ted+talks

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This is fascinating. When I first saw the smart boards at U of L, I kept thinking how neat they were and how I wished that I might one day have on in my own classroom. After hearing from many teachers that are really "out there" in the classroom, I realize that this may not be a reality. It's nice to have an alternative for a fraction of the cost, so that if I really wanted to implement one in my classroom, I could.

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I completely agree. When I was in high school I took Calculus as an elective because I thought it would help me get ahead in college. Boy was I wrong. I've never used it since, and there is not one thing that I remember from the class. What I wish had been drilled into my head was basic things like addition, subtraction and miltiplication. They were drilled in elementary school, but by middle and high we were allowed to use calculators and I have since forgotten them. These facts would really come in handy when I am shopping or budgeting.

I have taken statistics in college, and I agree with the speaker. Knowing about risk, rewards, mean, meadian, mode, etc has really helped me in the real world. I think that he is right on when he said if people understood statistics that our country wouldn't be in the economic crisis that it is in today. I wish our educational system would focus on content that is relavent to people live's. Instead of trying to spread learning thin to learn more, and rather learn basic things better.

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I think the idea of this global education is wonderful. Many of these technologies that he was talking about in the You Tube video I have never even heard or dreamed of. We have so much technology that is concentrated into the hands of so few people that its depressing. If we can spread the wealth of technology, many more people in the world would be better off. When he said that there was nothing stopping us from having education free to everyone, and that our cultural paradigm is what is stopping it I was disgusted. Education is a wonderful thing, and everyone should have access.

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The power beind social networking is amazing. I had no idea about this story with Mr. Splashy Pants, its awesome. I like that he said that the internet levels the playing field, because this is something in our society and in our country that we need desperatly. It’s cost effective and fairly easy for people to communicate online about anything. This is something that as educators we need to utilize.