iTunesU Post 4

'No money? No problem!' is not something you normally hear from universities and colleges, and for most students the weights of their loans and debt is the biggest pat on their shoulder when they graduate...HOORAY!

So why are universities and colleges going the way of FREE online courses for students..? well there are prose and cons to every situation, and in this case the post-secondary education system decided it was worth the risk.

Although many of the courses offered are free, just as online books, news article and music there are always the 'free downloads' and the 'paid downloads' and if you've ever purchased any 'free download' you know by the time your finished with it there are always several paid suggestions waiting for you to grab hold of.  Free downloads are the bait to the real juicy meat, and just as it works with the novels it works with the iTunes U courses.

Another possible reason for schools going ahead with this rout in education, is the idea of it being the most successful and cost effective advertisement for schools yet.  They have a school full of professors already being paid for their services, and by simply adding an audio and or visual recorder, the school has now gained a reusable, rewindable, and pre-paid lecture to show off to a world full of prospective students.

For students coming straight out of high school or even mature students, to be able to go online and view a possible school of choice's professors, and teaching abilities, is a huge asset to decide on which school may be right for them.

On top of bringing in more prospective students; whom will end up making up for any loss in funds, the universities are also receiving free training for their staff.  Professors whom use to spend all their time in their own classroom are now finally able, on their own time, to watch their fellow colleagues teach and therefore learn from each others styles to improve their own.

iTunesU Post3

For the iTunes U course I chose Animal Behaviour MIT by Professor Gerald Schneider.  I chose this course because it falls under exactly what I wish to follow in my post-secondary education.  I work in a Veterinary office because I love animals and wish to involve myself in the industry as much as possible, but there is a large difference between animal biology/animal science and animal behaviour.  This course showed that difference as it focused much more on the attitudes, the body language and the moments of animals and what all of them put together are meant to translate.

I did find the course very informative, and I was able to continue listening because it was a subject in which I genuinely have an interest in learning about, although I did find the recording of pour quality, with lots of background noise.  As well, I found when students would ask questions in the recording you were unable to make out what was said, and therefore could not take away as much as possible from the answer.  I do think that I will finish the courses lectures and possibly listen to others, that being said in the future I will look to find ones with much better quality as well as a speaker whom captures your attention with his presentation abilities.  I understand that these requirements will make it much more difficult to find courses, but I do think that if the visual aspect of teaching is going to be taken removed, without anything to distract my eye, the audio should be able to hold my whole attention.  

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The idea behind all of the online university and college courses such as the ItunesU courses, is without a doubt considered forward looking in the field of education.  There are several advantages for all parties taking part in it including The school Supplying the courses, The teachers teaching the courses and the students who have the courses available to them.

For teachers involved in this type of forward teaching, they are finally able to more effectively learn from their fellow colleagues.  Now that teachers lectures are online, the teachers are able to view techniques of  other professors, allowing them to tweak their own style, therefore allowing all of the university staff the improve simply by having a camera set up in each of their rooms.

This proves to be a very painless, convenient and cost effective way for universities to continue training for their professors.  Universities and colleges, also create a larger plain for students to attend their school, as well as show case their professors in order to attract more students to their school.  To simply record a lecture of a professor whom the school has already paid, the school is getting a lot more bang for their buck.

For students this approach to learning is the most accommodating to a society which is addicted to convenience.  Whether you are a who student wishes to not physically attend school to save cost on education, or a mature student in need of a teaching system which will accommodate a more developed life, whether that may be a family or a career, this style works.  These courses allow for everyone to get the same quality of learning, in a way where the school fits their life rather than them changing their life to fit a schools rigid schedule.

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During this course I have used several different types of learning materials 

which I have never used before in my four years of High school.  

Several of the courses I have taken have been structured to 

be an old school fashioned classroom where the teacher lectures,

 and then given you a stack of reading with comprehension questions.. 

In a large contrast to this style is utilizing several different sources of learning such as Youtube, Khan Academy, as well as communicating through multiple social networks such as twitter and blogger.                                                    

I do think that all of these different learning resources, have their place in schools, as they bring in a different approach to learning which appeal to students with a heavier reliance to that learning style.  But just as the visual and audio learning needs to be more frequently introduced into the curriculum , it needs to be balanced with note taking as well as lecture, and hands on activities.  All learning styles need to be touched upon in order to be able to have a classroom which accommodates all students.

Much ado About Nothing Trailer

4th Post for Shakespeare Unit

After watching the 3 versions of the 'party scene' from Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet", I can see large differences separating the versions.  It is due to the following differences, that makes the most recent version filmed in 1996 the favored of the three.

1. Music significantly improves between each version; the 54' and 68'versions both have very old music, but it is the 68' versions improvement to bring music into the background of the scenes even during lines. The music acts as a white noise, in the background keeping a mood flowing throughout the scene.  It is the 96' version where music transforms the film into a modern piece, setting it far apart from the past 2.  The music in the 96' film is modern, loud and extremely contrasting to tradition music from Shakespeare's time period.  
2. Colour also holds great impact on improving the film; The 54' version is a very dull and sedated scheme of colours having the only pop of colour found in the clothing, the 68' version amps up their colours by intensifying the back drop to the scene, not only are the clothing colouful but also the walls, curtains and masks.  Again it is the 96' version which pulls away by not  only intensifying the colours of the clothing and the setting but they also dramatize the costumes and setting themselves, making them bigger, and more eye catching.  
3. Finally the 96' version brings itself to the top of all the versions as it is set in a modern time rather than being set in Shakespeare's time.  The modern setting becomes more pleasing to the eye for this modern age, as well it takes the party scene and turns it into a costume party, creating a dramatic theme allowing for more fun costume ideas, and an entertaining atmosphere and to top it off it includes fireworks.  

These differences are cause of a number of things, firstly when a movie is to be remade, even when it is a Shakespeare film, changes are made in order to set the newest version from the past ones.  If you watch the versions from oldest to most recent you will see that they become more modern and hold more creative interpretation.  As a director of a Shakespeare film, your creative  allowances are more restricted, compared to the remaking of regular films.  The lines in the script may not be changed, so the director must solely rely on interpretation of the sense themselves.  Changing inflections on words, body language of characters, amount of emotion in scenes, as well as positioning in settings.

10 Tech Skills Every Student Should Have

After reading this article I do believe I hold many of these skills whether that be partially or in full.

1. Internet Search: Is one of the first skills I did acquire.  They have been needed and perfected over the years since my first research assignment in elementary school.  I have also found them useful for everyday life, everything is on the internet now, directions recipes, dictionaries articles, things i use and need every day.  
2. Office Suite Skills: I have partial skills in this category, I am very familiar with word documents and powerpoint presentations, I also have spent some time with excel and other programs, but I will not go so far to say that I am in any way an expert.  
3. Self Learning of tech and where to go for help: I am familiar with finding 'Help' with technology as that has been one of the main reasons why I am as technically inclined as I am.  
4. Typing: Do to the explosion of technology for my generation, I have been one of many who is blessed with the ability to type efficiently, giving me a large amount of time back when it comes to assignments and papers.  
5. Social Media: I have a small social media footprint, I am on Facebook, Blogger, and Twitter, (most for this class) but I do protect myself well with privacy locks, and I keep the philosophy of 'treating Facebook and any other social cite, as a newspaper, If you wouldn't want it published in the paper then don't put it on the internet"
6. Netiquette: I have a small understanding on writing professional emails, resumes and so forth, this is simply from what i have learnt from my father, and I am not afraid to admit I have more to learn.  
7. Security and Safety: antivirus and spam to me all sounds of things that need to be loaded on the hard drive of my computer to be prevented.  I have security on social networking sites and i don't put up personal information i don't wish to share, although I do believe that your personal information is sometimes the price you pay for joining these sites.  
8. Troubleshooting: I only have partial knowledge of troubleshooting and hardware.  I am no computer expert, and would definitely need professional help with glitches on my computer , however as far as wifi and connection i have taken it upon myself to make sure i understand how it works and make sure it thrives.  
9. Backup data: I have a very cool thumb drive, which I do back up my recent and important work, and my home computer is backed up as well incase of a much larger problem.  
10. Finding Apps and Software: depending on the search engine i am quite savy at finding apps and software.  with apple I have made much use of all that their store offers (free) but I recently acquired an Android phone which has a new set of apps and i have found it to be less user friendly.