Concept Maps and Brainstorming

Concept Mapping is a technique used for representing knowledge in graphs or an organized manner. A concept map is generally used to generate ideas for brainstorming. It also enables the user to design a complex structure with ideas and side notes to further elaborate on ideas the user has. It is a great communication tool to use in the workplace when trying to explain or describe an idea to another person or a group. It compliments the learning by integrating new and old knowledge. It allows expansion of ideas.

Mind Mapping or concept maps are a very popular trend that have been seen more frequently in most professional workplaces. Mind maps are slightly different than concept maps. Mind Maps consist of a central word or concept, around the central word you draw the five to ten main ideas that relate to that word. Then, you take each of those words and elaborate further on those five to ten words with main ideas that relate to each of the words. The difference between the two ( Mind Mapping and Concept Maps) is that a mind map has only one main concept, which a concept map has several. 

In the picture above I did a short Mind map on the process of creating a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. I used the website bubbl.us which is an online brainstorming or mind mapping site that allows anyone with an email address to access it. The site is extremely simple to use and pretty much self explanatory. 

In my professional field, I definitely believe that concept maps, brainstorming, and mind mapping could be extremely useful and beneficial in many different ways. If I were hired to work for a professional football team, and I was in charge of their volunteer work and community service I could easily present ideas to the board about what the players could do. That would enable me to have a simple visual for the people I was presenting to. Hopefully at that point it would make everything a bit clearer and be easily understood. Now, I could also use these resources for a personal tool. These could help me create ideas and put them together in what you might call an "organized mess". Usually when professionals are coming up with ideas that is what tends to happen, however with this tool you can put all of your ideas together in one place and even in specific order! Not only could I use this in my field but also in almost every professional workplace, but also in the school system. I presented this to my room mate who is a Family, Youth and Community Sciences Major with a minor in education and she was so interested in the topic because these are the types of tools that are extremely useful to her. She explained that this concept mapping and brainstorming ideas could benefit her in each of her fields. 

There are other websites that are also easy to use and here are a few links to check out:

Copyright Law, Plagiarism & Ethical Issues

In class we discuss the topics of copyright law, plagiarism, and ethical issues. Copyright laws are a form of protection used by the US Government to original works remain in the hands of the creator and that ownerships is rightfully served. Plagiarism is essentially what the government is trying to protect creators  from being subjected to.  If someone plagiarizes they are taking works and claiming it as their own. The government works very hard to protect artist and writers from experiencing these various ethical issues. There has been an organization established in efforts to address these very problems.

Creative Commons is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for other to build upon legally and share. The organization has released Creative Commons license free of charge to the public, these are known as copy right licenses. The license serves to allow creators to specify which rights they reserve and what rights they waive. Creative Commons serves as a set of license meant to offer the consumer more freedoms than traditional copyrights. Below is a video that better helps you understand the concept of Creative Commons, how it works, and why its implied.

In the world of Sports Management, or athletics in general, videos are rapidly being used. From your highlight video to a video to entice people to volunteer or get active, people are constantly using inspirational songs and pairing them pictures or plays. Thanks to Creative Commons, you can actually use songs and videos in certain formats without it being considered breaking copyright laws. Again I go back to how applicable all technology is to teaching. The more a teacher tries to revamp his/her teaching methods the more likely the students are to try and adapt the material. I feel like many teachers are reaching out to sites like youtube to bring fun and inventive videos into the classroom. 

Creative Commons Youtube Video

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Social Bookmarking: Delicious

"Delicious is a Social Bookmarking service, which means you can save all your bookmarks online, share them with other people, and see what other people are bookmarking. It also means that we can show you the most popular bookmarks being saved right now across many areas of interest. In addition, our search and tagging tools help you keep track of your entire bookmark collection and find tasty new bookmarks from people like you."

What is Delicous? Delicious is a social bookmarking site that allows you to organize websites that are useful to you. Social bookmarking is the practice of saving bookmarks to a public website and tagging them using keywords. This new and upcoming web tool is useful to almost everyone who uses the internet. Social bookmarking opens the door to new ways of organization. Tagging these websites and using keywords to categorize has the potential to change how we store and find information. It will eventually lead to an easily accessible way of retrieving information by simply accessing one site which leads to the many that we have tagged. 
The website, Delicious, would be beneficial for almost all professions. You can direct a link to almost any website and create multiple tags for quick and efficient findings. It is considered one of the most common forms of social bookmarking. However, social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to share, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web resources. Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves aren't shared, merely bookmarks that reference them. Delicious enables the user to search and collect their favorite or most used websites in one place. It also makes searching for new websites easier based on what other people have already searched for. 










 One of the more widely used forms of social bookmarking would be Twitter. Twitter is  social networking and microblogging service, enabling its users to send and read other users' messages called tweets. People can indicate a tag by using the # sign. People are now using Twitter much like they use other social networking sites like Facebook. Keeping up with friends, family, and even celebrities. Twitter is also used for advertising for businesses. It is the easiest and most cost efficient way to advertise. It is entirely free and if you have enough followers it is a great way to advertise for your business.  For example where I am currently working we use a twitter account to publicly announce our specials. This is a prime example of how free advertising through twitter can benefit a business. 







Below is a link to Twitter. Signing up is quick, easy, and free. You could be reconnected with long lost friends in a matter of moments. 



  Sign up for Twitter here!

The Sound of... Podcasting.

In class we were taught how to navigate Garageband. Garageband is a program provided by Apple. It is used to create various podcasts and video montages which you can export to youtube or itunes.

"GarageBand is a multitrack recording application that contains a complete collection of audio tools for experienced recording veterans and novices alike. You can record real audio pieces, play with software instruments, create parts using Apple Loops, add effects, mix your music and play it all back with iTunes or include in your iMovies."

 In our EME class we were asked to create a very brief podcast about something relating to our major. In my sound I documented a mentor program that I established with the Florida Cicerones and Florida Football Team. It is called the BLAQUE Mentor Program, it is geared towards targeting at risk youth males in the Gainesville community that come from a troubled home. This podcast would be beneficial if I were working for a the team. We would be able to upload the mp3 to the team website to demonstrate our acts of Community Service as well as entice more people to become mentors. You could also use podcasts to get potential sponsors or additional programs to help in the development of your team as well as promote the good efforts our teams has made. Realistically having the knowledge of being able to produce a podcast and upload is extremely beneficial. In almost all careers having the ability to create something like a podcast would enable you to do something new and creative. For example, teachers could also use podcasts with students inside and outside of the classroom. Teachers could record themselves and post it on a blog for students to access if needed. It truly is a great way to share information .  

Visual Literacy: PhotoShop

In our EME2040 class, we were asked to make a project in Adobe Photoshop. Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program. You can do things as basic as changing font and rotating it to cutting pictures out and placing them in a new one. For example, take the picture above; I removed the sky from the original picture (the bridge) and added a new pretty, fun blue sky. I also added the phone booth, and Flat Stanley. This project was suppose to display the talents we learned in class as well as a talent we found online. 

I think having knowledge within Photoshop will definitely come in handy later on in life. Whether its within my intended profession or just the fact that you can edited pictures and make them fun! I would love to be able to take pictures at community service events and put them on photoshop, edit them, and create a fun montage of what we've accomplished. Or even create an exciting flier to get people out to our events. I would really like to use photoshop to create our family christmas card! I think it would be really fun and creative to take a normal picture and add color or background etc. I will be able to apply this knowledge within my major by being able to demonstrate my abilities for future employers. 

Below is a Youtube tutorial about Layers within Photoshop.

Alyssa Milano's Jersey Shore Photoshop Snooki

Tutorial About Layers in Photoshop

Animoto

My animoto video is documenting my fabulous trip to Alabama. Enjoy!



Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.


Animoto is an internet program that is free for a trial online. It is an extremely creative and fun resource to have and use in every profession! People can use animoto as a way of "digital storytelling." From the slideshow above it is safe to say that digital storytelling was used in my animoto slideshow. It is an ideal program to use if you are a frequent blogger and want to document a large number of pictures or maybe a trip. For example the video above is create from my trip to Alabama for the University of Florida/ University of Alabama trip. I feel like Animoto would really come in handy with the Community Service events. Assuming I get hired by a professional football team, they would like to document all of there community service efforts and I would be able to put together videos for each event. Add them to the website and its the ideally great publicity. Aside from my profession, education would be another profession that animoto could be frequently used in. It doesn't matter how old or educated the student is, animoto is a simple and fast way to create something with meaning and tell a digital story. There are other websites similar to animoto which are easily accesible.


VoiceThread is also another website which is frequently used in the classrooms.
A Voice Thread is a collaborative multimedia slide show that consists of images documents and videos. Voice Thread allows the user to comment in five different ways such as using voice, text, audio, or video. Ed. VoiceThread is a web-based communications network used for students and educators k-12. Students can participate only by being added by an administrator or teacher with a subscription to Ed. VoiceThread. Ed.VoiceThread is appropriate and safe for elementary and secondary students to use. I haven't experimented much with the program but it seems like a great tool that has been used in many classrooms. 
 I cant wait to get into the real world and impress my future employers with all that I have learned within this EME class. Photosnack is another program that complies pictures into slideshows with the option of adding music, graphics, and words. Another take on a very fun concept.

www.photosnack.com

Educational Technology

We were taught in class the importance of educational technology. There are various methods to use technology for classroom management, administration, and teaching. Whether its a new and inventive way to offer spelling words to a fifth grade class or a site such as Sakaii that allows college students to have direct access to learning resources the teacher provides. Technology is rapidly enhancing the manner in which students learn and teachers teach. Below are some examples of teaching tools that can be found online and for free.

WORDLE

"Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. Think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. Live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you."

Wordle is a free tool found on the internet. You provide specific texts and it complies them into an picture with "clouds." The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. The program allows you to select fonts, colors, and schemes to appeal to the viewer in a specific manner. Wordle is a really fun tool that could be used as a marketing and advertising for various occasions. I could see myself using this tool to promote specific community service events that I have been involved in with the football team.

 This tool may not be as applicable for my future profession, in the sports industry. It would be nice to use for someone in the education field, however. For instance, you could use it for spelling words. Lets say you were teaching 2nd grade and you had 10 spelling words, you could put them into wordle and have the kids take turns identifying the word and spelling it on the chalkboard. I think that with all the technology we have nowadays, the more you trying to create fun learning environments for kids the more likely they are to want to learn. So as opposed to just handing them a list of their spelling words, handing them a wordle might just make that much of a difference.