport related I chose to add it because it is fun. Not everthing has to be academic in nature. If this was a cool way for kids to think about sports and fitness then it would be well worth the small space it takes up on my site. Beyond choosing my layout and these simple things I have not done much else.

Copyright Laws: Helpful or Harmful?

After our discussion in class about copyright laws I felt like I had really learned a lot about what a copyright really is. I didn't know that copyrights were so all encompassing. As soon as some thing is created it automatically is copyrighted by its owner, unless it is released into the public domain. I enjoyed the part about how almost anything can be used for educational purposes if done correctly. That could be a huge benefit to my classes. I think it is very important to understand copyright laws because you don't ever want to get into trouble and cost yourself money or compromise your work.
I think copyright laws are helpful. They protect the work of the author and allow them to publish it and make money off of it if possible. After all they are the ones that went through all the effort to create or invent the new thing. I would want my things to be protected so everyone didn't just steal them. Copyrights do make getting things sometimes more difficult.  But I think copyrights help keep order. When a person does want to share what they created they can do so easily by putting it in the public domain. Sometimes this can help you get your name out, or promote the sale of your product. So overall, I think copyright laws are more helpful than they will ever be harmful.

What new software is cool?

            When I first think of P.E. classes, technology is not the first thing I think of, but in an every changing world technology is becoming a bigger, and bigger part of everything. The prospects for using technology within my future P.E. classes is awesome.
           When we went over some of the programs that google can do in class I was very suprised. I know google is taking over the world and all, but wow, that's some pretty incredible stuff. If I want my students to collaborate and prepare for a test together, they can do that in google documents. Each student can view and edit the project from their personal computer, wherever they are. I can organize my classes with a calander attached to my gmail account. The cool part about that is that I can sync that data to my Iphone or Droid, then set alerts so that I never miss a meeting.
           Diigo.com is also a sweet tool because I can store and highlight information from websites without having to worry about the data getting lost. More than once I have found something that I want to remember and keep, but when I go back to that site address a few months later the link has changed or the article no longer is there. With Diigo you don't have to worry about that. I could save articles important to my teaching and have them on file to use at any time. If I ask my students to read a website online, the highlighting tool might help them remember what is important. With better retention comes more usuable knowledge.
The part that really excites me is the potential to use technology to actually perform P.E. activities. The ability to track progress, and make sure kids are working to there full potential is really cool. Things like the Wii and other cycling machines are really interesting to kids. After all P.E. is supposed to be fun. That's why technology is so important.

My Experience with Technology

As I grew up technology seemed to evolve so quickly. I remember playing on apple computers in kindergarten, recording my favorite songs from the radio on tape, and watching VHS tapes. I was the first one in my family to get an email address. I remember which class it was for, 7th grade science. It was a memorable day. As I went into high school, computers and technology became even more interesting to me. I joined a class of about six students that helped maintain the network and computer facilities at my school. It was pretty basic, we would gather recycled computer parts, combining the best ones. We did this because our school couldn't afford to buy computers. We also did some software installations and upgrades. As I returned home from my mission I was shocked at how much computers had changed since I graduated high school. We were trying to build computers with at least 512 mb of sdram and a pentium 3 processor. Now computers come with nearly four gb of ddr2 ram and ridiculous processors. As I enter my teaching career it is obvious I will have to continue taking computer courses in order to stay up to date. That will be fun. I am excited at the potential there is to integrate technology into physical education and the other classes I might teach.