Week 12- Professional Web Presence

This week in class we discussed having a professional web presence. Having a web presence means to have a site on the internet run by a user which is dedicated to a particular subject. In today's society, almost everyone has a web presence...Facebook. Facebook is a social web presence that holds personal information by the user including photos, links, likes, dislikes, videos, etc. However, if one is applying for a job and the potential employer searches for the applicants name and all that comes up is the facebook page, they will not be able to see the users professional work that they have created in a polished format. In addition the facebook page may contain negative photos or comments that may deter the employer from offering the job. Therefore, creating a high quality looking web presence dedicated to ones professional abilities and work would be very beneficial for an applicant. The employer could then adequately judge the applicant on the necessary qualification for the job and not just on ones social network. On the web presence the user can have all the work they have created, their resume, and what they are looking for in a job.

Having a professional web presence is imperative as a telecommunication major. Because most of the work that I would be creating for an employer to see would be videos, handing in just a resume in paper form would not adequately showcase my talents. By having a web presence I could be able to upload videos I have created or worked on so others could view it. Also, instead of handing employers multiple DVDs with my videos burned on them, they could just view my site and see all my work in one place. I could also edit my web page so that it make me look more favorable to a potential employer. This would set me apart from others who don't have a professional web presence.

I found a website the lists 6 reasons to have a web presence. In it, the author explains that by having a web presence allows one to keep up with growing and changing trends, keeps communication going between the business and it's costumers, expands creativity, helps increase exposure to a much larger audience, It is relatively inexpensive, and that people will always be using the internet. In todays age everyone is connected to the web all the time so it is important to know that the internet is not a trend that will die out anytime soon. This video I found also does a good job of explaining why even business that one would think would not need a web presence, such as a dentist, should have one.

Week 11 Open Source Software

This week, we learned about open source software. Two examples discussed in class of open source software include Gimp(which is a substitute for Photoshop) and Audacity(which records music). Open source software is essentially free software that anyone can use. Once you have downloaded to software the user can then change the source codes which are public to fit his/her specific needs. Once you have the software how you like it, the user is then free to distribute his/her version to others. Other examples of open source software include Linux created by Linus Torvalds or OpenOffice.

In the telecommunication field, open source software would be very helpful to someone just starting up. In order to get a job one has to have portfolio of things to show their potential employer. However, there are many programs that one in my field may need that are expensive, like Adobe Photoshop. In order to use these programs someone who lacks the necessary funds can use these cheaper alternatives like Gimp to get the job done. Unfortunately, there are some programs, like Final Cut Pro, that there is not a good open source substitute which are very important in my field for editing videos and such.

Two websites I found that would be useful to one looking for open source software alternatives for their computer are:

Open source software for Windows

Open source software for Macs

Some of the applications such as Mozilla firefox(which I use) are the same for both computers, however certain programs for some functions such as instant messageing are different. I will probably be checking this list out for new programs I can adapt and place on my computer so that I do not have to pay big bucks for the same application.

Week 10 Concept Map-additional post

Here is my concept map for social tools in the telecommunication field. Click to enlarge.

Week 10 Learning Theories & Critical Thinking

This week in class we learned about learning theories and ways to use technology to help foster different learning styles.

Learning theories were created to help describe how both people and animals learn. There are three frameworks which learning theories are built upon. The first is behaviorism. Behaviorism deals with cause and effect, the subject sees or experiences the behavior and learns about its repercussions. Internally the subject than begins to associate the behavior with the effect. Two subtypes of behaviorism are classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is where a subject learns to respond to a seemingly unrelated or neutral stimulus. For example, people playing a sport know to stop when a whistle is blown because they associate the whistle with a foul. Operant conditioning is using consequences to shape the behavior. Components of operant conditioning are reinforcement both positive(receiving a reward after the desired response) and negative(removing an unfavorable stimulus after the desired behavior). Another component is punishment which is designed to decrease a behavior. Positive punishment is implementing an unfavorable stimulus in response to the undesired behavior. Negative punishment is taking away a positive stimulus after the undesired behavior is shown. Last extinction which offers no rewards/punishments after an action so the action gradually goes away.

Information process theories deals with the internal processes rather than external behaviors. This theory states that the mind has 3 memory stores that register, process, retrieve and store information. One can retain information better by: rehearsal (repeating the information over and over in order to keep it in our working memory), organizing( where we "chunk" information into groups, like a phone number), elaboration(giving examples to clarify info), imagry(recreating an experience in our mind), and schema(which is our concepts of the world and we relate these concepts back to the info).

The last theory is constructivism. Constructivism is using our experiences to gain knowledge that is meaningful and relates to us. Some problems with the constructive learning style is that the skills learn may not be useful in the real world, some kids may not have the previous experiences needed to learn the new info ,and a teacher can not verify a students skill level. However, technology, like powerpoint, is helping the constructive learning style to become more practical by making learning more creative and meaningful, and letting students think about how they are learning.

Ultimately it depends upon the material you are teaching to choose what type of learning style is best.

As a telecommunication major, the constructivist learning theory is probably most related to my major. By creating movies/videos, we are trying to use the video format to help the audience relate or give the audience an experience (fictional or not) to convey the meaning in the movie. For example, in an advertisment we may want to convince the audience that brand A of an air freshener is better than brand B. To do this we might create a creative video that shows that brand B freshener does not get rid of the smell while brand A works so well that the consumer doesn't even notice the dog has gone to the bathroom in the room.

Different Learning Styles. This article talks about the learning styles we discussed in class as well as others such as cognitive learning theory. It also gives examples of ways to use the different styles of learning and goes over adults and others ways they learn and how some people are visual, sensual, intuitive, or active learners.

Week 9- Cloud Computing

This week in class we looked at cloud computing and examples of it including Google Docs and bookmarking with Delicious.

Cloud computing in essentially using the storing material that you may normallykeep on your computers hard-drive on a "cloud" which has unlimited capacity. You work with this material, you must use the internet to get to it. Instead of paying for more servers which take time to hook up to power your work, cloud computing instantly hooks up as many servers you need to function. Some advantages of using cloud computing is that you only have to pay for what you're using. You also don't need high tech and costly computer to fun applications on since you are using the cloud to run them. you can also access any of the information on the cloud anywhere you are on any computer as long as it has internet. Some disadvantages are that occasionally the servers may go down and you may lose information if you don't have it backed up. Cloud computing may not be completely secure. If the internet connection is not working or is slow, it will be impossible or very difficult to access your work.

Cloud computing would be helpful in the telecommunication field. Tools such as google docs would help with collaborative projects which is a big part of my field. You may have to work with people who live in other states or even countries, so being able to all edit the same document/script on the computer and have the changes made show up on everyone's computer saves a lot of time and confusion. Also as a telecomm. major I will probably have a lot of videos and applications on my computer that take up a lot of space and slow down its performance. By using cloud computing, I can store video and run applications on the cloud which keeps my computer free to run at a high performance. I would just want to make sure I have my material stored on the cloud backed up somewhere else....just in case.

The video I found explains cloud computing and even compares it to Web 2.0 which we learned earlier in the semester. It also discuss cloud computing in terms of software as a service and hardware as a service as well as giving examples of each. It goes on to discuss how cloud computing can help smaller companies who don't have as much money to spend on expensive computers and applications. The guy narrating the video is a little funny in the way he talks to the camera, but if you can get pass that then the video is really informative.