PLN8

In the article, "Audit: 49 school districts show signs of financial weakness", by Tim Hoover of the Denver Post, this article matters to me, education, and the world for many reasons.  This article matters to me because I am a student in Colorado and I am in a public school, so I am in a Colorado school district.  The article says that there are 178 school districts in Colorado and 49 of them show financial weakness.  That to me is astounding.  This matters to education obviously because if that many school districts show signs of financial weakness, this my lead to schools cutting back on supplies and helpful resources needed to teach.  Lastly, this article matters to the world because this problem can be connected to the overall U.S. economy and what the condition of it is.  If the U.S. economy isnt doing well, then other countries' economys crumble as well because the United States plays such a big role in the worlds' economy.

PLN7

In the video, "The Machine is Us/ing Us", it matters for many reasons.  First of all it talks about how text isnt just text anymore.  First it was just regular text, then links, and then multimedia like pictures and video and so on.  This matters to me for a couple reasons.  It matters to me because technology is changing so fast that I dont even notice it.  I can really relate to the title.  Sometimes I feel like a machine using technology like the computer.  Another reason why this matters to me is because I am a user of technology and I must pay attention to technology related topics.  This matters to education because it may change the way schools teach in general.  Instead of just writing or typing in general there might be more a use of multimedia like making videos for example.  Finally this matters to the world because we keep advancing in technology as time goes on.  On the video it said that 100 billion web pages are visited each day.  That is astounding in my mind.  After watching this video and really thinking about it, I would have to agree that we are the machine.

PLN6

The article I read was "FBI seeks "flatbill" bandit in the series in the front range", by the Denver Post.  This artice is about how a suspected bandit wearing a flatbill hat, which is the reason he is called the flatbill bandit, comes into many Front Range banks and commits a robberies.  He told a clerk he had a gun.  Also, if he is found, there will be a $2000 reward.  First of all, this matters to me because any bandit is bad not only for me, but for my fellow Coloardans.  This guy needs to  be brought to the authorities as soon as possbile.  This also matters to me because if I somehow see him walking on the street somewhere, I can call the cops and gain $2000.  This isnt likely, but still a possibility.  The reason why it matters to education is because this guy probably needed money and he didnt have the money himself to get what he wanted.  If you get a good education, that could lead to a better job, which leads to more money, so theres no need to rob banks.  This matters to the world because it illustrates how corupt society is today.  To me this seems so regular to me.  When I see news that someone has robbed some banks, I dont think much of it because I am used to it.  This is true for many people also, which is troubling.

PLN5

In Will Richardson's article, "Footprints in the Digital Age", he talked about how networking is the new literacy and how students are trackible through the internet.  He mainly talked about the positives of being so transparent.  For example, he talked about how many people find people who share the same passions or interests and can learn and communicate we eachother.  I think that this also matters in education.  For example, because more and more people use the internet, you can possibly find someone who is studying the same thing as your math class is, you could could work with that person and possible learn from him or her.  A digital footprint definately matters to me.  It matters to me because I am getting older which takes place as time gos by, just like technology will get better and most likely become an even bigger part of our lives.  So in that case, a positive digital footprint is what I am hoping for.  I find this ironic because when this is posted, it will be another digital footprint of mine.  This also matters to the world as a whole because there are over 6 billion people on Earth, and theres a good chance that there are many people who can relate, share, and think the way you or I do.  Imagine if everyone found someone that shared the same likes, interests, and passions and they could learn from eachother, imagine how much smarter the world would be.

PLN4

I read "At least 63 structures burned in fire near Boulder" by Bruce Finley, Yesenia Robles, and Kevin Vaughan, contributors for the Denver Post because this story definately seemed like it matters to me because the fire is in Colorado, the state in which I live in.  It mainly talked about how severe this fire in Boulder is, information about what the fire has done so far, and what some victims have gone through because of this.  This story matters for many reasons, especially for those of us who live in Colorado.  The first reason why it matters is because it affects us because it is huge fire and its not like we are just observers.  For example, if this fire were to happen in a different state, we wouldnt need to be as worried because it wont affect us.  On the other hand, this fire is happening in the state we live in, so it could possible affect us.  There are many ways this could affect us.  The fire could travel to where we live, which is unlikely, but always a possiblility.  A more likely scenerio would be that the smoke could possibly travel from the fire, to where we live.  But there is also a thought the someone that doesnt live near where the fire is happening, and that would be they know someone who has been affected by this fire.  So this fire definately matters for us locals.

PLN3- Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Today I read an article called "Is Google Making Us Stupid?".  The author talked about how he thinks that reading skills in general are going down because of reading off the net.  He also talked about how it also changes the way we think.  In my opinion, this article matters alot to me because I use Google often, along with most people.
There are many things that matter about Google, and it's role in education.  One role Google has in education is Google Docs.  Many schools, including Arapahoe High School are turning to Google Docs.  Another role Google has in education is research.  Since Google is the largest search engine, it has a huge role because many students use to to access information.  Accessing information without a search engine like Google would be hard for many students.
Google has an even bigger role globally.  As I mentioned before, it is the largest search engine in the world, but its not only the largest searh enigine, it's becoming even more.  With more Google items and applications like the Google phone and Google Earth, its becoming ludacris.  Writing this response makes me actually realize how big Google is.  Heck, now it can even be a verb.  For example, you may have heard people say or tell you, "just Google it".
In my opinion, this is both a good and a bad thing.  A good thing because it is so easy to access information you want with the click of a mouse.  But it can also be a bad thing because if Google keeps becoming more powerful with the world information, the company could possibly become corrupted and all that information lies in the wrong hands.