from recorder to Podcast

I found the last class about podcasts really interesting. I love learning new ways of communication, and I had no idea that this so called "podcasting" even existed. During the scavenger hunt I could not help but laugh at myself for having a flashback... Does anyone remember the movie Home Alone? How about the hand-held recording device that Mcauley Caulkin uses to minipulate the voices of people? Thats right I said it..."the TALKBOY" hahah. I feel like that was the extent of my technological recording skills before last week's class, especially because I used to own a pink "TALKGIRL". Thanks you Liz and Jeff for ultimatley saving my future students from dealing with my stupidity, and my own embarassment!

Learning from others

John Dewey said: "I believe that the only true education comes through the stimulation of the child's powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself". I believe that he was correct. The way I see it, you can learn subjects like Political science, Spanish, Physics, or Business strictly from reading, though will you really understand how to use the concepts without being in real world situations? I think that you learn a lot from other people (social situations) and their experiences. You may have read a lot about court cases, but have you ever actually talked to a lawyer and how things really work in a law suit? Every time I talk to someone I try to find something to learn from them, and most often I learn more than I would in school. For instance, did you think it was a coincidence that our MAC prof's have almost all been teachers before.....why do you think that is? I knew U of M was a smart school haha, they hired people who have real life experience to share with us, and I have already learned more than I ever could've imagined. I hope that you all realize that you should always talk about your experiences, and you never know, you may just change someone's life. I would also like to hear them!

Reflections on Technology

Already within this year(month) I have learned a lot about myself, and what I need to improve. In order for you all to get a better understanding of my life and technological skills, I have provided a list:

1) I have a hand me down cell phone from the 90's, with no camera and a very large speaker.
2) I love music and many kinds of it, though I have always recruited people to download songs and upload them to my Ipod(which I can't use very well).
3) My 10 year old cousin shows me how to use things on my laptop.
4) The only computer oriented class I have taken was a digital photography class involving Photoshop... oh yeah and of course, Keyboarding hah.

Based on this list you can see that I struggle a lot with technology. I will never forget when my dad first bought a computer and he said: "Hun, don't touch anything unless we show you exactly what to do". Apparently that childlike mentality has stuck with me because instead of being excited about new devices and fooling with them, I am deathly afraid I will mess them up some how. I am all about changing for the better, and I am up for the challenge. After talking with you all in class about things we want in the classroom, I learned about things that I didn't even know existed (Smartboard).

I have recorded a couple of songs in the past few years, and I went from doing it my self on the basic record device on Microsoft, to using my friends crazy computer sound system that can do basically anything and everything professional musicians do. I realize that by expanding my knowledge of uses of technology I will be become a better citizen in today's society..... especially sense my charm and good-looks are definitely not enough hah.