Wikipedia and Spreadsheets in Classroom Instruction

After reading the NPR articles i have concluded that Wikipedia is obviously not a good resource for information because it is not reliable anymore. It lacks an encyclopedia reputation according to the accusations made by the "Wired" program. The technology grad student found a data service that can detect the changes the parties on Wikipedia make to their own information. In a way this is good because we are able to see how certain business and the government portray themselves as opposed to the correct information given by Wikipedia about them. Any program that has some way for anyone to hack in and change information is not a reliable source for research. The data service invented is helpful in detecting the truth, but we should not have to also check that site every time we go to Wikipedia. These are important groups and information we are talking about too including, congress, Diebold voting machines, and popular industries like Walmart that supply most of the country with jobs.
Spreadsheets can be used for many things in the classroom to help teachers teach children certain subjects and for the children to have an easier way to learn and see how things work this way. The most common way to use spreadsheets is in mathematics. The sheets can be used to produce a bar graph, line graph, scatter plot, or chart teaching information in a more visual way for students to learn. The access of a spreadsheet is easy to use so students can pick it up themselves and calculate problems easier. For example, students can enter data into cells, that data is organized then to where they can enter functions to calculate it for a sum, mean, or product of anything etc. Having the information organized into the cells makes it easier for a student to see how the function or formula, what have you, is completed because it is like a step by step process.
For lower grades, graph spreadsheets would work well in class taking surveys or using for comparisons of data or statistics being studied. A grade book spreadsheet is probably the second most common use for a teacher. This would be easy to enter grades names and separate one class from another for your records. You could also average the grades easier this way because they would be in columns and organized. Spreadsheets for older children can incorporate higher thinking skills in some lessons since the children are comparing, organizing and eventually arriving at a conclusion. According to this website, http://www.ceap.wcu.edu/houghton/EDELCompEduc/Themes/Spreadsheets/spreadsheets.html
"the use and creation of spreadsheets is required by some states in the Computer Literacy competencies for all preservice and inservice teachers and their faculty."

iTunes University

iTunes University is a learning tool now used to help students and teachers use technology to further the time and place where information is learned and also to personalize it right into the hands of the students. It is a program that was first used to download music from computers to ipod or iphones, and can now download videos, music, or information relative to school curriculum. The information is available to colleges and universities all over the country and is accessible twenty-four hours a day. Students get excited about using technology like this alot more than sitting in a classroom listening to someone talk. It also makes it easier for the professor to make the information clearer and more easy to understand for their students. A student has no excuse to complain about school with a learning tool like this. The pictures and videos made available right in their hand for them to see clearly and access whenever they want is a privilege and is fun for young adults.
Most students spend more time on these devices than watching TV or listening to the radio anyway. The iTunes go hand in hand now with business and pleasure for them. This also makes it possible for anyone to access information to see and learn first hand if they wish.http://www.apple.com/education/itunesu_mobilelearning/itunesu.html Western Carolina University uses iTunes to give students updates on school announcements, lectures, upcoming events, seminars, and class materials they may use to complete their courses. It is also mentioned, that there must be iTunes software present to use this method. Any University with this software has unlimited resources, such as their mention of pod casts. The site includes instructions on how to set up a podcast for a professor's class and the equipment they would need to do so. Teachers can also set up lesson plans with iTunes to use on their personal iPods.http://itunes.wcu.edu/

iPods used in instruction

These days many univeristies are using iPods to help teach and get information across to students faster and more efficiently. Duke University is well known for using them in the classroom, and I also found that Indiana University uses them as well. Duke gave out over 1600 iPods to new students last year with orientation material on them. In this way, while they instruct the students gave have the information in the form of digital media right in their hands. The teachers can incorporate videos, internet links, and text guides in their daily class lessons. This year Duke will only use iPods in certain classrooms and for teachers who request them. The distribution is controlled by the universitie's Center for Instructional Technology they track the use of the iPods through enrollment of classes. When a student is given one they own it and they keep it for use in the future as well.
Indiana Univeristy is just now using the technology as it was not a new idea for Duke. On their website Indiana Univeristy has a notice of a workshop relating to how the professors would be able to use the iPods in the classroom. The notice talks about the use of software for the iPods so the instructor to create educational content to play for the students such as virtual tours of museums, text related films, or portable study quizzes. http://teaching.iub.edu/event_full.php?coursesid=2192