Social Engineering

Here are some sites I found useful on Social Engineering:

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/social-engineering

   · This is a great site that provides the definition of Social Engineering.

http://www.sans.org/reading_room/whitepapers/engineering/social-engineering-means-violate-computer-system_529

  · This is a link to an article about Social Engineering.  It defines it, talks about the human behaviour behind it, and talks about the techniques that individuals use to steal your information.  A good read.

http://www.sans.org/reading_room/whitepapers/engineering/multi-level-defense-social-engineering_920

        ·  This is another article that explains Social Engineering.  It explains what it is, why it is  successful, and defines a multi-level defense!

Web Site Review: Mr. Roger's Neighborhood Story

PSB offers a creative tool for primary students that focus on arranging events in a story in sequential order.  Students can choose from a small assortment of pictures, and then arrange the 3 selected pictures in terms of Beginning, Middle and End of the story.  The students then have the option to print the story and add words. 

There is room to improve in this website.  There should be a broader selection of pictures, an increase in difficulty level, and room for the student to type their story on the website (rather than printing the story and then writing). 

Nontheless, this is a good website for on-demand learning, that teaches students the sequential order of events.

http://pbskids.org/rogers/neighborhoodStory.html

Web Site Review: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/pop-rocket/en/

NASA’s web site has a very creative science experiment for students.  They provide easy to follow instructions on how to build a “bubble-powered” rocket, and then explain what causes the experiment to occur.  The experiment aligns with the Grade 5 Science unit on Matter, as well as being a relevant issue in today’s NEWS. 

The instructions are easy to follow, however the picture of how to make the actual rocket could have had a better resolution which would have made it easier to read.  Also if this site included a video to accompany the instructions, that would also have beneficial. 

Nontheless, this is a great website for on-demand learning.

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/pop-rocket/en/

Web Site Review: Jeopardylabs.com

Jeopardy Labs is an excellent application that allows you to create your own Jeopardy game with your class.  It’s excellent source of on-demand learning as the user learns about a selection(s) of topics you choose.  The users are rewarded for answering a question correctly by earning points.  The site is free and easy to use/create.  The questions are structured to increase with difficulty, and keep the attention span of students. 

Take a look for yourself at: www.Jeopardylabs.com

My Attempt at an Interactive Blog

See if you can understand what I mean :)

Yes this is my attempt at an interactive blog.  Whereby you will only be able to view my message if you highlight the text of my blog entry.  Although it may seem very basic to do (when you type your blog entry make your font colour the same as your background colour), I believe it may make your lesson more enjoyable/interactive for your students.  


In Grade 5 Language, there is a unit in Mystery.  If you created a story in Blogger/some other website whereby a clue was "hidden", then it can aline with the curriculum.  


Hope you enjoy!

My Review for Learning: Is There an App for That?

When reading the article Learning: Is there an app for that?, a few thoughts came to mind.  They are a bit random so please forgive me.

First off, to me, the word “App” is just a fancy name for a website that’s catered towards the user’s browser.  I think Apple has done a fine job of conditioning everyone into thinking the word “App” is unique and important but the fact is there are many websites online that have/still do the exact same job. 

CBC Kids used to have many free educational games for children to improve their language and math skills.  They employed teachers to work with online producers to ensure the content created aligned with curriculum expectations.  By today’s standards, the entire CBCKids.ca site could be considered an app.  Unfortunately CBC made a business decision to gear CBC Kids away from educational learning, and more towards infotainment to acquire more hits for their websites.

Another thought that came to mind, was how technology has evolved over the years in education.  If you think about it, technology was slowly released over the years via the listening centre (record/cassette tape), overheads and now Smart Boards, movies (Beta/VHS) and now online videos, computer websites and now “apps”. 

I’m sure with each new type of technology, there was some increase of student learning as long as the type of technology was used as a supplemental source.  According to our educational theories, each of these new types of technology introduced differential instruction.  Therefore it does not surprise me that this article states, “there is evidence that kids can learn from apps”.  Technology has been doing this for years. 

My question is: Are Apps just a fad? 

I found the Usability Study results in this article to also be predictable.  Boys love playing video games, so it did not surprise me that they ranked Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii the highest followed by the iPhone.  Also the girls ranking cellphones/Blackberries higher than boys was also expected.  At least now there’s a study that substantiates these findings. 

Lastly, I understand that this article’s focus was on young people being interested and able to use mobile applications.  However I found it interesting that people may only recognize the Pass Back Effect as being in only one direction: older generation passing to the younger generation and not vice versa.  My friends and I have “passed down” our older technology to our older relatives, and witness some improves in their interest of technology.  

WOW!

Notice the differences between the two PDF/Graphic files I uploaded!  The first one was a copy and past of the Word Document.  The pictures are too big and fall off the page.  The second one frames the file perfectly!  Users are able to download, print and share the document.  The user can even zoom into the page and the resolution improves!  That's Awesome!  Def. something to keep in mind for teaching lessons!