How to Download music into ipods

There are things a teacher who works with junior high and high school students should know. Nowadays, students are up-to-date with technology more than many teachers are. I had to look up for information on how to download music into an ipod. I felt out of date when I was asked by my thirteen year old sister when she asked for help and I replied that I didn’t know. Well, my desire to help my sister and possible others made me find out more about ipods and music. There are many steps for downloading music into the ipod.
On http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Download-Music-To-My-iPod-From-iTunes-With-These-Simple-Steps&id=461964 I learned that the first thing you have to do is to put music onto iTunes. Plug in your iPod into the computer using the USB cord it came with, and follow the instructions that pop up. Then, you connect the ipod into a USB port, according to the website, once you are connected, it will take you to iTunes and the songs will automatically be added to your ipod from the iTunes play lists. If a person wants to copy music from CDs then he or she has to insert a CD into the disk drive, then a screen comes up in iTunes that lists the track names. In the upper right-hand corner of the screen will be a button that says "Import CD." The iPod should automatically sync with your iTunes when you connect it to the computer.

Another site I researched was http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/consumer_electronics/ipod_faq/transfer-music-from-computer-to-ipod-between-computers.html on this site also refers to transferring music by doing it manually. According to the website, this allows you to drag and drop individual songs and playlists from iTunes to iPod. You can find this option by accessing the Summary tab of the iPod settings.
Another question that popped up when doing the research was how to transfer music or files between computers. I found that in order to do so, you will need to use your iPod as a hard disk. “In disk mode, you can effectively drag any file to the iPod, disconnect the iPod, connect it to another computer, and drag the file from the iPod to the second computer.”
As I mentioned earlier, whoever works with teenagers should know how most technology works in order to help them find solution to their questions. It is tough to find and understand the information, but it is very necessary. Please feel free to look up the mentioned sites in this blog for references.

The Typing Questions

How fast can you type? Are you keeping up with the demands of school/jobs when it comes to typing? A great number of people are not literate when it comes to typing. The question is: whose fault is it? Who is responsible for the illiteracy in that area? Nowadays, there are different arguments and decisions to be made on the appropriate age to teach a person to type.
While browsing the web, I came across with people’s opinion on what they thought about the subject. "Many parents, administrators, and teachers can't seem to justify the time it takes to teach keyboarding," Patterson concluded in a technology article that I found online. "They feel that schools shouldn't take the time to teach keyboarding at all -- or they think keyboarding instruction should wait until high school. My response to that is this: We don't expect our students to write until we've taught them handwriting; we can't expect them to type if we haven't taught them keyboarding." http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech072.shtml . I agree technology usage and the use of computer’s software is in a big demand, therefore; it is required to be literate at typing no matter what age group you belong. The problem is that many people don’t stop to think that the basic is not there. School requires essays to be typed up and to be turned in on time, but the problem is: are the kids literate to the point where they can type at the required time? The answer to this question is probably not. Following, I am providing links to sites to be used in case you or any body you know might be experiencing problems in typing literacy.
The majority of online games for typing are free. You might need to read the techniques for typing before you start any other game. I suggest you check http://www.cwu.edu/~setc/ldtech/docs/Keyboarding_Techniques.pdf It will guide you through the typing process. If you are a teacher and needs programs for students to have facilitated material to learn to type, then you can also check out some programs that are free of charge. http://www.learn2type.com/ is one of the online programs where you can go and it will help you keep track of your or your student’s typing performance.
A website that I found useful for my kids is nimblefingers.com in that site, there is a tutorial for people who want to learn typing. It gives a performance test, it is geared towards beginners, intermediate and advance typers.
As I mentioned before, we are being bombarded by demands in the technology areas and typing is one of them. So, if you or anybody you know is having typing issues, why not refer them to use the mentioned free online typing programs.

Website Games Evaluations and Recommendations

http://funschool.kaboose.com/ is a website that contains games for school aged children. The first page shows clearly how the site is organized and how to get all items. On the bottom of the page, you will find the type of audience this site is for. It is geared towards kids, and the games are by grade levels. The grade levels start from Pre-school to 6th grade. Its games contain Math, Language Arts, Science, and History. In most of the games, it shows the objective/goal of the game. Once you get to the games, you will find graphics, animation, and sounds that make an important contribution to the chosen game. The level of content and vocabulary are appropriate for intended audience. The site has a consistent, common look and feel across pages. Each supporting page has a link back to home page; it is found on the bottom of the page. One of the negative sides of this site that I noticed there is no updated time written anywhere. Pages load quickly except when there is an advertisement between games. If you like poetry and you want your children or students to learn some more by browsing the internet, then the following site will be useful for you.

http://gigglepoetry.com/ is the second web page that I evaluated. It’s about poetry and different styles to become a “giggle poet” by Bruce Lansky. The main point of this site is to promote poetry among children. The level of content and vocabulary are appropriate for intended audience. It shows different types of poems such as “Love Poems”, “School Activities Poems,” and other funny poems. Besides getting the audience to read the poem, they get to participate in what is called the Giggle Meter. It is a fun thing to do because you get to rate how funny a poem is to you. It contains links to sites they like too. Their links lead you to more poems. The pages are simply and attractively designed and make a user want to read them. Their navigation system is great. Pages load quickly, they have simple, consistent navigation scheme for quick, easy navigation. It provides with email address, phone number, address, and fax number as to contact. In this site you will see advertisements for books published by Meadowbrook Press and some ads by Google on top of the page.

Finally, http://www.netrover.com/~kingskid/108.html is another educational site. The title given to this page is “Room 108” by John Rickey who is the primary teacher. This web page is geared towards primary children. Music, Social Studies, Games, writing, and Art are some of the icons you can access. Information is interesting, informative, and worthwhile. In the music link, it shows you piano lessons that are easy to follow. The Graphics, animations, videos and sounds make an important contribution to the learning process. The pages load quickly. Icons have been well chosen to represent the information they link to. The author John Rickey is clearly identified on the front page. It doesn’t state when it was last updated. You can contact the author vial email.
You might find these sites helpful to use with your children or students. Just give it a try, it is just a click away.

Assistive Technology

My main plan is to become a special education teacher and I understand that there will be required equipment that I will need to help the students succeed. In the special education department I will be faced with students who have different needs. Some of the student’s disability include dyslexia which is considered to be a learning disability where written language, reading and spelling is affected; other students might be autistic in which one of the characteristics is the student has major communication problems. Some other students might have problems with speech and that prevents them from communicating with others. While surfing the web, I found important information on technology that has helped others in a classroom setting and I think would assist a variety in my future classroom. A system operated completely by the eyes, Kurzweil 3000 which is a system that reads to the student, and some other devices that will benefit the student is the information I will share.

Eyetracking Technology is an eye-contolled computer device for communication purposes. It allows the user to be hand-free and be able to communicate just by the movement of his/her eyes. According to an article I read online, it has been sold around the world primarily as an assistive device for people with disabilities. It turns the eye movements into typing. With this type of device, a person can do with their eyes what they would otherwise do with their hands. According to the information I found, all a person does is look at the control keys on the monitor, the person who is using it can play games, go online, send e-mails, etc. It is a very powerful tool in my opinion for people with physical disabilities. You can go online and check more information on prizing; it can be found at: http://www.eyegaze.com/content/sales-and-distribution .


Kurzweil is another site I found information on assistive technology. It is a software that helps students who are struggling with reading, writing and study skills. It is designed for anybody who falls in the mentioned categories. What it does is it reads outloud the words in a book, or whatever the student types. I read that it would be good for English learners and for students with special needs. As I was browsing the internet, I found successful stories of people who are using the Kurzweil 3000. I found a story on a student who has cerebral palsy and used Kurzweil 3000 and his reading improved dramatically and he became interested in reading. After a while of using this product, the student was able to sound out words when at first he couldn’t do it. So, word recognition is part of it. The mother of this child reported: “People know Kurzweil 3000 as a tool for able-bodied students with reading difficulties. I want them to know that it’s also an excellent solution for students with disabilities.” I will highly recommend anybody with reading struggling to search more information on this type of assistive technology.

A pen scanner is another device that any of my future students could use. It is used in place of a highlighter. What happens when using this device is whenever the user is reading a book for example and has problems remembering what the information read is, the person can just highlight what the key points are and the information will be stored in the pen scanner. If the student has problems remembering what the information is, what they can do is while reading any important text, they can just highlight what the key points and after it has been scanned, it will store and transfer your printed text as well as smaller images to your computer. Online I found the following description: “It is ideal for taking notes or scanning text for students that use a text reader. Many of the newer pen scanners also have synthetic voice and read the scanned text. Many teachers claim that the use of the scanner pens aids children with dyslexia.” I highly recommend anybody who knows someone who suffers from dyslexia to purchase a pen scanner and give it as a gift.

As I mentioned before, there is assistive technology available for people with special needs. Eyetraking technology, Kurzweil 3000, and a pen scanner are available to help students or people facing special needs such as dyslexia, reading struggling, and/or physical disabilities.

Distance Learning Pros and Cons

Distance learning is a field of education in which technology is used through the learning process. It is a process where students don’t go to a campus to learn the material needed for graduation. It is done at the convenience of time and space of the student. Instead of the student going to a campus to learn, he/she learn with the use of technology that allows them to communicate on a timely manner. Computers and the internet have helped tremendously in the communication process between the teacher and the student.
There are two groups of technology used in this type of learning. Video conference allows two or more different locations by being able to see each other at the same time.
Web conferencing provides with live meetings over the internet. The teacher and the students are sitting down at his or her own computer and it’s done via the internet. There is another type of technology used for distance learning. The communication could be done through e-mails, message boards/forums where you can’t see or hear the person on the other side.
You can live anywhere and study from anywhere to complete your career. One of the main advantages is that you can study wherever you have access to a computer and internet connection.
Some disadvantages encountered in this program is that once the students get their degree, most companies prefer some candidates who have gone to regular school rather than doing the distance learning. According to the website http://www.inewsindia.com/2008/09/25/5-advantages-disadvantages-of-distance-learning/discussions, chats, email and conferencing, there is a lack on the candidates of oral communication skills.
The technology part is a big issue in the case of distance learning. For any means of communication, there is equipment that needs to be present. The student must have access to a computer, possible to live video communication and it will cost money to get the right equipment. According to my research, some courses are taken through videos; the homework is faxed or mailed in. The communication is done through phone, fax, and e-mail. Some courses are not performed online, therefore; it might be impossible for a person in certain career to finish it.
What some people say in a response on advantages and disadvantages of distance learning is that it’s worth the social isolation because they prefer the peace and quiet environment compared to a noisy class setting. Whereas, other people said that they missed having a one on one group interaction.
Some advices from people who have taken the distance learning courses recommend the student to make sure it is an accredited place because it costs a lot of money. You don’t want to find out later on that you lost all the money placed on the education. Self discipline is one of the things that will make a person successful at taking those types of education. (http://www.petersons.com/distancelearning)
Now, with technology improving and the cost being more affordable, would you consider Distance learning? What other areas besides technology will prevent or lead you to distance learning? Your response will be appreciated.