EDMS 200 Summative Paper-Reflective Report

Educational Media Studies 200 is a 3-credit course. This course is designed to introduce undergraduate students to the appropriate and innovative use of technology in K-6 classrooms. Students will learn new and emerging technology tools, explore and critique emerging forms of media, and engage in alternate pedagogies appropriate for learning in the digital age.

The course, through a series of exercises, assignments and class discussions related to skill-acquisition and practical school application, provides the knowledge and skills to use software successfully in the classroom and for educational publishing projects. The primary aim of the course is to facilitate the development of computer skills that are applicable in an educational environment.

The course introduced and exposed me to a lot of useful online web tools and resources, which helped me to have  a better understanding about the technologies potential for strengthening students critical thinking, writing, reflection, and interactive learning. 

This guide demonstrates how web tools can generate exciting new learning formats, and explains how to apply these tools in the classroom to engage all students in a new world of synchronous and asynchronous information feeds and interactive learning. With detailed, simple explanations, definitions, and how tos, critical information on Internet safety and helpful links, this exciting book opens an immense toolbox, with specific teaching applications or weblogs, the most widely adopted tool of the read/write web. Wikis, a collaborative webspace for sharing published content, RSS feeding specific content into the classroom, Aggegators, collecting content generated via the RSS feed, Social bookmarking, archiving specific web addresses. Online photo galleries. This book makes it possible for anyone, no matter how inexperienced, to harness this amazing technology for the classroom today!

HISTORY

Tim Berners-Lee had a grand vision for the Internet when he began development of the World Wide Web in 1989. “ Make it a collaborative medium, a place where we could all meet and read and write”.

A vast Web of linked information, creating the ability to share not just data but personal talents and experience in new powerful ways. A new colourful graphic world of information for the masses.

Content was limited in the early days- Millions of people soon started going online to read or surf the web for information or entertainment. As access spread, connections became faster and more and more web designers and authors set up shop, the twentieth century ended with the internet taking its place as an essential communications and research network connecting people around the globe. Collaberation was difficult at those times.

A NEW WORLD WIDE WEB

Development of easy internet  publishing tools have done much to fulfil the concept of a read/write web- As early as 2003 53 Million American Adults, or 44 percent of internet users were using the internet to publish their thoughts, respond to others, post pictures, share files and otherwise contribute to the explosion of content available online. 64 percent of all teens who use internet could be considered “content creators”.

EXTRAORDINARY CHANGES

Media tries their best to filter, edit and synthesize all the information, but with technology as it is today it creates a new model of journalism “ SOCIETY OF AUTHORSHIP” 

The ability for anyone to easily publish text, pictures and videos with their, Cell phones, and computers they capture the attention of the world with their non-stop photos, videos, blog posts, and tweets. Newspapers buy on the spot news photos from people with camera phones and run amateur video of news events. They invite their readers to participate, comment on any story, add opinions, ask further q’s or even correct what was written. Businesses using web logs, wikis and even twitter, from public relations to customer service to internal communications.Teachers and every student-every person with access- Has the ability to contribute ideas, and experiences to the larger body of knowledge that is the interent.

Much more complex in terms of who to trust and what to believe. More fact checks to be done.

THE READ/WRITE WEB IN EDUCATION

Without questions, our ability to easily publish content online and to connect to vast networks of passionate learners will force us to rethink the way we communicate with our constituents, the way we deliver our curriculum, and the expectations we have of our students. The web also has the potential to radically change what we assume about teaching and learning, and it presents us with important questions to consider. 1. What needs to change about our curriculum when our students have the ability to reach audiences far beyond our classroom walls? 2. What changes must we make in our teaching as it become easier to bring primary sources to our students? 3. How do we need to rethink our ideas of literacy when we must prepare our students to become not only readers and writers, but editors and collaberators and publishers as well?

Most importantly, how can we as learners begin to take advantage of the opportunities these tools present, so we can understand more clearly the pedagogies used in the classroom?

Constructionist, collaborative pedagogy of Weblogs, wikis, digital photo and video, these tools have considerable relevance to state and local core content curriculum standards, and there is much reason to believe their implementation in schools will better prepare students for a slew of new literacies and competencies in their post education lives.

SOCIAL LEARNING

Students prefer to access subject information on the internet, where it is more abundant, more accessible and more up to date. More kids are entering into the classrooms having had years of screen time and that in general, while they still may have a lot to learn about living in the digital world, they are by and large fearless in their use of technology. Technology has become an indispensable tool in the education of todays students.

The online life has become an entire strategy for how to live, survive, and thrive in the twenty-first century where cyberspace is a part of everyday life. Years of computer use results in children who “think differently from us. They develop hypertext minds. They leap around. Its as though their cognitive structures were parallel, not sequential.

A growing majority of students are immersed in social networks and technologies outside of school, and most have no adults in their lives who are teaching them how to use those connections to learn. At a time when our access to information, people and ideas is exploding online, that reality is simply unacceptable.
Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project
http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/report

Read/write web to find its way into schools, students and teachers will be launched on a path of discovery and learning like they have never experienced before.


THE TOOLBOX
These are the technologies that are changing the way we teach and learn, we covered a mix of those that publish, those that manage information, and those that share content in new collaborative ways.

Weblogs
What is a blog?
(Connective Writing and Connective Thinking)
Reflections and Conversation. Weblogs promote critical and analytical thinking, they are a powerful promoter of creative, intuitive and associational thinking. A medium for increasing access and exposure to quality information and combines the best of solitary reflection and social interaction.
Weblogs in the Classroom
Blogs can enhance and deepen learning, blogs can be used as class portals, online filing cabinets for students work, eportfolios, collaborative space, knowledge management and even school web sites.

Wikis
is an Online document, Easy authoring tool, publishing site, a web site where anyone can edit anything anytime they want.
It is a democratic process of knowledge creation. In wikis students are not only learning how to publish content they are also learning how to develop and use all sorts of collaborative skills, negotiating with others to agree on correctness, meaning, relevance and more.
An online text book created by students for students is an example.

Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
A commonly used protocol for syndication and sharing of content, originally developed to facilitate the syndication of news articles, now widely used to share the contents of blogs.


Aggregators
An online feed reader, generally used for RSS or Atom feeds to keep track of updates to blogs, news sources, and other websites all on one page. Users can subscribe to the aggregator to receive feeds via email
Google Reader is an aggregator…This would be useful for students and teachers because you can read more in less time, analyze, synthesize quicker,
You Create groups of topics and receive info/updates/new releases all related to the topic, creates links to interesting sites and it cuts out the search time.




Online Photo Galleries
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/265279980/

Audio/Video Casting
PodCast
http://epnweb.org/
www.teachertube.com

Twitter
Is a Personal Learning Site


http://onlinefacilitation.wikispaces.com/Twitter+Collaboration+Stories

Social Networking Sites
http://ctep-edms200.ning.com/

INTRODUTION TO DIFFERENT TOOLS IN EDMS CLASS

Webtools/Online resources

http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/

www.makebeliefscomix.com

http://www.magickeys.com/books/

http://www.seussville.com/games_hb/storymaker/story_maker.html 

KEEPING STUDENTS SAFE
Keeping students safe on the Read/Write Web. Safety is now about responsibility, appropriatness and common sense. It is our obligation to teach students what is acceptable and safe and what isn’t.
Risks are greatly reduced by having the appropriate information in hand and by planning. But as much as we may try to stop all forms of inappropriate content from being accessible from school, the reality is that some in not filtered. We have to teach students the skills they need to navigate the darker sides of the web safely and effectively.
Teaching younger children- Takes great deal of planning and testing before going online. Teachers should
Create own web tours before hand and limit the amount of freedom students have to surf. Teaching appropriate use is critical.


PRIVACY 
There is also a growing gap between how this digital generation defines privacy and the way most adults do. To our kids, making their lives come alive online is apart of the way they live. Communicationg and collaborating with peers using instant or text messaging, twitter or their myspace, accounts allows them to be “always on” and always connected. That is their expectation, one that has changed greatly in just the past ten years. And the reality is that we are not going to get any less plugged in or any less open in terms of how we live our lives. These shifts will only become more acute.
Protect the privacy of students
1.    Parental approval/permission, use discreation in what is uploaded

2.     Ownership of the work they publish online
Decide who is the audience, How to identify who the student is with just first names, codes, numbers, anonymity

3.     Important for teacher, student, parent to negotiate how much can be shown online


WHAT IT ALL MEANS
New literacy’s /Computer literacy 
In the age of the read/write web, the explosion of information and online technologies demands a more complex definition of what it means to be literate
First due in large measure to the ease with which people can now publish to the internet, consumers of web content need to be editors as well as readers.
Be an active reader
Active consumers of that information rather than passively accepting it as legitimate. Editing, then, means being a critical reader and viewer, not simply accepting what is presented.
Literate in the ways of publishing
Manage information that we consume. Our students will be required to collect, store and retrieve relevant information thoroughout their lives, and we need to give them the skills to do so effectively and efficiently

THE BIG SHIFTS
1.   Open content
2.   Many, Many teachers and 24/7 Learning
Connecting to many specialists in different areas
3.   The Social, Collaborative Construction of Meaningful Knowledge
Real stuff
4.   Teaching is Conversation, Not Lecture
5.   Know “where” Learning
6.   Readers Are No Longer Just Readers
Assume Responsibility
7.   The Web as Notebook (or Portfolio)
8.   Writing is No longer Limited to Text
We can write in audio, and video, in music, in digital photographs and even in code such as Javascript, and we can publish all of it easily for extended audiences
9. Mastery is the product, not the test
10. Contribution, Not Completion as the Ultimate Goal

The Read/Write Web what it makes it mean to be a teacher

1. Teachers will have to start to see themselves as connectors, not only of content, but of people
2. Teachers must become content creators as well. To teach these technologies effectively, educators must learn to use them effectively. They need to become bloggers and pod casters, to use wiki and the other social tools at their disposal.
3. Teachers also need to become true collaborators. In addition, not just with each other, but with their students as well.
4. Teachers need to think of themselves more as coaches who model the skill that students need to be successful and motivate them to strive for excellence
5. Teachers who use the tools of the Read/Write web need to be change agents.

CONCLUSION

Real learning takes place after we publish, through the connections we make with others to extend the meaning of what we publish in new and profound ways. That is the real power of “The Read/Write Web”. The internet will continue to explode as the most comprehensive source of information in history. There is no doubt that the ability of our teachers and students to use that knowledge effectively is of the highest importance.
To integrate web technologies into the curriculum of  Nunavut is to expand the walls of the classroom for our students, and to open connections, open conversations, open content, and open learning. I find that is the most important aspect in education is to being open, and especially open to new ideas.

REDUCE POVERTY

Nunavut has chronic problems of poverty and joblessness. Many Nunavummiut believe that the causes of poverty and joblessness are rooted in rapid, dramatic, and damaging changes to the structure of Inuit society over the past six decades. Addressing poverty in Nunavut is a challenging and complex task requiring several coordinated strategic and program interventions. Income support is one such intervention. It provides social protection to those in need, and includes strategies to promote community wellness and encourage self-reliance. The GN Income Support Program makes a number of benefits and various levels of financial support available to people 18 or over, and their dependents.
According to the Department of Education, the majority of households in Nunavut are welfare dependant for at least part of every year. GN statistics show that typically 50% of households rely on income support, with some communities reporting over 70% reliance. Welfare dependency is exasperated by the extremely high cost of food in Nunavut and the inaccessibility of the food mail program to individuals who do not have credit cards, as is the case of many Inuit. In this environment food security becomes a serious problem for many households. Nunavummiut in several communities told us that children often go to school hungry.

 During the consultation people spoke of the need to ensure that the most vulnerable in Nunavut society are properly taken care of. Many of their comments focused on improving the living conditions of children and elders. People are concerned that children living in poverty are at greater risk of developing social, emotional, health, and educational problems as they try to deal with the stressful situations facing their families every day.

IQALUIT
Discovering Canada’s hidden
Homeless. page 18
http://www.chumirethicsfoundation.ca/files/pdf/SHELTER.pdf


The Department also reports a significant trend towards more single person households relying on assistance with a noticeable increase in 18 year old clients. This is a trend that many Nunavummiut find disturbing because it suggests that the younger generation is moving away from the traditional Inuit value of self-reliance.
Collectively, Nunavummiut have expressed four areas of concern with the current Income Support Program and its delivery.

1. They feel that the current income support system does not provide enough funds or benefits to adequately cover the very high cost of basic shelter, food, clothing and transportation costs for the most vulnerable Nunavummiut (children, pregnant and nursing mothers, and elders) ;

2. They are concerned by the lack of opportunities and incentives for young adults to move off the income support programs and into some form of employment. In this regard they also expressed a desire to see social programs that expand employment opportunities for individuals while contributing to the well-being of the community as a whole;

3. They view the seemingly countless rules and regulations of the Income Support Program, in conjunction with other government policies, as creating systemic barriers to getting off income support, and to permanently breaking the poverty cycle; and,

4. They also wish to see improved services and compassionate support for those who require help, and more transparent and consistent compliance actions to deter possible abuses within the Income Support Program.

Nunavummiut spoke of the need to build a social safety net that will provide adequate resources to ensure an acceptable standard of living while being more responsive to individual and changing circumstances. The challenge for GN is to provide a social support system that is fiscally and operationally sustainable.

For the record: poverty reduction in Nunavut

Economic Development Minister Peter Taptuna and QIA President Okalik Eegeesiak at a press conference in Iqaluit held Oct. 18

Poverty in Nunavut: a complex issue


"Engagement" versus consultation


Recommendations:
Poverty has myriad causes, including employment structure, substance abuse, mental illness, family breakdown, and low wages in high cost regions. There are some immediate solutions that can alleviate the symptoms of poverty. However, attacking poverty and promoting self-reliance in the long-term requires a well-planned and integrated approach. This approach should be built on a clear understanding of the many causes of poverty and their relationship to each other.

2.1. Immediately provide stabilized and sustained base funding for nutritious food and snack programs to ensure that children are adequately fed. This should be done within the school system by redirecting funds currently distributed through short-term grants from various GN departments for this purpose.

2.2. Develop a coordinated Poverty Reduction Strategy for Nunavut to address the causes of poverty:

a) Encourage self-reliance by identifying work in communities that could be performed by people transferring off income support.

b) Support self-reliance by improving access to micro-loans and entrepreneurship training.

c) Strengthen micro/small business opportunities for success by identifying potential markets and helping entrepreneurs sell their products and services.

d) Review policies throughout GN with the intent of finding opportunities to support self-reliance and poverty reduction.


2.3. As a component of the Poverty Reduction Strategy, conduct a major review and rationalization of the Income Support Program:

a) Look after the most vulnerable by providing the basic necessities. Review current levels of income support to ensure that the income levels and disbursement guidelines provide an adequate standard of living to the most vulnerable populations.

b) Increase self-reliance: Strengthen current initiatives and identify new ways to provide assistance to those who can work to enter or reenter the workforce.

c) Identify acceptable circumstances for job seekers to keep more of their income support payments

d) Identify and remove barriers such as procedures for rent payments that unfairly penalize income support clients.

The Income Support Division does not have a functional computerized Income Support Case Management System. Implementing this system will allow the division to collect and quickly retrieve client information and case statistics. Not having such a program is severely limiting the day-to-day effectiveness of the division as well as program planning. In addition, it hinders the department’s ability to collect and disseminate accurate information that could be used to support and substantiate funding from Canada.

2.4. Improve service delivery and to maximize federal and other program contributions by ensuring the full implementation of the Income Support Case Management System in 2009/2010 fiscal year

GN, Inuit orgs launch Nunavut anti-poverty effort Government, NTI, business, non-profits to work together

Education and Economic Factors

Meaningful wage-employment, economic stability, and a healthy work environment are associated with good health. Therefore it is significant that for persons aged 20-54 in Nunavut, the 2006 census reported the Inuit unemployment rate at 20.8 per cent and the
non-Aboriginal employment rate at 3.9 per cent.

Income is an important determinant of health, yet no health study to date has remarked on the biggest ethnic gap between rich and poor in a single jurisdiction in Canada. The largest income differential between two ethnic groups in a province or territory is the gap between Inuit and non-Inuit in Nunavut, where 2001 Statistics Canada figures show the average Inuit income was $13,090 and the average non-Inuit income was $50,128—a gap of $37,038.19

For formal education to be worthwhile, it must be meaningful and relevant to students and parents. It must equip its students with the foundational knowledge and skills to function in society, enable them to participate in their community, and increase opportunities for employment.

Education -- Transform YOUR World One Child at a Time

With a 25 per cent graduation rate, Nunavut’s institutional education system ranks as the most ineffective in Canada. The average Aboriginal graduation rate in Canada is 54 per cent and, as Thomas Berger noted, “Only 25% of Inuit children graduate from high school, and by no means all of these graduates go on to post-secondary education.”
In 2006, 30 per cent of Inuit in the territory (aged 25-64) completed some type of postsecondary training. About 10 per cent completed a trades program, 18 per cent had a college diploma while three per cent completed university.

According to Berger, “In my judgement the failure of the school system has occurred most of all because the education system is not one that was set up for a people speaking Inuktitut. It is a bilingual system in name only, one that produces young adults who, by and large, cannot function properly in either English (because they never catch up with the English curriculum) or Inuktitut (because they learn only an immature version of their first language before switching to English).
There has been some improvement in Inuit achievement in school in recent years. There is, however, no steady arc of improvement. In fact, there is a danger of a falling back, a danger that Inuktitut will continue to lose ground, and the sense of loss in
Nunavut will become pervasive.”

Training and Education: Nunavut was created on the understanding that Inuit would assume a major role in running their government at all levels, with education services and training programs available to make this happen. It is clear from what many have said that this objective is far from being realized. Training programs for government staff who need them are rare and, as Berger reported, the public school system has much to do to prepare young people to assume highly skilled jobs. The GN must make an approach to the federal government for funding arrangements that allow for a more aggressive training regime within government over a much longer period of time than was previously contemplated at the time the NLCA was signed.

Housing Crisis worsening in Nunavut

“Nunavut is locked in a housing crisis that is worsening daily as the population booms and existing housing stock ages.”


Study: northern houses the most run-down in Canada
In Nunavut and Nunavik more than one in five houses need major repairs

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/101010_northern_homes_in_worse_shape_than_southern_homes/

Housing, and Community Infrastructure

Statistics Canada stated that, “Inuit live in some of the most crowded living conditions in Canada.”13 Nearly four in 10 Inuit in Nunavut live in crowded conditions – a rate 13 times higher than for other Canadians. Inuit homes are nearly four times as likely to require major repairs. Inadequate and overcrowded housing can be
linked to high rates of violence and respiratory illnesses in Inuit communities. Tuberculosis rates among Inuit in Nunavut are 70 times the Canadian average. Recent research has shown that, “Inuit infants have the highest reported rate of hospital admissions because of lower respiratory tract infections in the world.” This rate is attributed in part to crowded, poorly ventilated homes.

Housing: Renew the major funding agreements that will pay for desperately needed new housing stock for the territory. Estimates suggest as much as $1.9 billion dollars is needed to satisfy current housing needs. While the GN is responsible for ensuring that its systems are efficient and its housing programs are well targeted to meet the greatest needs first, it has little financial capacity to meet these needs without federal assistance.

The Nunavut housing crisis and its causes are well documented. The consequences of this crisis include too many families being forced to live in woefully poor housing conditions. The destructive impacts of this situation are felt by all Nunavummiut. Intolerable housing conditions harm the health and well-being of individuals and families, and impairing the education and social development of Nunavut’s children and youth.
Nunavummiut spoke of the long waiting lists for houses, significant overcrowding, unaffordable rents, the poor condition of the housing stock, houses that are unsuitable for the elderly or people with disabilities, and new housing designs that do not meet the needs of communities. The situation is so dire that families are occupying homes that would otherwise be condemned. Home owners and prospective home-owners are concerned about the very high cost of purchasing a home, and the difficulties in properly maintaining a home.

People also spoke of housing policies and guidelines that stop entrepreneurship or act as disincentives to people re-entering the workforce. They questioned policies that allow staff housing to sit empty in communities where there is considerable overcrowding.

Nunavummiut raised concerns about the Nunavut Housing Corporation‘s communications and the completeness of program information. Some people are asking for programs that educate people on how to maintain homes, and for NHC to adopt policies and procedures that discourage tenants from damaging units. Local Housing Associations (LHA) also raised concerns about their mandates including concerns about unclear roles, responsibilities, and operational inefficiencies.
Since 2000, the NHC has been providing housing assistance through its various rental, ownership, and maintenance housing programs. The Corporation has introduced many initiatives designed to address some of the Nunavut’s housing problems. The Nunavut Housing Trust Initiative is one example of a cooperative project undertaken by NHC and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc (NTI) to find solutions to some of the housing problems. However, it is evident that even with these types of interventions, the GN does not have the resources or capacity required to address the immediate housing emergency, nor the emerging demands. Without an influx of substantive new funding, the housing problems will continue to grow and become even more detrimental to the social and economic foundation of Nunavut communities, and to Inuit self-reliance. Even with more financial resources, the NHC faces a daunting task. While Nunavut communities are unique within Canada they are not uniform. Each community has its own character, priorities, and housing requirements.
The NHC is also mandated to ensure that all housing activity, to the extent possible, maximizes the potential training and business opportunities for the local community. The GN faces a formidable challenge in designing and implementing program interventions that will address the immediate housing crisis while supporting the development of sustainable economies at the local level.

Suicide

http://www.tunngavik.com - Nunavut Health System

In Southern Canada, 90 per cent of suicide is associated with individual mental illness, but in Nunavut this connection does not apply. In Nunavut, most Inuit suicide is not associated with mental disorders, Psychiatric issues in the Arctic appear deeply interwoven with interpersonal, socioeconomic, and societal changes; effective community mental health services must address a broad spectrum of psychosocial issues beyond the medical model. Nunavut’s highly elevated suicide rate is not the result of elevated rates of mental illness as conventionally defined. The rate of suicide by Inuit men in Nunavut between the ages of 19 and 24 is roughly 50 times that of all men in Canada in that age bracket, but there is no evidence that young Inuit men in Nunavut suffer from mental illnesses at anything like 50 times the rate at which their peers in the South do.

The work of Nunavut researcher Jack Hicks suggests that, “Social determinants,” in particular, “Adverse childhood experiences,” and other forms of childhood trauma, are the reason why so many young Nunavummiut consider suicide.
Suicide rates in Nunavut were very low in the 1950s and 60s with just one suicide on record in the 1960s. It was in North Alaska in the late 1960s that young Inuit began to take their lives. Youth suicide rates in Greenland rose dramatically in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and then in Nunavut in the late 1980s and through the 1990s. Hicks notes that this order (first Alaska, then Greenland, then Nunavut) is the same order in which Inuit living in those regions had previously undergone processes of, “Active colonialism at the community level,” such as being coerced into moving into settled communities, having children subjected to a foreign educational system, and having the active adult hunters largely reduced to unemployed non-wage earners. Kirmayer says that as, “Small Indigenous societies,” of Inuit were, “Enveloped and transformed by colonizing powers…meaning and the sense of individual and collective worth [was] undermined…and people feel like refugees in their own land.”

From 1999 to 2003, the rate of suicide in Nunavut was 11 times higher than in the rest of Canada. Forty-three per cent of all suicides in Nunavut were carried out by young people under the age of 20. Three-quarters were committed by people less than 25 years of age. Unfortunately, suicide response protocols for Nunavut’s nurses, developed by the territorial government in 2001, were not distributed until 2007. Similar suicide response protocols for schools, developed in 2003, had not been circulated by 2007, and may not be in use today. In the face of this tragedy, Regional Inuit Associations (RIA), community organizations, and other agencies have developed on-the-land programs, resilience workshops, and suicide prevention resources. Notable are the approaches developed by the National Inuit Youth Council and its Inuit Youth Suicide Prevention Framework, as well as workshops on resilience and community wellness developed by our Elders.
http://www.niyc.ca/niyc/index

http://www.itk.ca/Inuit-Approaches-to-Suicide-Prevention

Proper Help - press click to gamble

Nunavut is hoping hunting, and culture will reduce crime. This is Nunavut's great gamble, that teaching modern Inuit the ways of their ancestors will cut violent crime rates that are many times above the Canadian average. The great hope of the program is that something will click.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/mar/20051226/nunavut051226/


Not all inmates are interested in hunting and learning more about their culture, most times they use it as an excuse to get out of the building for the day to bypass time. Could it be that they are the ones who have given up on the Inuit life style, because of their neglected, troublesome upbringing, and the fact that they were never given the opportunity to be taught traditional skills, or a chance to participate?
Is hunting and culture what they need now? Is hoping good enough? What causes crime in the first place? So many Inuit suffer from the plague of lack of enrolment- lack of parental guidance, lack of a father, drug and alcohol abuse in their family history, undereducated, unskilled, loss of purpose, and total identity crisis.

I am also sure that there are quiet a few who are interested in the hunting and culture program because it is suppose to give to them a sense of pride when they acquire the new skills and gain the confidence. http://www.nunavutwellness.ca/english/PDF/Inuit-Men-Empowerment.pdf
However, in this time and age to be a harvester, it is more of a hobby then way of life and survival. This is the great gamble!

Could Nunavut be sending out the idea that to be successful in life, is to be a hunter and that hunting and culture will keep offenders or Inuit away from the modern day society ills that roam the communities? Is the cycle being stopped? I believe this is how Nunavut is setting up the offenders and public for failure. They are letting the people down by having them believe that to have one skill is going to create a better Nunavut. To be a hunter you have to have years of great knowledge and experience, a lot of support and in most cases you need to be well educated and be employed to have the money or receive the funding to purchase all the equipment like snow machines, sleds, boats, quads, and hunting gear for all seasons etc….

I find that I am questioning more of the Inuit customs in society today, are the traditions keeping us locked up in another time and place?
Hunting and Culture is important to our people, but Jails need to also provide and encourage more trades programs, educational services, training programs and offer real proper treatment. Offenders require real help from qualified professionals, and does speaking to an elder in the community considered proper help?

Video Blog

Crime in Nunavut, Frustrated with em' all!

In violent crime, Nunavut is the national champion

Territory leads Canada in severity of criminal violence

In July of 2010 Statistics Canada confirms that crime, especially violent crime, is getting worse in Nunavut. Nunavut has jumped ahead of the Northwest Territories (population 43 000) and now owns the highest overall crime rate in Canada. The per capita crime rate in Nunavut is still three times higher than in Canada, says the StasCan report which annually surveys all criminal incidents reported to Canadian police services.And, based on a new measurement, the crime severity index, Nunavut’s even worse, especially for violent crimes.

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/877678_in_violent_crime_nunavut_is_the_national_champion/

With in the past 3 weeks, there have been two homicides in Cape Dorset by shooting; and Oct 13/2010  two 9^th graders were firing off shots in the community and at houses!

Gun-toting youths wreak havoc in Cape Dorset

One wounded in exchange of gunfire with Nunavut RCMP

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/989789_gun-toting_youths_wreak_havoc_in_cape_dorset/

There have been six murders in Nunavut so far this year 2010, 44 murders in Nunavut since 1999 and we have the highest crime rate in Canada! With only a population of 30 000!

Nunavut racks up sixth homicide of the year

Young Cape Dorset man faces second degree murder charge

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/98789_nunavut_racks_up_sixth_homicide_of_the_year/

Nunavut is racked by violence, with rates of homicide, assault, robbery, rape and suicide stunningly above the national average. The violence and other serious social ills are robbing Nunavut of a many of its young people, especially those with Inuit backgrounds. Much of the rage and despair have been fuelled by chronic alcohol and drug abuse. Unemployment, poverty and family violence are rampant!

I am so frustrated with all that is lacking in the territory and its communities to create educational, successful people.

I am angry and totally fed up with alcohol and drug abusers, especially the people who take advantage of the lives of others.

What will it take for people to realize that everyone has an important role in their families, community and territory. It is unacceptable for people to continue to go on living their lives like another number in the population of Nunavut, All people of Nunavut should be contributing, active and have strong community involvement to see success in reducing crime.

My thoughts on my choice 5 blogs

5 topics of choice are 1) Online dating experience, 2) Who is responsible for student learning, 3) Testing toddlers, 4) Inequality and life chances, and 5) Can social problems be solved?
I choose these topics because I find them to be interesting facts and important relevant issues I see in my community. Sociology helps us understand everyday life.

1) Online Dating Experience

By Todd Schoepflin

Ariely points out that typical online dating websites break people down into “searchable attributes” such as height, weight, income, and political views. These websites operate on the mistaken assumption that people are easy to describe on the basis of such attributes. He uses wine for an analogy. You might be able to describe the wine you drink, but that doesn’t matter very much. What matters is that you know if you like it or you don’t.
http://nortonbooks.typepad.com/everydaysociology/in_relationships/
　
The blogger writes about another mans view of on online dating. How the peoples views and perspectives change about one another when a relationship is created over the internet; Rather, he believes the typical online dating system exaggerates our tendency to be superficial.
I’ve personally always questioned and had concern that the internet gives more opportunity for infidelity because it give you more opportunity to speaking to others you might have not have other wise have had to speak to before.
Does the internet create the cheater or does it give the cheater more opportunity?
There is the good and bad of online dating, success and unsuccessful, Influences, But most importantly keep a reality check.
2) Who is Responsible for student learning?
By Janis Prince Inniss
Janis Prince Inniss, blogs about how far students expect their teachers have to go to help them in obtaining their education. In addition, questions how far should teachers go to help their students learn?
http://nortonbooks.typepad.com/everydaysociology/2010/10/who-is-responsible-for-student-learning.html
By Melissa MacDonald
When I was in school I don’t recall any of the overachievers, I guess I could consider my self to be an excel student but I was more laidback like a lot of the other and to do this I don’t know of student not willing to learn, they just needed the right teacher.
Now I can speak from both the perspective of a teacher and that of a students.
1) Understanding the obligation of the teacher and the students
I do not think a teacher should hold the hand of the student, However, I find that a teacher should be an affective leader by providing strong support and guidance.
2) I am unsure of the average population of students to a class in south. If a high population I am sure it would be difficult to work more one on one, but in the Northern classes the higher the grade the lower the population which could mean more working one on one.
3) It is important that the teacher be available, it is an expectation that should go both ways, if you expect the student to be more involved then you should expect to do the same for your student.
4) A teacher should have strict guidelines and then eventually lighten up, a teacher should try their best to identify the needs of individual students in their classes, and work to help each child develop his or her own potential.
5) A teacher should be strong and intellectual enough to suggest different programs, ideas that may better suit the student’s interests and needs to becoming successful.

3) Testing Toddlers

By Hilary Levey

Stressed about New York City Department of Education that may begin testing three-year-olds for places in kindergarten classrooms at public schools. If the Department of Education goes forward with this plan, they must work to ensure that all children have equal opportunities to gain admission. Otherwise the current proposal will only worsen a worrying trend towards unequal access to the City’s best schools.
http://nortonbooks.typepad.com/everydaysociology/social-institutions-work-education-and-medicine/

By Melissa MacDonald
I see the decision to test preschools for kindergarten to be have both positive and negative aspects.
Positive:

Encourage developing children’s skills and learning at early age
Parents work harder to ensure children have proper education
More pressure is on the parents to ensure child is receiving their education rather then just expecting the teacher to teach everything that has to be taught.

Negative:

Unequal access to best schools
Social impacts

Here is an example is an article about the thoughts of the testing and how this all affects the children’s futures.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/295146

　

4) Inequality and Life Chances: Going to Law School or Going to Prison

By Karen Sternheimer
Sociologist Max Weber (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Weber)
Observed that our class and status shape one’s opportunities, what sociologists call “life chances,” While we tend to think of success as the sole result of our talent and effort, our social position is in many ways a result of our family’s social status.
http://nortonbooks.typepad.com/everydaysociology/social-institutions-work-education-and-medicine/
By Melissa MacDonald
Social class influences our life chances: Even in our small communities, it is very noticeable as to who will be successful in life and who is considered/labelled as being of social assistance. In our small-populated communities, we all live in the same environment that creates both the drug and alcohol dealers and the successful goal orientated Inuit.
Here is an example of the state of most communities in the North and the battle that continues: Nunatsiaq News Article
Kitikmeot Youth fret over social problems, language
http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/810102_oss_of_language_social_problems_top_list_of_kitikmeot_youth_concerns/
What sets the successful and not so successful apart is mainly popularity, and education. Many people in Nunavut are given the same opportunity to training, and money. It is just the fact of how much support they receive and if they have the comprehension to make the life decisions that has to be made.
　
　

5) Can social problems be solved?

By Karen Sternheimer

If you have ever taken or taught a sociology class, you know that many students leave feeling like some problems are too deeply entrenched in our social structure to ever change. This, of course, is not true; social change is possible. But how?
http://nortonbooks.typepad.com/everydaysociology/2010/05/can-social-problems-be-solved.html#comments
　
By Melissa MacDonald
I agree with what Karen spoke about in her blog, about not expecting the law to create change in people. In our communities I see a lot of people pointing fingers as to who’s faults and responsibilities are that of the youth. And time after time I hear the passion for change. However rarely do I see any, because eventually that passion wares off into the back of peoples minds until yearly meetings are around the corner, are when issues really arise again.
Article in NunatsiaqNews.
Kitikmeot women weep over the state of youth
"The drug dealers are murdering and killing our children"
http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/09109_save_youth_put_traffickers_and_bootleggers_in_jail_kitikmeot_women/
People are confused as to what is considered normal, in small communities drugs, alcohol abuse and gambling are considered the Norm and I just want so badly to scream in their faces “IT IS NOT NORMAL!”, it is affecting the lives of everyone associated. And Who’s fault is it? Is it The youth, parents, Bylaw, RCMP, teachers or the fault of all of the community?
If people want to see a change in their lives and that of their communities then they better start understanding that life committing changes that are to be made, We have to set an example and be the role models, we cant expect some else to clean up our mess, it doesn’t take a dollar to know the difference from right and wrong.
I believe what should be done in the communities are to begin to form groups, organizations, facilities of people willing to contribute their time and knowledge and support to help create healthier, happier, educated people. So that issues are constantly being dealt with in the communities and not having to wait for the media and an honorarium to let it be known. People and youth need to be given more opportunity through education and training, they have to be challenged in life, no more hand outs and leniency; people have to learn to be positive and contributing members of society.
　
CONCLUSION
I think that the use of blogs is a perfect way to open up not just the walls of the NU class rooms but also the minds of Nu students, Blogs invite new variety of ideas, viewpoints, and most importantly they give students the ability to contribute what they think, while learning constructive, logical meaning and learning to know the legit materials.