Challenges Bo Ballanges.

Talk about challenges or problems you have. If you find solutions to them, include those as well. If you find an easier way to do something or a tutorial or some other helpful resource, share that as well. Read your group member’s PLE’s and if they have a problem and you know how to fix it, leave a comment and tell them!

The first problem that I have with internet stuff is that I'm not patient. at all. So if it takes me more than a few minutes to figure something out or for something to load, I'm done. Checked out. Unfortunately, there really isn't a solution to this problem. If you know of a tutorial, please let me know ;). I haven't really gotten a jump on my class website, but I'm sure I'm going to have problems there, so stay tuned it you like to help with this kind of stuff! I don't really know how to find super cool backgrounds for the blogs either. My sister-in-laws blog always looks crazy awesome and has super cool backgrounds and things on the side and lots and lots of pictures. I'm not really sure how to do any of that. I think I may know how to do the picture. Let's try it out.

SUCCESS! it took a few minutes, but i got it. basically there's just this little picture of what looks like a mountain landscape next to the spell check button (nifty device as well) and you just click that, upload an image, and voila. you have yourself a picture of your amazing family on your blog post (aren't we cute?).

So if any of you know how to do the cool things with the background or add things on the side (i've seen pictures, countdowns, and lots of cool stuff) let me know. muchas gracias.

when i say copy, you say right.

Reflection Question: Keeping in mind what you learned in class, what do you think of copyright laws? Are they helpful or harmful? Do you think changes need to be made? If so, what would you change?

Copyright laws are good. They are there to protect the ownership of creations, inventions, ideas, and many different forms of media. It's giving credit (both in ownership and payment) where credit is due. They are very helpful to those who want their works protected and treated respectfully and properly. It can be harmful to those who want to use it, but don't have the means to purchase or go about getting permission (I guess it's more of a pain in the butt than harmful). I think changes need to be made. So many people are illegally getting movies, music, pictures, and basically anything they want without paying for it or getting permission. The thing is, it's so easy to do. I like the idea of the website grooveshark.com. It's a website where you can listen to music for free, but you can't download it or use it outside of that website. So you can listen to the songs so long as you have your computer and the internet. Using this website has helped me find songs I really like, and then if I want to put it on my ipod, or make a new cd for my car, then I go to itunes and buy it. It's kind of like a preview website. I like the idea of people having to pay for downloading songs, but I don't see how we can change the way the things are right now. It's so easy to pirate things, and people justify and rationalize their doing so. So, if I could, I would make sure that music and movies must be paid for to view on the internet. I have no idea how that would be possible, but if I could, that's what I would do.

resourceful resources

Would you like to use any of these resources we talked about in class (or perhaps others you found on your own) to help further your learning? Which ones? How might these resources be useful to you as a student and as a teacher?

I absolutely would like to use the resources we talked about it class. I loved googledocs and googlecalendar. I'm actually really excited to use calendar. I think it'll help me organize a lot better (which is super important for teachers). I love making schedules and organizing my time (not that I'm good at sticking to the schedule, but I love making them) so this is right up my alley. I'm excited for when I have a break to just go crazy on googlecalendar, but I know that I could spend hours there, so I have to make sure I have time to waste before I can start that.

We also visited this one really cool website. I can't remember the name of it right now, sadly, but it was really awesome. I'm really really excited to first, find out what the name of the website is, and second to use it. It is a super useful tool for students, teachers, and anyone who uses the internet. I would love to start using this, even for non-school related websites like lds.org.

Tech Experience

I'm not totally incompetent when it comes to technology, but I am by no means a techie. It takes me awhile to learn new technology programs, but not forever. Usually just some practice. I am an avid facebooker. I really just use my computer to get on the internet for email, facebook, schoolwork, and a little blogging (mainly just to see the updates from my brother and sister-in-law). I use Itunes, but not very well. I do some work with pictures on my computer at home, but nothing professional, just for fun. I would love to learn more in everything- internet, making websites and videos, and just feeling more confident in my techie capabilities :)