Brand Spankin' New Guitar Site

Ladies and Gents,

I humbly introduce my new website for my Guitar II class, http://sites.google.com/site/mahsguitar2website/. On this site, we are hoping to provide links to valuable online tools for intermediate to advanced guitarists. In addition, we hope to have a place to post, share and comment on student works.

Happily? We Blog Along.

Well here I am blogging along with all the other billion bloggers in the blogosphere and I have to wonder if the democratization of communication is all that it's cracked up to be. What do I have to say that's so damn important? Is this an opportunity for me to share something that will enlighten others or is it merely my chance to shake my rattle in the vastness of cyberspace where no one can hear you scream unless you post a podcast of video of the aforementioned scream?

After reading about the demise of various newspapers around the country, I'm concerned about the way we collect and access information. Newspapers have been a daily ritual for me since I was a child when my father worked for the Chicago Sun-Times/Chicago Daily News. The paper has been an invaluable resource for information and an effective watchdog for both corporate and government doings. If the newspaper, as we know, shrivels, where will we be able to read, not watch on TV, substantive information? Do I not have enough faith in the new media to shoulder the responsibility and respect newspapers have held or will this new media broaden or at least maintain that same respect?

All aboard!

With all the bad news regarding budgets, etc. this class has been providing some interesting possibilities regarding education and financing. As I've stated earlier, if there is an eventual recognition of online learning as a valid component of secondary education, we as teachers had best be prepared to adapt to an online environment.

Urgency

I'm feeling a sense of urgency regarding the creation of an online presence for the classes I teach. Posting dates for assignments, etc. seems critical at this point in time. We have tried to use Communicado in our district but Communicado seems a bit archaic when compared to Google docs and all the apps available online.

Technoligical Whirlwind

This class is challenging my notions about the traditional school and I'm trying to anticipate how this will affect the nature of education. More and more states are allowing high school students to take online classes. Home schoolers, students in rural districts, and ambitious students and pareents are demanding more offerings and access to online education. Will there come a time when a number of courses are offered online as they are at the community college and university levels? What will be the impact on educators and their institutions?

As I see the daily newspaper struggling to survive amidst the new technology, will traditional schools face the same considerations? How can we argue against students taking courses on-line when I myself do it every year?

Guitar Uprising

BIIIIGGGG Guitar