People and Networking Systems

This week in the lecture we discussed how IT as a subject and job choice is becoming less and less popular within the female population. I decided to research why this might be and the IT industry is less appealing to women than it is to men. Upon doing this research I came across this study done in the US.  It gives a great overview of of why this may be and what could be done to encourage girls from a young age to get involved in the Information technology community as for most of the girls that do get involved they succeed and become very successful within the industry.

Link to the Article

Networking Systems 

This week in our tutorial we were given a presentation on networking systems. 

One aspect that I found really interesting was a video that was shown.

I found that although it was quite long you could easily show little snippets to your students as it was a great resource and explanation of networking systems that students would be able to understand.

Another resource that found would be useful as a teacher is the textbook Multimedia: Making it work by Tay Vaughan.  This textbook provides a great understanding of networking systems and how they work. This would be a great resource as a teacher if you would have to teach this subject.

References:

                 Ali, S. (Director). (2010). Ericson-The Dawn of the NET [Motion Picture].

                 Ramsey, N., & McCorduck, P. (2005, February 5). Where are the Women in Information Technology? Retrieved 2012, from Antiaborg: http://anitaborg.org/files/abi_wherearethewomen.pdf  

Software and Robotics & Automated Systems

This week in the lecture we discussed different ways of presenting a task to a class using the technologies and facilities that are available to us today and that are more importantly...free! One of the sites which interested me was Google sites. This is an easy to use site that would be easy enough to create a page for the students to follow for an assignment. Also, it is a great exercise for the students to make their own website that is quick, easy and is something they could relate to and enjoy, therefore making ICT a fun subject for students to interact with each other at the programs the internet has to offer.

Another great aspect about the site is it has a quick instruction video which the students could watch all together or individually over and over again until the grasp the idea of what they have to do. Over all a great resource in website building and design.

                Robotics and Automated Systems 

This week in tutorial we were given a presentation about robotics and automated systems. I was interested in the robotics and decided to research further into the subject. I found through researching on the internet a website I found this site ARAA (Australian Robotics & Automated Association). This is fantastic resource for teachers and students. It provides information on robotics as well as links for students to different competitions they can get involved in. This is a great resource to show students who are particularly interested in robotics.

Link to ARAA Website

References:

Google (Director). (2009). Introduction to Google Sites [Motion Picture].

Roberts, J. (2012, February 2). About us. Retrieved April 2012, from Australian Robotics & Automation Association: http://www.araa.asn.au/

Past, Current and Emerging technologies and Artificial Intelligence, simulation and modelling – The Horizon Report

This week in the lecture we discussed the Horizon Report. The Horizon Report is a research report that was established in 2002 that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact over the next 5 years in education around the world. Within the 2012 issue it includes technologies such as mobile apps, Tablet computing, game based learning and gesture based computing.  This is a great resource as technology teachers to keep up to date with these new emerging technologies that will hopefully be introduced into the classroom within the next 5 years.

Link to NMC Website

Artificial Intelligence, Simulation and Modelling 

This week in our tutorial we were given a presentation of AI, Simulation and modeling. One part of the activity that stood out for me was 2 simulation games that were given just as an extra activity. I found these to be a fantastic representation of simulation proving a fun activity for the students  and also showing them the different kind of games they could produce through simulation. 

Link to Helicopter Simulation Game

Link to DrivingSimulator Game

References:

Consortium, T. N. (N/A). The Horizon Report. Retrieved April 2012, from NMC: http://www.nmc.org/

Hammerback, A., & Edin, N. (2005). Helicopter Games. Retrieved March 2012, from Learn 4 Good: http://www.learn4good.com/games/simulation/bump_copter_2.htm  

Kobayashi, K. (2012). 2D Drving Simulator. Retrieved March 2012, from Geo Quake: http://geoquake.jp/en/webgame/DrivingSimulator/