Rebirth of Myspace?

I can remember about five years ago creating my first social networking account. I logged on to Myspace and began decorating my profile page and sending friend request out. It was such a unique experience to see your friends all of over the Internet and even catch up with people I had not seen since elementary school. About the same time as I created my Myspace page I also started an account on this social school related site called Facebook. I rarely signed on to Facebook but occasionally would get emails that somebody wanted to be my friend.  Years went by and Myspace basically took over every conversation. Starting about 2 1/2 years ago I found myself getting in Facebook more and more every week and eventually cancelling my Myspace account because it had begun to get so cumbersome to use and navigate.

The rest of the world must have been thinking the same way I was because for the last year Myspace has been reporting a huge loss. So this past month they released the newly revamped Myspace that Murdoch believes will bring back the coveted 18 to 35 year old market that they use to attract.  This redesign now has Myspace focusing on entertainment and celebrities instead of friends. It also has taken away many features that made it hard to use. 

I don't know about you but no matter what they do I will not re-join Myspace. I feel they are beating a dead dog with this redesign. Maybe it is just me though.  Are you going to start using Myspace again?

Technology in School

I recently read a debate between Jon Schnur and Microsoft. The argument was that technology should be used in the classroom as a support to teaching. Schnur believes that if centuries ago we thought "how can we use technology to improve the horse drawn carriage", the automobile would have never been invented. He then says we need to improve the educational equivalent to the " horse drawn carriage" and create new models of schooling and education that eventually lift up a redesigned teaching job and profession and the way we educate our students. Basically his argument is that we should use technology to support changes in teaching and the way we educate or students instead of basing our education off technology.

Microsoft agrees with the later part of this argument. They believe that we need to look beyond the devices and equipment used in teaching and start using technology to improve the core of education. Furthermore, the believe technology should be used to improve the data on students do that we can create personalized education. For example Microsoft Partners in Learning is now teaching teachers how to do their lesson plans using this personalized student data to improve education.

This is a debate near to my heart. My mother has taught second grade gifted for over 35 years and she would agree with Schnur's argument. Just recently she has started using computers in her class to support her teaching through the use of googling and a spelling game. I would consider this a slight resistance to change. In contrast though, I have very close friends who have just recently begun to teach. They use Microsoft prospective of technology in their teaching.Their lesson plans are done electronically and technology is integrated into every aspect of their teaching. So I ask the question: Should technology be used as a support system in teaching or should it we the tool that changes education?
Debate- technology in classroom

IT Panelists

I found the IT panel discussion very enlightening. I will be honest and say when I first saw that one of my classes this year was IT, I was less than enthused about it. However, after reading certain cases such as CareGroup and listening to the the four panelists discuss the role of IT in their business I have begun to understand the importance of Technology in my future career. While I found all four speakers stories interesting, I was most impressed with Ms. Mills presentation being that I want to specialize in Health Care Administration myself.  One of the most impressive points to me was how OLOL uses IT to facilitate the doctors role in prescription medicine. As we all know doctors are very resistant to change and many would rather the bare minimal IT involvement in their practice. However, OLOL has implemented a system that allows the doctors to prescribe medications to their patients and uses computer programs to double check the patients history to insure that there would not be a conflict or allergies in the prescribed medicine

I now see that there is more to IT in relation to business management than I had previously thought. And that IT's role in advancing your company could be the key to success or failure. If computers can be used to save a patients life I would definitely say that that would be a success.