Free To Be.

MacWorld Expo/ Apple changing education

***I just want to tell readers that I just spilled out some ideas for this post, later I will edit it and put some more ideas in.*** Yesterday I went on a field trip with my Digital Video Editing class (VART84 at Foothill) to the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco. As my first expo I found it really interesting and exciting. But I didn't realize it would be so LOUD, hot, and stuffy! I don't know how any of the speakers and the people in booths could stand being there from 8AM-6PM every day for a week! I wandered around a lot and saw Walter Murch (a famous film editor) speaking about a computer program called FileMaker. I had never heard about FileMaker before so it was interesting hearing about this program (as well as seeing WALTER MURCH speak!!). FileMaker is a tool for keeping track of databases but it can also be used for creative reasons as well. For example, Walter Murch was showing how FileMaker can be used for keeping track of scenes in a movie. I got a free trial of FileMaker so I'm going to try it out. I'm excited because it looks like it could be a good tool for me since I'm working on a documentary for my Girl Scout Gold Award project. I'm still in the production (filming mainly) stages but when I get to post-production (editing) FileMaker could come in handy. As I was walking around MacWorld I kept my eye out for booths about blogs or Eportfolios. I didn't look EVERYWHERE in the expo but the places I did go I couldn't find anything directly related to blogs and Eportfolios. But what I did realize is how much this big companies (I'm thinking of Apple right now) are affecting education. There are now podcasts, ipods, itunes, and so many other tools that could be helping students learn but at the same time could be distracting students! Check out Apple's education website: http://www.apple.com/education/ I'm looking at the "Podcasts in Education" website right now (http://www.apple.com/education/solutions/podcasting/). I think podcasts are a really great idea, but my question is: Why didn't another company (like Sony or Microsoft) come up with this idea before?? I guess that question came from my PC person inside of me... I guess I'm a PC AND Mac person since I have an iBook because Final Cut Pro and mainly all good digital video editing software is only on macs (because Apple owns Final Cut Pro) but I've grown up using PCs and my family is a PC family and my dad works at Sony. The Podcasts in Education webpage starts with -- "Would you like to listen to lectures or lessons on demand? Podcasts can deliver educational content for listening or viewing on your computer and iPod, freeing learning from constraints of the physical classroom." But then maybe students will start skipping class and then as they're driving to Tahoe or some other place they can be listening to their professor lecture on their iPod Nanos! I've actually downloaded a French podcast that looks good (I'm in French 2 at Foothill) but that's about it.

posted by Cassie @ 1/12/2006 02:16:00 PM