Learning Curve

straightening the curve

Archive for the ‘Technology’


What If There Was No News? What’s News?

Join us on May 27, 2009 in real or virtual time (connection information to follow later) as students in Jennifer Brinson’s Advance Placement United States History and RJ Stangherlin’s Honors English 11 classes present factual and counterfactual history that examines the presence and absence of news in daily life. This year’s venue is an interactive video documentary that is intersected at different points with a live stage presentation. Time periods span the 1920 through the aftermath of 9-11.

The following video was created by each team and edited by Meagan Walsh.

What If There Was No News? What’s News? from RJ Stangherlin on Vimeo.

Our first team, An Era on Air: Brandon Aversano, Chloe Frick, Olga Karounos, Erin Lobach, Dennis Peterson, Meagan Walsh
An Era on Air examines the influence of significant news events from 1920-1933, while capturing the spirit and liveliness of the period. By deconstructing the era and eliminating the presence of news, An Era on Air portrays the time period through the juxtapositon of life with and without media.

Our second team, Uncovering Cover-Ups: Nadia Daher, Laudi El-Kareh, Hayley Joseph, Kelsey Molseed, Andrew Samy
In the words of Former President Richard M. Nixon, “The American people don’t believe anything until they see it on television.” Is this the only way to Uncover Cover-Ups?

Our third team, Generation X: Peter Cialkowski, Sky McCarty, My Phan, Fatema Rajmohamed, Hannah Rucker, Courtney Weiss
Generation X explores the eighties and travels through the decade explaining military concepts like the Soviet-Afghan War, social aspects like the outbreak of AIDS, and economic disasters like the one that took place on Black Monday.

Our final team, Broadcasting Terror: Matt Eherts, Sarah Gracely, Josh Gregory, William Kennington, Brandon Lansing, Shanon Safi
Love & Hate; Pride & Shame; Peace & War, co-existing with one another in the heart of one nation. Terrorists brought the terror but the media did the broadcasting. Now imagine what would happen if there was no news.







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Highlighting Student Voices: Josh Gregory

The University of Virginia, designed by Thomas...Image via Wikipedia

Economy, Education, and Global Opinions: The Fates of Postmodern Societies
The United States currently still ranks as a superpower, but three main fundamental changes would have to occur for the United States to remain a superpower. The first change that the United States would have to make to remain a superpower is to alter its economy. In recent years the United States’ economy has transformed from a manufacturing economy to a service economy, and no longer produces and manufacturers an abundance of goods. Another change the United States would have to make is a reformation of the United States’ educational system. The educational system of the United States is falling behind that of China and Japan, and in order for the United States to remain a superpower it must have the ability to stay on the top politically, militarily, and scientifically. Finally, the United States needs to make social changes and improve the world’s opinion of the United States. Americans need to lose their arrogance and face the fact that if the United States does not truly change, it will quickly slip behind other countries as the greatest superpower in the world. If the United States could manage to transform its economy, modify its educational system, and improve its global opinion, then the United States will be able to remain a superpower and continue to flourish.

A change that needs to occur is an alteration of the United States’ economy to return it back to a manufacturing economy. The United States used to be one of the leading producers of steel and agricultural goods. Mines and factories used to flourish in the United States. Now the United States’ economy has completely transformed into a service economy. Most United States’ citizens do not leave high school and work in factory or attend a trade school. Most Americans go to college to become doctors, lawyer, business men, etc. There is nothing wrong with these occupations, but a careful balance must be maintained. A society that does not have enough sustenance to support itself is destined to fail. For example the Unites States consumes twenty five percent of the world’s oil, but produces very little of its own. The United States has become extremely dependent on countries such as Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Nigeria, and Venezuela for its oil. The United States’ national debt has exceeded ten trillion dollars and its average increase is at about four billion dollars a day. This shows that the United States would have to make economic changes if it is to remain a superpower.

The United States’ educational system is struggling to keep up with foreign countries. Many American children are not getting pushed to perform to their best and work their hardest. Teachers are not allowed to be as strict, and Americans are quickly losing the work ethic and respect that once characterized the United States. Another main problem is college education. The tuition costs at colleges are soaring every year, and even with financial aid it is very difficult for some Americans to attend college. The average tuition costs for a private four-year school is $25,143 and the average tuition costs for a public four-year school is $6,585. The United States needs to remember that are children are our future. The result of education is great thinkers that make developments in many fields. The United States needs to be able to invent the newest technologies, more efficient fuel alternatives, new food production techniques, better military supplies, and new medical cures if it is going to remain a world superpower. Great minds are also needed for politics and diplomatic relations. The United States can not afford to lose any more respect and dominance on the world political stage. In order for the United States to retain its title as a superpower it has to better its educational system and continue to produce brilliant, imaginative minds.

If Americans do not stop pretending that current conditions are fine and that the United States is still the dominant world power the United States will not remain a superpower. Many Americans have developed an arrogance and ego that make them think that they are superior to everybody else. The world recognizes the attitudes of many Americans and therefore resent the United States. The first step in solving a problem is recognizing the problem. Americans have to recognize the problem and make changes, whether they are changes in thought or changes in life style, to better the world’s opinion of the United States. Countries like China and Russia are quickly thriving and rising in power. The United States needs to work with these countries, but cannot become at all reliant or dependent upon these foreign countries. The United States must also continue to provide humanitarian aid to foreign countries, but has to avoid the unilateral approach it has adopted in recent year. The United States must realize that it can not do everything by itself and must make sure that it has the support and consent of foreign nations, as well as the United Nations. By doing this the United States may be able to lessen American hatred and remove its reputation as a global bully. This does not mean that the United States should remain docile and unresponsive to global affairs, but must keep its power and influence under control. The United States must be able to realize that it is quickly falling behind and that it must change its world opinion if it is to remain a great superpower.

The United States must act quickly to change its economy, educational system, and global opinion or the consequences could be severe. I believe that China, Russia, and possibly India could compete with or even completely surpass the United States as the greatest superpowers. Not only do these countries have a tremendous amount of land and natural resources, but they also have gigantic populations. China and Indian both are inhabited by almost one billion more people than the United States. These huge populations account for a large work force, as well as a great army. The United States would no longer have the greatest army in the world and would lose its dominance and prestige. On the other hand I believe that if the United States can make these changes, it will remain the number one superpower in the world. I believe the United States’ economy will bounce back and Americans will again enjoy the economic prosperity that they had in the early 1990’s. Also if the United States can manage to better its educational system it will continue to produce the best generals, inventors, scientists, and diplomats. If Americans can face the facts and lose the arrogance that characterizes them now, they will be able to improve the world’s opinion of the United States. Finally, I believe that if the United States can make these changes no dictator or communist regime can ever compete with the beacon of liberty, freedom, and democracy, the United States.




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Websites William Kennington Found Interesting 03/04/2009

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

How To Upload Xtranormal Videos to YouTube from Heverly and Attilio

Image representing YouTube as depicted in Crun...Image via CrunchBase

LINK TO SAT VIDEO CONTEST

LINK TO SAT VOCABULARY WORDS

Begin your video with the vocabulary word, part of speech, definition, and the link to where your word will be found.

Directions for the link: All voting will happen at BrainyFlix.com, so make sure your video includes the following text: “Vote for this video at www.BrainyFlix.com/xxxxx”. And substitute the “xxxxx” with your vocab word.

Courtesy of Megan Heverly, the following video will explain how to sync xtranormal with YouTube.

Sample SAT video courtesy of Megan Heverly.

Sample SAT video courtesy of Mark Attilio

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Highlighting Student Voices: Keagan Collins

EDSAC was one of the first computers to implem...Image via Wikipedia

Why Computers Are the Most Important Invention

Of all technological advances in the past, the most important invention to benefit our world, so far, is the creation of the modern computer and its features. There has been no invention so far that has made communication as simple as the computer. E-mailing and other forms of computer-based communication have made contacting another person as simple as the click of a mouse. Easy information gathering has had a huge effect on the way research is done. Computers make information gathering quick and painless, offering us thousands of sources from which to conduct our research. Finally, computer technology has had quite a large effect on the entertainment industry as well. Computers have taken a step up from the basic entertainment technology to allow things such as videos and games, even music, to be accessible with ease. Although the computer was invented not long ago, it helped to make some central aspects of living faster and easier than ever before.

Faster communication is one of the major benefits of computers. With important additions to the computer, such as e-mailing, communicating with someone thousands of miles away takes much less time than before. Before computers, having a conversation with someone in another part of the country often required an expensive long distance phone call. With a computer one can simply send an e-mail to a friend and wait for a reply, taking as little as five minutes. Instant messaging is also an important feature to a computer that makes communication simple. If someone wanted to have a conversation with a friend, it once required him to spend valuable money and time talking to that person on a telephone. With instant messaging, one can hold a conversation with many different people at once while completing a separate task such as doing homework or eating dinner, which was much more difficult while talking on a telephone. While communication may have seemed easy in the days of the telephone, the modern day features of the computer have made it easier than ever imagined and also allow us to communicate information.

A second benefit of present day computers would be information sharing. Online encyclopedias as well as thousands of websites have added to the ease of researching. Finding sources for that ever so strenuous essay or project used to take hours upon hours of reading through books and spending time at the local library looking for anything that would be of benefit. With a computer, researching is as simple as typing in exactly what you wanted to find on a search engine or online encyclopedia. While not only adding to the speed at which information gathering is conducted, computers have also made it easier for use to document our findings. Without the constant aching hands and having to erase the hard work put into writing a paper, simple programs allow one to type an essay or create a brochure much faster than having to do this by hand. Documents can be saved and retrieved much easier as well using the computer’s memory. The invention of the modern computer has shortened the time spent gathering and presenting information by drastic amounts, but has also effected ways to entertain ourselves while working.

Finally, modern computer technology has had massive effects on the entertainment industry. In the past the options for digital entertainment were limited to television and simple, but enjoyable, video games. With a modern computer these options are still available, but are much easier to access and much more complex. Many websites exist that allow the sharing of videos as well as music. Rather than spending twenty minutes driving out to the local video store, one could simply log in to one of these websites and search for the video that he wanted to see. Video games have also benefited greatly from computers. Simple video games were enjoyable before, but with new computer technology a person could play with millions of others in an online game or access a less complex game to pass the time. Modern computer technology has widened the entertainment industry and has made it much easier to access and enjoy, having endless benefits.

The benefits of a modern day computer are endless. A computer has many purposes and can be used to complete countless tasks. Not only does it make so many things faster, it makes them much easier also. While working without a computer is not such a terrible thing, the workload and stress level would almost always be far less if a computer was involved. Important attributes, such as the internet and programs, are very beneficial and enhance reliability. In the future, life is often predicted to be centered on computers and their technological advances. It is interesting to try and imagine life ten or even twenty years from now in order to figure out where computer technology will take the world. While making the completion of many tasks much easier, computers have been implicated so much into daily life, that I couldn’t imagine life without one.
Links for Paragraph #2

How Online Communication is Different

The Effects of Online Media with Politics

Links for Paragraph #3

Wikipedia

World Book Online

Links for Paragraph #4

Animoto

Youtube

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