Additional Skype Instructions - Deadline Now 11/13

We had hoped to have a list of local artists, teachers and government officials for you to interview. That did not work out. So we will follow Plan B.

You may interview anyone you wish as long as the subject matter is education and technology.

Some ideas:

Preferred Option:Contact the author of the book for which you did a trailer. See if the author will consent to an interview. If so, this should be your number 1 priority.

Special Opportunity #1. We will soon be announcing a contest which will involve making a video as part of the USA 50th anniversary fund raising drive. Details of this contest will be posted on the Class Blog no later than Monday October 31. Chris Smith, a member of the USA Development Team, will soon provide me a list of 5 - 10 names of graduates of USA with an interesting story to tell about what South has meant to them. A very limited number of you could use those contacts. If you are interested, send me an email. Better yet, find your own USA alumnus - maybe one who stated USA in the early years. Or any graduate with an interesting story about how USA has shaped their life. Interview them.

Special Opportunity #2.Interview Jarrod,the 2nd grader in Australia who is a prolific blogger. His mother has said that would be possible if we can make the time work. A Saturday in Australia would be best so that would be a Friday in Mobile. Jarrod attends the Leopold Primary School in Victoria, Australia. Victoria is 16 hours ahead of us. To interview leopold the best time to do it would be on a Friday between 3 and 6 pm (7 am and 10 am in Victoria). Let me know if you are interested. I have Jarrod's mother's email address. We can set it up. It should be a lot of fun and very informative!

Special Opportunity #3.
Kevin McLaughlin, one of the teachers on our C4T list, emailed me and suggested someone Skype him. An excellent idea!

Contact a teacher whom you have followed for C4T. I think most will say yes to a Skype interview.

Contact a Twitter friend and member of your PLN. Most would be delighted to be interviewed. You can tell them that they will be posted to the EDM310 podcast feed.

Contact a person whose work you have read/watched/listened to as part of a blog assignment. Most will be delighted to talk with you.

Contact a local teacher or school administrator.

Contact a USA faculty member (any department) or any USA administrator. Many will be willing to be interviewed.

Specific Instructions for the Interview:

1. Think about the questions that you want to ask IN ADVANCE. Share them (by email) with the person interviewed but warn them that you may rephrase the question or ask other questions.

2. Make this conversational. Avoid a scripted format. Interact with the interviewee.

3. Try to not go over 15 minutes so it can be one YouTube video without editing.

4. Start with a brief introduction of your guest and then ask them to tell you something interesting about their connection with your topic. Warn them about this IN ADVANCE.


You MUST read the full instructions on page 30 of the Projects Instruction Manual.

If you have trouble with the video and it threatens the integrity of your interview with an important subject (unlikely to be able to do over, etc.), then only do audio. Do not use this as a route to avoid trying your best to do video, however.

You may find it easier to record from the lab.

DUE DATE is now Sunday November 13.

C4K for This Week Now Posted

NOW POSTED

Delayed until late Monday or early Tuesday morning.

I am returning from deep in Texas where I have been for my granddaughter's wedding.

In Memoriam

ScreenJelly Replaced by Debut Video Capture Software

If you are trying to get a copy of ScreenJelly it has been converted to Debut Video Capture Software by MCH Software. You can get a free copy for home use from the MCH Site.

Understand Sarcasm and Satire or You Might be Dangerously Irrelevant as an Educator

As I said in the previous post, we now have 128 students in EDM310. Seventeen did not do Blog Post #5 leaving 111 who did. Of those, 24 students clearly did not understand the satiric/sarcastic nature of Dr. McLeod's post Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please? found on his blog Dangerously Irrelevant. Another six probably missed the sarcastic and satiric nature of the post. The posts of eight students were so poorly written that I could not tell anything about how they interpreted the post - or if they had even read it. Add all these up and we have 73 (65%) who understood Dr. McLeod's post.

Dr. McLeod Tweeted me on Tuesday September 20 concerned about this: "There's a certain percentage of your students that completely misses the irony in 'Don't teach your kids this stuff' :)"

I responded: "Ah yes! And they want to be teachers... About a third [last semester] and probably this."

My guess was correct. 35% missed it this semester.

The failure to understand the post even drew the attention of m.williams-mitchell. Dr. Mcleod drew my attention to this comment in the middle of the EDM310 comments this semester:

um…could someone please reassure me that the requirement for the class was to respond to this post as though one DIDN’T UNDERSTAND THAT IT WAS SATIRE??? I’m beginning to fear for our future.

Posted as a comment on Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please? by m.williams-mitchell, September 20, 2011 at 5:34 pm

And Now a Lesson

Let's look at the definitions of sarcasm and satire.

Definition of Sarcasm

sar·casm /ˈsɑɚˌkæzəm/ noun
1: the use of words that mean the opposite of what you really want to say especially in order to insult someone, to show irritation, or to be funny
Merriam Webster Learner's Dictionary

Definition of Satire

sat·ire noun \ˈsa-ˌtī(-ə)r\
1: a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn
2: trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly
Merriam Webster Dictionary

1: a way of using humor to show that someone or something is foolish, weak, bad, etc. : humor that shows the weaknesses or bad qualities of a person, government, society, etc.
Merriam Webster Learner's Dictionary

As juniors in college I would expect you to recognize sarcasm and satire when you encounter these literary devices. Obviously that is not the case. So it is time for learning!

Dr. McLoed's meaning should be clear to you, if your are able to recognize sarcasm and satire, when you read the very last portion of his Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please? post:

don't do any of it, please



really

'cause I'm doing all of it with my kids

can't wait to see who has a leg up in a decade or two

can you?

Remember the Class Motto: I don't know. Let's find out.

That is what we are undertaking to do.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism

There are now 128 students in EDM310. Seventeen of those did not do the Blog Post #5 assignment. Nine of those who did the assignment did not attempt to answer the question Who is Dr. Scott McLeod? That leaves 102 students who answered the question. Of those, 17 copied considerable portions of Dr. Mcleod's About Me material without attribution and without identifying the material copied and committed plagiarism as it is generally understood in academic communities. Another 17 used significant portions of that same material without attribution and without identifying the material copied and a very strong case could be made that they also committed plagiarism. Consequently, I am absolutely convinced that at least a third of this EDM310 class does not know about plagiarism (or doesn't care, or both). And you hope to be educators.

We must talk. About plagiarism. We will do so during Part 1 of the Mandatory Attendance Week.

Here are two things you must do to avoid plagiarism:
1. Always provide the source of the material (or ideas, conclusions, approaches or concepts). We do this with pictures using the TITLE modifier tag. In blogs, a very easy way is to provide a link to the source material. In papers, and you use footnotes following one of many possible style manuals.
2. Always put quoted material in quotation marks. If the passage quoted is long, indent it in a paper or put it un a blockquote in a blog (the quotation mark icon in the post area of a blog).

Yes, there are some exceptions to these two rules. We will discuss them next week. However, you can never be wrong if you follow these two rules.

Why is it important to know about plagiarism and how to avoid it?
1. You can get an F in a course or be dismissed from the University.
2. You can lose your job in the education community.
3. You can fail to teach your students and they may suffer the serious consequences cited above.

Why am I not bringing charges against at least 34 of you? Because I think you do not understand plagiarism and how to avoid it. I will not have that option if it happens again.

Mandatory Classes

Mandatory Classes are in Week 8 which is next week. You must attend or your grade will be reduced by up to one letter grade. With permission you can make some substitutions.

Part 1 classes will be held as follows:
Monday 10/10 4:00-5:15pm
Tuesday 10/11 11:00am-12:15pm
Tuesday 10/11 2:00-3:15pm
Wednesday 6:00-7:15pm
In Part 1 we will cover Plagiarism, Google Docs, writing techniques, and other material.

Part 2 classes will be held as follows:
Wednesday 10/12 4:00-5:15pm
Wednesday 10/12 7:15-8:30pm
Thursday 10/13 11:00am-12:15pm
Thursday 10/13 2:00-3:15pm
In Part 2 we will cover movie making, Google Forms, special search engines and other material

You can come to any Part 1 AND Part 2 combination you wish. If you come at a time other than your enrollment time you must get permission.

If you do not attend BOTH parts you must have an acceptable WRITTEN excuse from a medical doctor, a University official or some other source acceptable to me. Otherwise your grade WILL be reduced.

IN ADDITION you must complete a midterm self-evaluation questionnaire no later than Sunday October 16, 2011. The link to this questionnaire will be sent to you no later than midnight Wednesday October 12.

C4K Assignment This Week and A Tale of Twitter

Last Monday, as I was working on C4K, I found a request for participation in a poll on which New Zealand flag you liked best. That became part of everyone's assignment last week. Then last Friday we got this comment on the EDM310 Class Blog:

Hi from New Zealand

I'm not sure if I am on the right blog but I wanted to say WOW!! Thanks so much for all the comments on our class blog. We have over the last week had so much interest in our New Zealand Flag Debate. We feel very special that your class have picked us and are interested enough to participate.

I just wanted to let you know that the children will be writing about their point of view and why they chose their flag next week. I will also be putting up the results of the poll.

I am also really interested to know what your study is at the moment and how it ties in with a junior blog?
You can contact me direct if you wish
l.laburn@pointview.school.nz

Keep those comments coming... The kids love comments!

Thanks again
Lynne Laburn @llaburn and the Room 3 children

So I responded that I found out about the survey on Twitter. Soon we will know how you responded to the survey as part of your assignment last week. Because of Twitter we are establishing new friends a long way away from us in two directions!

This week many of you will be connecting with Room 3 at Point View School in Dannemore, Auckland, New Zealand. The rest of you will establish a connection with Room 3 either next week or the next. All because of Twitter.

We begin now to visit class blogs as opposed to individual student blogs. Please follow the instructions contained on your C4K assignments this week.

Lab Will Be Open 9:00 - 5:00 Monday 10/3 and Tuesday 10/4

Lab Will Be Open 9:00 - 5:00 Monday 10/3 and Tuesday 10/4

Even though it is "Fall Break" Stephen will be in the Lab 9:00-12:00 Monday and Tuesday
Jacey-Blair will be in the Lab 12:00-5:00 Monday
Carly will be in the Lab 12:00-5:00 Tuesday

There may be other Lab Assistants there as well.