Friday, July 22, 2011

Educational Web Tools Application For Sustainability

It is now a trend to be globally competitive and to be aware of our responsibilities to our nature and planet. In relation to these, below are web tools addresses and features necessary and useful for information dissemination and for sharing our visions and goals to others in saving our planet.

WEB TOOLS LINKS

Indoor Sciences has created several free web-based tools specifically designed for the fields of indoor air quality, sustainability and green building. These websites are educational tools that help share information related to these fields.
  • www.SeeImGreen.com
    At “See I’m Green” you can let your neighbors know what activities you are doing to help the environment. Check out what others are doing by clicking on their profiles. The site is meant for people to share information and encourage each other to save energy, reduce waste and preserve natural resources like the air and water. The site allows individuals, businesses and organizations to add a marker to our map of the world.  Visit SeeImGreen now!
  • www.LabComparisons.com
    Compare labs based on accreditations, pricing, customer reviews and geographical location.  Browse the storefronts to learn more about the labs, read news stories, download sample lab reports and catch special deals.  After you find a laboratory on our site, visit us again and write a review to share your experience with others.  Our site is geared towards labs performing mold, asbestos, lead, radon and other industrial hygiene and microbiological analysis. Visit Lab Comparisons now!
  • www.IAQforms.com
    Access over 10 different IAQ and mold forms that have been created by hundreds of minds in the industry. IAQforms is a free, group-edited website that has been created by Indoor Sciences students. Visit IAQforms now!
  • www.IAQcomparisons.com
    Compare IAQ products based on technical specifications, pricing and customer reviews. IAQcomparisons is meant to be an online community where IAQ professionals can share experiences and make informed decisions. We hope that you will participate by writing customer reviews of all the products you have used. Visit IAQcomparisons now!(Source: http://indoorsciences.com/web-tools)

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet can also be defined as a worldwide interconnection of computers and computer networks that facilitate the sharing or exchange of information among users. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support electronic mail.
Most traditional communications media including telephone, music, film, and television are reshaped or redefined by the Internet, giving birth to new services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and IPTV. Newspaper, book and other print publishing are adapting to Web site technology, or are reshaped into blogging and web feeds. The Internet has enabled or accelerated new forms of human interactions through instant messaging, Internet forums, and social networking. Online shopping has boomed both for major retail outlets and small artisans and traders. Business-to-business and financial services on the Internet affect supply chains across entire industries.
The origins of the Internet reach back to research of the 1960s, commissioned by the United States government in collaboration with private commercial interests to build robust, fault-tolerant, and distributed computer networks. The funding of a new U.S. backbone by the National Science Foundation in the 1980s, as well as private funding for other commercial backbones, led to worldwide participation in the development of new networking technologies, and the merger of many networks. The commercialization of what was by the 1990s an international network resulted in its popularization and incorporation into virtually every aspect of modern human life. As of 2009, an estimated quarter of Earth's population used the services of the Internet.
The Internet has no centralized governance in either technological implementation or policies for access and usage; each constituent network sets its own standards. Only the overreaching definitions of the two principal name spaces in the Internet, the Internet Protocol address space and the Domain Name System, are directed by a maintainer organization, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The technical underpinning and standardization of the core protocols (IPv4 and IPv6) is an activity of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a non-profit organization of loosely affiliated international participants that anyone may associate with by contributing technical expertise. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet)

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Education, Technology, and Sustainability

Taking a rest after the Tree Growing Fest
      The advancement in the science and the development of new technologies is inevitable. Brought by miniaturization and automations, our world is busy changing while progressing. Less we know that our world is sick and is tired of abrupt change and surprisingly, we are being asked by nature to pay back. Natural disasters such as typhoons, melting of icecaps, climate changes, floods, and earthquakes are only some of unavoidable phenomena. We can’t avoid those disasters but we can prevent them from coming back.
            Although it is not bad to be developed and to progress, but we are just reminded by these disasters to take good care of our planet as we progress as shown by industrialization, commercialization, computerizations and globalization. There is also an issue of poverty brought by so many factors. If we will not continue to educate each other, many will die because of hunger. This is shown by the data in so many studies utilizing statistics and thru technology these data are being disseminated in the internet around the globe.
            The advancement in the warfare and ammunition of different countries around the world is another thing that must be considered also in education for sustainable development. According to data provided with the use of statistics, these weapons can destroy us as well as other creatures and living things. If we will not spread the importance of peace and serenity, we will surely destroy this planet with these weapons.
            Meaning, it is not enough to be advanced in technology and to be progressive. We should have also what we call a social responsibility. We must help other people to progress and we should not let them die in poverty. We should not allow our co-resident in this planet to die under the exploding nuclear bombs. We could unite to keep peace around this globe. Those people who are poor and severely mistreated by the society must have shelter and food as their basic necessities. If we talk about peace this include the peace within and outside ourselves. I know you cannot have peace if you are seeing others who suffer because of war, oppressions, and poverty.
            Using statistics, data about the ill effects of advancements and development are presented and tabulated. Using also statistics, some ways and remedies to address the pre-mentioned problems are also presented. What are lacking are our actions to this issues and concerns. So let us use the data provide for us by using statistics and let us share our lives to everyone by educating them to live sustainably and let’s do our part!


Our planet needs us to be more caring and loving. As what we are seeing on the left, our planet is sick because of what we had been doing. Pollution in the air, pollution in the water, and pollution in the air are what our mother earth got from us despite the shelter she gave us. But, it’s not too late for us to move. Let us help each other rebuild this home of ours. Through tree planting activities, recycling our wastes, cleaning our surroundings, and proper disposals of garbage, we can surely prolong the life of this fantastic and wonderful world of us. Of course we need the help of everyone, especially the children who will soon own this planet when the old folks are gone. Let us start educating ourselves and let us educate others by doing our part in this mission, or we can call it vocation.

            When Koronadal City had its Tree Growing Festival last June 29, 2011, I took time to participate by climbing a steep hill of Brgy. Takilay which is a part of Koronadal City. After 1 hour and 30 minutes of climbing a slope of 30 to 40 degrees, I reached the top and it was a joyful experience to be a part of those who wanted to pay back what our planet had given us, the shelter. As an evidence of our participation to that event, I posted some of our pictures in my face book account and some are included in this blog specifically on the slide shows I put in this blog.
            If we will look deeper, it’s not only our forest and mountains that were abused. We can see our streets and dumping sites crowded with non-biodegradable wastes. Don’t we know how to segregate? Or, we are just lazy enough. Are we to wait for nest floods and landslides? Our bodies of water are being abused and damaged. Our air is also suffocated because of smoke and gases form vehicles, factories, and also from our cigars. We can barely take in fresh air as of these days especially in cities and crowded areas. Have you ever take time to breathe lately? Maybe because of our busy lives we even forgot to think that we should breath. If we will not take time and make time to stop what we do and if we will not take time to reflect and think of what is happening around us, we will surely be living in vain and we will just wake up someday knowing that we don’t have any place to live. Maybe we sure have place to stay, but what about our children and those who are next to us. Do we have a place to offer to them? Can we leave this planet worthy to be their shelter? Have we taught them correctly? 
            Actually, it’s not enough to give them a good shelter. We should also teach them how to maintain the life of this world and to have heart to consider those who are next to them. Using the data provided by the surveys and reports using statistics, we can see that we need to do something. On the left we can see the degrading supply of energy. It follows that we need to conserve energy and we should find ways to have other sources of energy, may it be alternative of not. Our water resources and reservoir must be protected and harness also. We should avoid polluting our water including our air. We know that water evaporates and it combines with gases in air. If these gases are polluted, will have also polluted rain and this rainwater will be the source of the water we are using. Although this falling water is to be strained by our land or soil, but we are not safe for our soil or landforms are also polluted. We, therefore have to protect our land, air, and water resources and help each other in maintaining the cleanliness of our land, air, and water.
To help disseminate the information about saving our planet by educating every resident of this planet, this e-portfolio focuses on statistics as the platform of education for sustainable development. And, I included in those integrations by posting pictures, statistical graphs, and some videos. Below is the video of my band when we had a contest where the theme is about our natural resources. I hope you will learn a lot form this post. God bless everyone!  Seeeyahhhhhh!
My Special Activities on the Integration of 
ESD, STATISTICS, and TECHNOLOGY












E - Portfolio
          An electronic portfolio, also known as an e-portfolio or digital portfolio, is a collection of electronic evidence assembled and managed by a user, usually on the Web. Such electronic evidence may include inputted text, electronic files, images, multimediablog entries, and hyperlinks. E-portfolios are both demonstrations of the user's abilities and platforms for self-expression, and, if they are online, they can be maintained dynamically over time. Some e-portfolio applications permit varying degrees of audience access, so the same portfolio might be used for multiple purposes.An e-portfolio can be seen as a type of learning record that provides actual evidence of achievement. Learning records are closely related to the Learning Plan, an emerging tool that is being used to manage learning by individuals, teams, communities of interest, and organizations. To the extent that a Personal Learning Environment captures and displays a learning record, it also might be understood to be an electronic portfolio. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_portfolio)

To know more about Electronic Portfolio, click on the image or link below.
  
This E-Portfolio is created mainly to follow, assess and evaluate the professional progress and development in Educ 213(Advanced Educational Statistics) and the development of ICT as incorporated in the subject. This highlights the integrations of Statistics, Education for Sustainable Development, and Innovations in Technology.
This blog offers great emphasis on the collection of data or artifacts as documented to serve  as evidence on the learning acquired from the subject. Furthermore, it also provides published documents on the reaction and/or reflection made out of the learning experiences inside the class.



Link to our mentor: Prof Ava