ICT Summative Project

Here it is...INDULGE!

Flood the Internet With Positives

Last week we were treated to a wealth of extreme techy information from Darren Kuropatwa and Rob Fisher. These gentlemen were very intellectual and articulate. I love the possibilities of using the voice notes recorder in class off of your cellphone, the presentation aids, and the vanguard of the presentation - 6th sense technology. Wow! How exciting is the prospect of this technology? You tube it RIGHT NOW! The 9 minute video from TED.com. See you in 9 minutes!

Ok now that your back...crazy right!? It's insane to think that were on the brink of such information. It should almost make desktop computers obsolete.

6th sense technology aside there was one thing that really hit home. Darren spoke of flooding the Internet with items that your proud of and want other people to see. Although it sounds like a no brainer there are many people who still believe that the Internet is a private place and that anything they put on there is theirs. This, as we know, is not always the case. As someone who posted something extremely stupid on the net at one time in my life, I can say that I learned the hard way and that we need to teach students to flood the net with positives so that they do not learn the same way I did. This goes for teachers and everyone else as well. That's all for now and for the Internet for Educators class but I'm sure I'll be back on here soon with some coaching news and notes. I hope you continue to follow. Good luck and take care.

Until next game,

Coach T.

History of the Net and Cyber Bullying..Let's Make it History!

This week we were treated to presentations from our own classmates and colleagues. The initial presentation involved a cyber bullying survey and video that were both informative and creative. The survey was great because it forced us to follow along and focus on the presentation. Its no secret that it can be hard to hold the focus of our class for any period of time especially with the volume of PE. majors we have. The video was an interesting twist although I'm not sure why the word "Juice!" flashed across the screen. Perhaps its the nickname of a certain cyber bully who hath learned their lesson? At any length, I enjoyed the presentation very much.

The second presentation involved much new information to me about the history of the Internet. It was nice to hear said info to better develop my base knowledge of the net to solidify m foundation. It was easy to follow and the group used Picasa, another new technique learned in class. Well done guys!

It was fun to see our classmates taking advantage of the new material and techniques they've learned in class. With that I'm certain Mike can concur.

Until next game...

Coach T

Manitoba Web CT

Last week Mike showed us the the Web-Based Courses from our Province. I found this very useful and was baffled that I hadn't been shown this yet. This resourse is extremely useful and provides simple and settled pre-packaged lessons for free. Thank you Mike, I will tweek and use this.

Justin T.

Google Apps, Very Appetizing!

Last Wednesday our class was treated to a presentation on Google apps by Shawn Kleebaum . It was very useful to see how we could get around school fire walls to take advantage of google apps such as calendar using Google Apps Education. I will use this app when I move into my first full time position as I believe the opportunities are endless. Everyone can be involved, including parents, with the use of Google Education. You could set up different calendars and documents for classes and sports teams under different email addresses. The applications are easy to use with instructional videos. When searching around I also noticed that google education will do your marking for you! What an amazing application and it's all free.

I like Picasa although I can't see it catching on among my friends. The only reason I'm still on facebook is because everyone is and I like to see everyones photos as well as share mine. I like the privacy that comes with Picasa over Facebook much much more.

On a side note I'll have to speak about the challenges to providing fair playing time in my next post.

Until next game...

Coach T.

Gaming in the Classrom

This week in class Dr. Gatin came in and spoke to us about various virtual environments. Many of the items he presented were ones that i recognized such as google calender, social bookmarking and micro blogs but I was also introduced to two separate entities that were new and interesting to me. The first is Google Docs. Google Docs is something that I will definitely use in the classroom as it allows multiple users to put their individual input toward a single document. This will be very useful for group projects or work that is handed in several times for different editions.

The second thing that was new to me and that I found interesting was the game "Second Life". I'd heard of second life in the past but had never seen it used and been exposed to a tutorial. I personally find the idea of second life fairly creepy. I've done some research on the game and found that in many cases people found the game more entertaining than their actual lives and developed an addiction and/or psychological problems due to that fact. I don't think that I could use this game in my classroom as the temptation to wonder off into other "worlds" would appear to great. As the Swan blog points out, it would be nearly impossible to combat cyber bullying in this environment. That's all for now.

Join me later next week when i discuss how to diffuse upset parents of players and players who receive low amounts of playing time. Where does their sense on entitlement come from and how do we better the situation for the everyone involved?

Coach T

Open "THINKING" Movement

Dr. Alec Couros presented the value of open education to our class on Wednesday and it may have been the most innovative and interesting presentation I've seen in my life. I've never been involved in a multi user virtual environment and I couldn't believe how neat it was that everyone involved could, talk to and chat to one another while watching and listening and watching to the presentation. In addition to those features, we could see Dr. Couros in real time and put our own additions onto his slides if necessary. Alec used a program from elluminate.com to make this all possible. The program uses Java to run and makes it possible for anyone in the world with an internet connection to connect with others and share ideas. The program is a cost effective version of the telephone conference call that does much much more with all of its features. With all of the options involved with this program, it makes it impossible not to be interested and follow along. Students in class can concentrate on their work easier, learn faster, and more content with a program like elluminate. I loved it!

John Evans Presentation/this weekend

Am I the only one who finds it incredibly difficult to pay attention during presentations in the lab? I try to shut the monitor off, turn the screen, and slide my chair to the side. I inevitably end up in the same place every time with monitor on, searching google to satisfy my ADD. I enjoyed John's presentation and learned some valuable things and ways in which to organize research materials but there is absolutely NO WAY I could pay attention for the entire 120 minutes. I'm sorry John, I like you but I can't do it. Nothing personal. As a follow up to my previous post, we played in Selkirk this weekend and won again. The record is now 14-0 and the bench recieved more playing time this weekend. That being said, the gap between players is widening and I even learned that there are girls on our team who have no interest in winning. Keep in mind that this is the varsity level? In your opinion should they care about winning and if so, should they play if thy don't? It is clearly not enduring to the coaching staff if they/we have players who don't care to win. As Herm Edwards says - "you play to win the game!"

Until next game,

Coach Thiessen

Last Night's Playing Time

I currently coach the 8th ranked team in the province and last night we hit the court against the 6th ranked team. This game was billed as the Brandon rivalry and just so happen to changed the way that people in Brandon view Varsity girls basketball. The game didn't disappoint as the ladies battled hard for 40 minutes with our team finishing on top in a 2 point victory. Our team trudged out to a 12 point deficit due to a sloppy press and a stagnant half-court offence that produced many turnovers. This deficit subsequently led to a shortened bench in a very important game. For the record I'd like to state that I'm not in charge of minutes and substitutions but only 7 of our 13 girls saw the court. I feel there were times when we may have been able to shuffle the deck and provide some rest for our 5 starters but I hold my head coaches back. There is a clear skill difference between our starting 5 and our last five and in a game like this our head coach preferred to shorten the bench to insure a victory. Although a situation like this may require you to have knowledge of the personnel, I invite your opinions on playing time at this level, and your suggestions on what you think I team like ours could do better to rest the starters. Were headed to Selkirk this weekend and we'll see what the girls can do in practice tonight to get off the bench and contribute.

Until next game,

Coach Thiessen

Lack of Rural Coaches From Within the Division

In my initial blog I'd like to speak about the lack of coaches coming from within rural school divisions. Many of coaches within rural schools come from out of town, another school, are parents of the athletes or are the physical education teacher. This puts a tremendous strain on the P.E. teacher as he or she is held solely responsible for the development of athletes in multiple sports. Another issue that may be in direct correlation to the lack of certified and devoted coaches within rural schools is Manitoba's recent performances in the Canada Games. In the most recent games in P.E.I, Manitoba finished 6th in the medal rankings. In the 2005 games, Manitoba finished an embarrassing 7th trailing Nova Scotia by 29 medals. What do you believe to be the cause of Manitoba's lack of world class athletes in every sport and what kind of an impact does the relative unimportance of skilled coaching have of Manitoba high school sport?