Khan Academy

Khan Academy is very interesting. I have a unique take on this approach. My daughter's math teacher actually uses Khan Academy to supplement her instruction. From Amanda's (my daughter) perspective she is overwhelmed by the videos. She feels like she doesn't "get it". I think the reason for this is because it was just thrown out there to her. It wasn't explained or introduced properly. 

Amanda and I have talked at length about how she can use Khan Academy to help her with her Calculus. She is warming up to the idea, but only after I showed her how to more effectively utilize the site. It really frustrated me that she has access to this all year and I am just now hearing about it. Plus, she has not utilized it all year because she was unfamiliar with it. Really irritates me! 

So - I spoke with the teacher that told me she uses Khan to instruct the students that are struggling. She is able to send them to the site and it gives them a one-on-one type of instruction. She stated that many students have benefited from the additional assistance and it also frees up her class time for additional topics. I can understand using the site as a tool, but I feel it is more than just a tool. So I wanted to know more. Especially since I have an assignment to learn more. 

First, I saw this video from 60 Minutes. I think it was very insightful.  )

In Forbes Magazine I found that the academy was actually started by Sal Khan creating videos for his family that was struggling to learn. The idea to subsidize education with YouTube videos gave me a sense of déjà vu. Isn't this what we are currently doing? Isn't this how we are learning too? In Dr. Strange's classes we learn by watching others. We learn by watching videos on how to embed a video or how to add and alt tab to a photo. We watch videos on how to create a presentation and a website. Yes! We are utilizing the same measures that Khan utilized. We are learning technology so that we can utilize these same methods in our classrooms. 

There are many people that state that Khan Academy is just a return to rote learning from years gone by.  Some critics say that the academy is just a facade of high tech gadgets drilling material into a students head. These same critics state that students learn more by problem solving than by this type of instruction. The counterpoint to this argument is that some students need the repetitive nature of the videos. They need to stop and start and replay what they have just seen/heard. There are many different styles of learning and all students do not learn the same. While I can agree that rote learning isn't the only way of learning, it does have its place. Khan Academy is a great place to begin. 

Search Engines

I really thought that this was a silly blog post assignment - I should have known better! I was shocked to find all the different search engines. There were the obvious choices. I like some, but I mostly use Google. So, here is my  list and what I honestly think!

1. Bing! -- One word? HATE!!! I can't tell you why, but I hate it. It never seems to give me the right results; however I am comparing it to Google which I L-O-V-E! MSN is my homepage so sometimes I use Bing! if I am in a hurry, but normally I go to Google.

2. Ask -- is a blight on society! It gives you all these stupid "ads" in the search! I don't want to see an ad for Spanish; I want to see Spanish! Argh! I hate this one too -- and hate is NOT too strong of a word.

3. Dogpile -- this is kinda cool cause it has Google and Yahoo combined into one search engine (or so they say!). I have done a few searches and was surprised with my results. I liked it.

4. DuckDuckGo -- Okay, I really liked this one. My main reason for liking it is that it doesn't track you. Yep! A non-tracking search engine. I hate when a search engine "suggests" a page. I want to scream, "Is that what I asked for? NO!" So this supposedly is anonymous... supposedly.

5. IxQuick -- This is another anonymous search engine. This engine is supposed to combine ten of the best search engines. It claims to be "The world's most private search engine". I take issue with the whole private thing. (Can you tell?) I don't think anything is private. Once you do a search your IP address is connected to that search.

6. Yandex -- This engine offers the ability to search in other languages. This confounds me a bit. Can't you do this with any search engine? I am dumbfounded -- but I like the name!

WolframAlpha? What the heck? Okay, so I can see how this would be helpful to math students. It is something that I would definitely suggest to my students (even though I am an English teacher!). I think giving students cross-curricular information is helpful.

So --- something you didn't ask for! I love all the graphics for these sites. My favorite is Dogpile!

Blog Post #1 Plagiarism

Mercy! Since I was an English major plagiarism and all of its vulgarities have plagued me! I am most familiar with MLA formatting and I have a lot of trouble with it. I mean, I know how to cite and quote; however I am not sure if I am always doing it correctly and probably tend to go overboard at times.

After reading some of the things that Dr. John Strange writes in his essay "Is it Plagiarism Yet?", I have concluded that some of my English professors definitely did not apply Richard Posner's ideas that plagiarism has to include three things; intentional deceit, knowing attempt to defraud and harm to someone else. I may not always cite things properly, but I feel that I always give credit where credit is due. Have my professors always agreed? NO! I often had to re-write my papers because I didn't "properly cite" my sources. If my professors had applied Posner's ideas on plagiarism - I would have made higher scores on my papers!

However - plagiarism is a huge problem. My issue (and Dr. Strange's issue) is that professors believe that students come to them with some inherent knowledge of what plagiarism is. I find this is very untrue. I had no idea that I plagiarized. I was never taught what plagiarism was --EXACTLY. This is why I believe that regardless of who you are teaching or what grade level you are teaching - plagiarism should be covered if you are expecting a student to write. This way if you have someone that has obviously plagiarized then you can honestly state that you taught this lesson. It never hurts to go over an idea more than once. Often for students it takes multiple attempts at teaching before they actually understand the concept (myself included!).