Facebook

I remember sitting in my friends living room, watching television and eating Chinese, when sounding slightly panicked and startled, I exclaimed "I have had a friend request from...................... my MOTHER!!!"  An alert had just appeared on my phone and it suddenly occurred to me that my mum would now know virtually everything that was happening in my life.  I use this as an example of how Facebook is now being used by virtually everyone, all over the world, as an everyday tool in life.

This Web 2.0 site is a social networking site and now reports having over 800 million active users.  As many people will know it was originally founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and his Harvard University room mates and was only meant for Harvard students to use as a support network.  It quickly grew though and as time went on it was opened up to more and more universities before making millions of dollars and being used all over the world.

If used properly this is a very useful interactive website.  Once you have set up your own page you can 

• express your opinions and ideas, 
• stay in touch with new, old and current friends, 
• share your pictures and videos or download them from the internet to show others, 
• keep up to date with birthdays and
• play games free of charge.  

For me it is extremely useful as I have travelled all over the world and have many friends, so it is a great way of keeping in touch with them.

You need to be very careful and aware when using it though.  

• Ensuring you have your security settings in place is extremely important as I personally do not want everyone all over the world to be able to view my profile and use my information against me.  
• The example I use of my mother is a good reminder that what you write on Facebook can be seen by all your friends, therefore, if you don't want people to know then don't post it.
• Cyber bullying is a big problem with this application and although you should be aged 13 to use the site many parents cannot control what their children are looking.  Fake pages have been set up against people, which can mean bullying no longer stops at school and has on rare occasions ended in tragedy.  
• Some children have been placed in very dangerous situations too, after agreeing to meet up with who they believe are other children only to find out they are in fact grown adults.  This is an example of how security is very lax and you can pose as anyone.
• The site can now be accessed so easily and quickly using your laptop, mobile phone and IPOD and in today's busy world this can be a great thing.  However, last year's London riots were an example of how this speed is not good, as Facebook was used quickly to organise mass meetings, causing ultimate chaos.

I use the site as a support network at university and this has been very useful.  It has helped when I have a question I am worrying about and often reassures me I am not the only one confused.

If monitored, set up and used correctly this is a great Web 2.0 Application which has proved very useful and now feels like we could not live without it.  If I was a parent however, I would certainly be thinking twice before letting my child use it.

Another Christmas Over!

Well that's it for another year, Christmas is over and my clothes feel tighter!
I have had a fabulous Christmas and I hope you all have too.  It started with a lovely afternoon/ evening out with the girls (even if we did have to shout to each other in Frankie and Benny's) followed by a fantastic holiday in Euro Disney! www.disneylandparis.co.uk
Four girls (all around the age of 30) were unleashed on the Magical Kingdom to help Mickey and friends celebrate the 20th anniversary of Euro Disney!  It is a dream I have sadly had for 20 years and I have to say it lived up to expectations.  The best part was the jealousy seen in the parent's eyes as we ran around like children, enjoying the rides, posing with princesses and doing what we wanted without tired children whining behind us!  I recommend it to anyone and have posted a couple of photos to help you visualise it.

As they say however, all good things must come to an end and anyway I had to come home to plan for the next break away.  Roll on Monday when Poland here I come, where we will celebrate the start of what is going to be a fantastic New Year.

Wordnik.com

Wordnik is a simple and easy to understand dictionary. The website has a very plain view but is split up into several sections to make it easy to find the part you learn from best.  For example, if you are a visual learner you could use the pictures to try to make sense of the word you are looking for.  Although some of the pictures are only loosely related to the original word so if young children are using this you would need to ensure they understood this.  

If you are an audio learner you can use the audio link to understand how the word should be pronounced and if you simply learn from explanations then there are several sections that go into great detail to help gain a full explanation.  One of these sections is definition which you would expect to see in any dictionary.  The information is taken from many different sources so  if you don't understand one explanation then you may see it better from another source.  The fact it does not allow user definitions is a good thing, as this means all information has to be verified first before it is added to the website. There is a section on the page you can use to add your comments and have a discussion about the word but this is separate and should be used with care.

The next very useful section is examples.  This lets you see the word in a sentence, showing it in as many different ways as possible, helping you to put the word into context to understand the meaning.  It shows you words it is related to and helps you to see the bigger picture.

This would all be useful in an educational setting as the different learning style approaches makes it fun to use.  The majority of children enjoy using technology to learn and why should English be any different.  A particularly fun part of the site is the word of the day or random word tabs.  You could use this in lessons to try to expand yours or a child's vocabulary so that you are learning together.  Adding this into the beginning of the day, you could try to encourage children to use the word in a sentence during the day.  Looking at the site now, the word of the day is "Chasse" and the random word is "Snood", instead of telling you what they mean though I will let you try the website out for yourself www.wordnik.com.

Christmas is coming!

Christmas is quickly approaching and I thought I would let you all know exactly how fast by adding this useful little countdown. I really should try to get my Christmas shopping finished before I get on that train on Saturday to venture to the bright lights of London, then onward to Paris.  This is where I will meet mickey and friends in Euro Disney which I am really excited about.  There is a definite festive feeling around the university this week too, so now that I have handed in my first assignment I feel I can actually relax a little.  Anyway two lectures to go and then it's holiday bound!

My voice has gone on holiday!

I have been struck down with the dreaded lurgy!!!   After laughing at everyone else for having to take time off I have had to eat my own words.  I am sitting here now feeling sorry for myself and full of cold but rather than sit here watching Jeremy Kyle and Escape to the Country all day I thought I would reflect on last week.

Over the last couple of weeks, as I have mentioned, it has been death by referencing so when Mandy (ICT lecturer) told us we were going to learn how to use Word as a referencing tool, I have to admit I was looking for the nearest door.  However, this may have been one of the most useful referencing lessons we have had.  It would seem that by using Word you can input the information directly and it will sort it for you and make your life easier.  This to me sounds like a fantastic idea although after having a small go myself it was not as easy as Mandy make it look.    As always though I will persevere with it and see where it takes me.

We were also asked to look at Education past, present and future and how things have and will change over the years.  I have been given education 10 years ago which apart from the use of technology we do not think has changed that much.  I left school over ten years ago though and think children do learn easier now, therefore there must be something which has changed.  We will research this more this week to see why this is.

We have an exam tomorrow, so I am determined to shake this cold off, get my voice back and pass the exam.  Fingers crossed!