Google Articles

Changing the way we think

        Professor Susan Greenfield has been doing a study on the "question of whether and how our current use of computers is changing the way our brains work" and has come to the hypothesis that "the visual stimulus we get from screen-based information and entertainment differs so markedly from that available to pervious generations that certain areas of the brain . . .  may be affected in ways that express themselves a changes to personality and behavior."  Then there is a gentleman last name Carr who's main goal is to determine if weather or not Google is making us stupid, when the average human being spends hours online updating their Facebook status and Twitter posts.  Carr argues that Google is only helping him grow smarter in the best possible way that a human can grow smarter.  

Google is one of the few search engines that is capable of assisting many different age groups and genders in entertainment, games, e-mail and news up-dates all under one web page.  It has become somewhat of a comfort zone to many people in the form of internet accessibility and dependance.  With the opportunity to search any article on any particular subject at any given time makes for a reliable and convenient choice for the daily researcher or hopeless college student. 

Google's Rumored GDrive May 'Kill' the PC

         Rummer has it that the GDrive, created by Google, may finally "launch" this year with "some tech news sites calling it the "most anticipated Google product so far".  What this GDrive is created to do is to turn peoples focus away from the Microsoft Window's operation system to the point of where users would not have to depend on their PCs powerful hard drives.  The majority of business and households have turned to using web-based services, like e-mail, photo storages, and outreach sites such as Myspace and Facebook, therefore computers are very relevant in todays society.   This GDrive would help a PC double act as a portal to the internet to assist users with their growing demand for cloud computing.  This could be either something very good for peoples easier access, or very harsh on the PC companies.  Either way, you can not make everyone happy, so you just aim to please the consumers that will input revenue into the society. 

ACCESS

ACCESS is basically an Online class that is made available for anyone who has access to, ACCESS. There are ACCESS labs placed in many different counties and regions in Alabama. The reasoning behind ACCESS is so that student that do not have the opportunity to take a particular class can take it through ACCESS at any ACCESS lab. ACCESS is a great way to interact with other students and teachers all across the state of Alabama. There are many different courses available and with the advance in technology this day in age, ACCESS is more than just a convenient way to learn but it can be fun to strengthen your skills in online activity and scholastic ability.

Personally, I believe that ACCESS is just one more way that technology takes the lead in assisting in education. Though technology is not always reliable, for the most part it is easily accessed and ready to use for whatever online course of study you may need ACCESS to. At the rate the advances in technology rockets, I have no doubt that it will soon become much more reliable for everyday use. I will always be an old fashioned kind of girl, that likes the typical teacher and school desk that comes with live teaching. I hope that technology never takes over the entire school system, because there will be a lot of people out of jobs and out of pocket, but for the record, it is still nice to have that easy availability to the online school learning system of ACCESS.

ALEX

The Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) web site is one extremely helpful and informative online resource center for all teachers.  This site provides teachers with information on anything from the different courses of study, to assisting with lesson plans, to helping with professional learning skills.  With each link there are more links that only lead to more useful information such as studies and guides to each topic.  There are so to speak "kits" online where you put your information in and it will create lesson plans for you, while on another link there is the ability to research in depth a particular field of study for any particular age group.  There is even an online library for any last minute article search for those teachers that may be out of contact from any close library.  One huge advance in technology this day in age is the invention of Distance Learning for those students in smaller schools that may not have a particular course of study they may want.  ALEX has Distance Learning on its website where a student or teacher may sign in and instantly be online to a class held somewhere else in the country or even world, depending on the schools accessibility.  Technology these days amazes me, especially the easy access that comes with using the internet!

ALEX seems to me to be quite an advancement in the teaching society.  I feel as though there should be no excuse for uneducated students and teachers with the immense availability in technology.  Through ALEX one could easily do any sort of difficult task or unmastered fear. With links to many different large Educational web sites and assistance on any particular subject, I personally think that this site will be a tremendous help to me in my younger teaching/coaching days when I have lots more questions then I do answers.  I would recommend this search engine to any fellow classmate or teacher.  This could easily be considered the best thing since dark chocolate.