Trinity Cast

This is a podcast of the upcoming news at Trinity University. This weeks podcast was about the big tennis match this weekend. Listen to the podcast for all the details pertaining to the tennis match. I hope you enjoy it!

Evaluation of Websites

For this assignment I choose the Austin Westlake High School website and the Barbara Bush Middle School site . The main differences concerning these schools was that one is a middle school site for kids around the ages of 11-14 and the other is a high school for students around the age of 14-19.

The Barbara Bush Middle School's site seemed rather informative at first. There is a video displaying the days morning announcement along with a bulletin board posting all the informative news happening in the near future. The color in this website is mostly red-it would look much more sound if it contained a variety of colors. The greatest part about this website is how accessible it is towards both the students and parents. There are convenient links along the left hand side of the website that give information to students and teachers alike: calendar, athletics, PTA, clubs and electives, academic teams, and the library.

The part of the Barbara Bush Middle School site that seemed to be a little confusing was towards the bottom of the home page with a link leading to immunization shots. The page I went to had all sorts of different paragraphs listing what types of shots were needed. Going down the list I couldn't even keep track of how many there were.

That was the only part I could really locate that was misinforming about the Barbara Bush Middle School website. They even had "The Watchdog", which was their own online news source . This site contained all of the recent school announcements, athletic events, and performances. Overall, I was very impressed with all the gadgets that this website contained. It is only a public middle school, but the website displays so much information that it is like a college website. I would be proud if I were a parent because this website allows me the opportunity to view how my children are doing in school.

On the other hand the Austin Westlake High School displays similar traits in that it has many accessible links involving the student organization. One link in particular that I found that is beneficial for the parents is the Administrative Staff page. It listed particular teachers and what their experience with teaching children had been. For students there was everything that they needed to know: athletics, fine arts, library, staff handbook, student activities and many more. The one site I absolutely despised was the athletics webpage. All the links were in blue and the writing towards the bottom of the page seemed rather small. However the problem with all the links is that they seemed to be bunched up together on the left hand side. There are also links on the bottom of the homepage that are not underlined so it is harder to tell if it is a link.

Overall I think both webpages contained the same general information. There were links on Westlake Highshcool and Barbara Bush Middle School that were constant: athletics, library, announcements, teachers. The main difference was the Barbara Bush Middle School seemed more professional with the website designs. As a result, I seemed to enjoy the Barbara Bush Middle School website more that the Austin Westlake High School site.

NETS Students/NETS Teachers

I was previously unaware that there was a National Educational Technology Standards for both students and teachers. It was very interesting and informative that not only students are supposed to abide by standards set regarding technology. This website has approved guidelines that inform teachers and students how to go about dealing with technology. It lists the things that NETS feels most important for students/teachers should master first and then the agendas that are less important for starters.

NETS states that students should first learn how to incorporate "creativity and innovation" in technological work first and then use these tools to enhance their thinking ability. On the other hand NETS advises that teachers should inspire students with their knowledge of "subject matter" in order to get the most out of students. Teachers are advised to concentrate on sole leadership in the later haul.

In my first semester and a half at trinity, I have seen many aspects regarding the use of technology in the classroom. For example, in biology lectures are taught using a PowerPoint and then the PowerPoint is put on blackboard for the students to print and read over. The lectures are also recorded and put online so if a student misses a class, they are not too far behind in class. There are some (not many) old fashioned teachers at trinity who choose to veer away from the technology. I don't have a problem as I feel I learn just as much with technology as I do without technology.

It is my belief that here at Trinity a student needs to by technological savvy. Trinity does a good job in getting across to students who may have previously not been accustomed to technology. Technology, especially on the computer, has grown so much over the last decade. I feel that no matter what profession I go into, my future will largely depend on how I am able to maneuver around technology. The better off I am accustomed to it, the better off and easier my future will entail.

Fairey vs A.P.

Many people around the world probably have not heard of the name Shepherd Fairey. However, they have probably seen his famed artwork of Barack Obama colored in red, white, and blue, with the letters HOPE written across the bottom. Such an iconic work that Mr. Fairey has created is now in a deep legal situation.

The issue at stake is that Shepherd used a photograph taken for the A.P. by Mannie Green, a freelance photographer. The A.P. claimed that it owned the photo and demanded some of the earnings Mr. Fairey made from the poster.

Fairey decided to take the matter into his own hands by suing the A.P. His argument is that this work is protected by the fair-use copyright law. The fair use law takes into account four basic factors for consideration: the purpose of the work, the nature of the work, the market effect of the work, and the deviation from the original copyrighted work.

I personally believe that Fairey should be protected from any wrong doings. He took a photo, which could be like any other photo of Obama, and transformed it into a stunning, visual art masterpiece. Fairey used Garica's painting as a reference to his drawing, but the purpose of his drawing was to create a different message.

What makes matters more complicated in this case is that Mr. Garcia believes that he is the owner of the painting, and not the A.P. Garica doesn't know how he will take up this matter seeing that it has already been sent to the courts. However, he was very proud that his photo has been the main reason behind Mr. Fairey's patriotic work.

This is a special case involving the fair use agreement and it will be interesting to see how this matter is solved in court.

CLT Center

I have been to the library many of times before. The first floor is the place where I normally spend my time studying various subjects. However, I had never ventured to the AT&T Center for Learning and Technology. I had walked by it numerous times, but never really thought it was open to the public.

I was amazed in the tour all that the CLT had to offer. I never would have imagined all the equipment that was stored in each computer and various rooms. There are plenty of programs that are equipped editing anything involved with video or audio. I also liked the conference room that had a touch screen smart board. The Innovation Studio was my favorite part of the tour. I was surprised to see so many empty computer and such a nice are to study. Many times when I am in the library, all of the computers are take. Now I know that if I every want a comfortable place to study or a computer to use, the Innovation Studio is the place where I will go.

In general I really enjoyed the tour of the CLT center. The one thing that I wish Trinity would do is to inform students of the CLT center. It has plenty to offer and I wish I knew more about it that when I went on my tour. Its hours are conveniently located online so I know exactly the times am able to use this wonderful facility.

Blog #2

The AUP is the Acceptable Use Policy. It is a policy that establishes guidelines for acceptable use of items that can and cannot be done regarding the university or companies computers. It is necessary so that the user has a set of rules and regulations it must follow by and the host or network knows it must abide by them as well. All network users are supposed to respect limitations on authorized network resources and information.
I found the AUP of my high school (Episcopal School of Dallas) reguarding computer policy and technology. http://www.esdallas.org/uploaded/documents/academics/US_handbook_08-09.pdf. It states and lists acceptable and unacceptable policies brought forth by using the computer network. Examples are that students may not use their school email for sites such as facebook, myspace and xanga and thet electronic mail may not be considered private. My high school's AUP seems to match the general AUP. It states the terms that are to be agreed upon by both the school and the students and its lists all the materials that are considered prohibited.
The CPIA is "a federal law enacted by congress to address concerns about access to offensive content over the internet on school and at library computers." In other words it mandates that libraries and schools across the country have policies that protect children from materials and pictures considered (1)dangerous to minors, (2) obsecene, (3) child pornography. Schools and libraries also must certify that they are educating minors about appropriate online actions.
At the Episcopal School School of Dallas each student was given access to a network called First Class, which is an intranet. It consisted of email, and each student was given the user name of their last name followed by their first name innitial. Each students password was then handed out by the last 4 digits of their social security number. The first class was located on each school computer. In order to get to First Class at school, a student must first log into the school computer, which uses the same username and password. Through First Class, student notices were sent to everyone, some of which were very ergent. First Class also had teachers folders, which contained assignments and had a school calendar. It was very helpful in many facets. It was easy to use and I had instant access to all my assignments and important reminders. It made communication throughout the school much more easier.
My parents did not have access to our First Class intranet unless we told them or they somehow found out how the usernames and passwords were done. I liked it becasuse I felt that it was the one thing that I had complete privacy to. I would never have to worry about someone hacking into my system to view my account. My parents did have access to our grades which were done via mail to our house. They also could get information through the school website. Other than that i'm sure that had other access to various things but I did not know what exactly they had access to.
I think that web filtering in schools is a vital part to how they can run a network. Many children in schools are not remotely mature to know and understand everything that is on a computer. Many webistes can appear on a computer accidently and I child might freak out. I love what my high school did with websites. There were no websites that were blocked except for spartknotes and websited such as vtunnel. The reason no other websites were blocked was because the school could track exctly what content each student was viewing. If a situation were to ever come up, the school would contact that particular student about the situation. As a teacher and a school, I would be very unhappy with this article. Firewalls and internet filters at schools and libraries have been put in place for a reason. They are not there for someone to seach and look for a resolution around them. The student has its regulations to follow and it is breaking them by going around firewalls and school internet filters. To the fairness of the student, the reason for going around the system many times is to get scholarly information. I know many students at my school used vtunnel to access information that the school had blocked and it was mainly for acedemic websites. Sometimes a firewall or internet filter can block out too much information and it is detrimental to the student.

About Myself

My name is Bryan Robert Leib and I am 18 years old. I was born in Dallas and have lived there my whole life. My intended major is Buisness or something in that field. I currently play tennis for Trinity University. I also enjoy playing basketball and watching sports on T.V. I have one younger brother and two younger sisters. I am not that techinally savy but I understand the basic parts to most machines. I don't plan to become a teacher, however, this was the only computer class left open. Altough I would never count myself out of oneday teaching.

I very much agree with the Time Magazine article about how "we" are the person of the year. It brings a point that is not discussed that often. Many times people are only classified as bringing a downfall to the world. More times than not it is a single person we hear in the news that is tring to bring world peace. However, people have been very influential in the technology that has soared into action the last few decades. Without technology these days, a person is basically lost, and the reason for technology being the way it is is because of the people.