piątek, 23 kwietnia 2010

Interactive whiteboard

School of the XXI century.


There is no education without effective new technologies.
It is hard to imagine today, effective education without the use of multimedia.

The world is constantly evolving and the technology is intimately linked to our lives
Increasingly, even the younger generations are familiar with computer and modern technology.

Currently, the Polish market are trying to enter educational interactive whiteboards.
More schools investing in the purchase of interactive tables.
Children and young people very quickly convinced to this invention.
Unfortunately, some teachers still treat them as new forms of old plates.

The transition to this type of equipment in Poland is a rather slow, but inevitable.

Interactive whiteboard is a device that resembles a large white plate, and allows interaction with a computer connected to it and a projector

The advantages of interactive whiteboard are many:
- Can serve the same objectives as the "old" plates;
- Lessons can be enriched with graphics, animation, video, sound;
- Can be combined with other devices such as cameras;
- On an ongoing basis, you can edit the content and save changes to your computer;
- Help and group creative thinking and acting.



Interactive technology makes teachers' jobs easier and more enjoyable.
On the other hand, for many teachers it is a hard barrier to overcome.
This is due to a lack of adequate preparation for teaching teachers to use the whiteboard.

In this learning process should also take care of the teachers themselves and provide them with information about the principles and possibilities of new technologies,
whose task is to support learning in the classroom.


Altruism on the Internet

           A few days ago, surfing the web, I came across an extraordinary story of a young girl. Her name is Paulina and is 24 years old. At the beginning of 2009, diagnosed with a rare cancer that is resistant to chemicals and radiation. In Poland, the cancer that can not be the surgery (no experience). The only chance for Paulina was a very costly operation in Boston. Pauline is now after the operation. All thanks to people who, through for example the Internet, offered her financial assistance. However, financial assistance is still needed on costly treatment. And there is still plenty of people willing to help.
History Paulina moved me to tears. Every day I follow her blog, which describes the course of treatment. And the most moving to me her desire to fight. AMAZING!
 http://paulapruska.blogspot.com/


This story caused me reflection of altruism on the Internet ...

What is altruism?

        Altruism is selfless concern for the good of others. Altruism usually means any kind of action that is directed at an advantage for someone or something (on, idea) to another, without their own. Is often linked to bearing the costs, both real (financial) and psychological (mainly moral).

        The Internet enables us to personal altruistic behavior towards complete strangers. It gives a chance for us to answer what we have to offer: comfort, recognition or specific words, financial support.

        As you can see, modern technologies are also very humanistic. Sometimes sending a text message to someone saves lives. Or visit the site, which earns through advertising, for a meal for children.

For us it is not yet expensive....

Internet has become the medium through which we can show our humanity, which every day sometimes hard to discern.Many people become anonymous sponsors needy people.
Paulina on the blog was like some kind of online community, a community of people, in which the interaction takes place via the Internet.



This is an interview with Paulina.
"Paulina Pruska fighting for her life"




czwartek, 22 kwietnia 2010

Cyber-bullying

What is cyber-bullying?

Cyber-bullying is violence with the use of electronic media, especially Internet and mobile phones.
This problem affects mostly children and adolescents.
Cyber-bullying is:
* Name-calling, threatening, belittling someone on the Internet or using mobile phones
* bullying through the use of instant messaging
* making websites, discussion forums posts
* phones take pictures, record video and share it on the Internet without the consent of the individual recordings. 


In Poland, a cyber-bullying began to speak to the history of Anna from Gdansk,
who committed suicide as a result of violence suffered by their colleagues.

Colleagues 15-year-old Anna in the mobile phone cameras recorded the act of hurting the girl.
After this event, in Poland started a lot of social campaigns that drew attention to the problem of cyberbullying.

Since that time, schools began to comply with young people from this type of behavior.

I want to present here one of the many videos of these campaign against cyberbullying.

Links to pages about the campaign against cyberbullying:


picture link


Online Games

Why people play "Mu online" ?



Several months ago I went to Gdansk and spent the night at my friends apartment.
I was boring and I started to watch one of my friends playing this online game called "Mu Online".
I was asking some questions about the game and he was answering them:
- what's this game about?
- it's about killing monsters, getting experience and finding or buying good items to wear or use

- so you are this guy at the center?
- yes, this is my character in the game

- I see you are talking to someone - who is this?
- this guy is a member of my guild
- oh, so you are a member of some guild? some advanteges of being a member of this guild?
- well... I have some friends in the game :) They will help me if I'm in trouble. Also this particular guild is very powerful - many professional gamers are its members, so my prestige is high.
- so how long do you play this game?
- 4 years...
- that long ?!! So what is the goal? When does it finish?
- It doesn't really finish... The goal is to be powerful... The goal is to be a member of the gratest guild...
  The goal is to be considered as proffessional player...
***
It was getting late, so the conversation was finished. And then the weirdest thing happened... My friend ran some program... I saw cursor moving on the screen, even when he didn't touch the mouse...

- what's this?
- this program simulates players actions - it plays this game for me. I will leave my PC on for whole night and
  when I woke up my character will have more experience and will be more powerful
- so you enjoy the game even when you don't play ?!
- Yeahh... Something like that. Like i said before - it's about beeing strong.

We went to sleep and I didn't think about it till I read some articles related to this subject. It's really interesting
that online games players really enjoy their games, even if playing them is pointless...

Why people play online games?
Horror games - they like to scare.  Strategic games - they like to plan strategy and command army. Adventure games - they like to solve riddles...
Computer games have become another part of our technological civilization. Returning from work or school looking for entertainment after a hard day. We can not forget that often it becomes an addiction. Forget about the daily duties. But online games allow us to get to know new people. We can compete with real players and not just playing with the computer.

Why people play "Mu Online" (I don't want to compare with all online games cause I don't know them)? In my opinion, to be a valuable member of "Mu" society. Because I have to say - "Mu" players are members of "Mu" society. They even created their own language, that is not understood outside "Mu" world. Some phrases:

"gl" - good luck
"afk" - away from keybord
"pro" - professional player
"ks" - killing someone
"cDL" - command Dark Lord
"full" - I have full Zen so you can't pay me with Zen
"soul" - jewel of soul