1.1 You are being watched...

Ever feel like you are being watched?  This article explores and sheds light on the subject of digital tracking by the government on its people, which, as the article states is illegal to do in Canada.  Read the following article and while reading think about answering these questions. 1) Should the government be allowed to watch what we do on the internet? 2) How does this make you feel to know that the government is watching you? 3) Is it really necessary to be keeping track of our movements in such a manner? 4) How much information are they really getting from us and what are they going to do with that information?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/csec-used-airport-wi-fi-to-track-canadian-travellers-edward-snowden-documents-1.2517881

Post your comments

Blog Marking Scheme

Your Marking Scheme

I will start with the following marking scheme, which is based on the Brock University Faculty of Ed. with some personal tweaking.  If you feel that certain elements are needed or not needed, then this weekend is your chance to voice your opinions in the comments section below my post here.  Although I mentioned I would only mark one of your posts, and it will remain that way, I am including as a requirement that you respond to others in order to achieve level 4.  Think of it as a part of your post.  If you've done all that work to make your post great, then wouldn't you like to hear some feedback from other students? Bien sur.

General Suggestions:
-Participate actively.  To get the most, it is important for you to actively participate in discussions throughout the course

-Post on a regular basis - a minimum of every three days.  That means twice a week, but don't heap them up on the same day.  Basically, if you follow the above suggestion it means you make one post to be evaluated and a second post which is a discussion with one of your classmates.

-Make substantive postings. Please avoid making postings that simply agree or disagree or repeat ideas already posted.  Rather, add substantively to the discussion by extending the ideas of others, relating personal or other experiences that illustrate ideas being discussed, proposing alternate ideas, raising new questions for discussion and asking for clarification.
-Express ideas concisely. Please avoid lengthy postings. One way to do this is by keeping each posting focused on a single idea or theme. Make separate postings for different ideas and themes.
-Make a variety of postings.  Keep in mind the various regions of the world and also the various themes of study (i.e. Population, Environment, Economy, Sustainability, Geopolitics).
-Spell check work before posting. There's no excuse in 2012 when you are using a computer.


Level 4 - (80-100%)
1. Contributes to discussions with high degree of regularity
2. Responses indicate a high degree of knowledge of events and how they relate to world issues
3. Interacts with other members on the discussion board with a high degree of effectiveness
4. Demonstrates a high degree of self-motivation
5. Accepts criticism postively
6. Illustrates ideas with references to classroom (and other) experiences with a high degree of effectiveness
7. expresses ideas clearly and concisely with a high degree of effectiveness
8. Includes references to two external sources to support posting.

Level 3 - (70-79%)
1. Contributes to discussions with considerable  regularity
2. Responses indicate a considerable knowledge of events and how they relate to world issues
3. Interacts with other members on the discussion board with considerable effectiveness
4. Demonstrates considerable self-motivation
5. Usually accepts criticism postively
6. Illustrates ideas with references to classroom (and other) experiences with considerable effectiveness
7. expresses ideas clearly and concisely with considerable effectiveness
8. Includes references to one external sources to support posting.

Level 2 - (60 - 69%)
1. Contributes to discussions with some  regularity
2. Responses indicate a some knowledge of events and how they relate to world issues
3. Interacts with other members on the discussion board with some effectiveness
4. Demonstrates some self-motivation
5. Sometimes accepts criticism postively
6. Illustrates ideas with references to classroom (and other) experiences with some effectiveness
7. expresses ideas clearly and concisely with some effectiveness
8. Does not reference to external sources to support posting.

Level 1 - (50 - 59%)
1. Contributes to discussions with limited regularity
2. Includes a response to another classmate, but lacks a formal post
3. Responses indicate limited knowledge of events and how they relate to world issues
4. Interacts with other members on the discussion board with limited effectiveness
5. Demonstrates limite self-motivation
6. Does not  accept criticism postively
7. Expresses ideas with limited effectiveness
8. No references to external sources to support posting.

<50%
1. Does not include a post

Mr. Lahaie please add...

Mr. Lahaie can you please add the following topic...

Blog Overview

Blog Overview

This is an overview.
In general you can post to the news events of the day by selecting from the tabs on the right of the screen.  They are organized by the week.
You will be responsible for posting one news events from a world region per week AND commenting on two or your classmates posts as well.
You can post as many as you like.  One, Twenty, but I will only select one for evaluation.
That post should contain a MINIMUM of two sources (not including your newslink itself), and one of those two sources should be from a reliable (i.e. academic/government) source. Please try to abstain from using wikipedia, random websites, etc.

You will begin that post with the statement "This is my weekly post ..." or "Mark this one"
Please change it up on a weekly basis so that you have covered each region by the end of the course. I won't be a stickler here, so you can overlap a tad, but if I notice that you are constantly posting on the same issue on the same part of the world then I will make you aware of the need to vary your posts.

Try to comment on another student's post so that it feels like a conversation/debate/or learning table.  You may even include a response as one of your selected posts to be evaluated.  In fact, I encourage it.

As the course develops and we begin to understand the major global issues, you may wish to explore a particular topic more in-depth.  A particular issue may strike a chord with you.  You may also take part in a long-term ongoing conversation on that topic that lasts the duration of the school semester. 

If you want to add another sub-topic to each unit, make a request for me to add it  by going to the tab on the right titled "Mr. Lahaie please add..."  And I can create a new sub-heading where we can create a discussion board on that topic.  I have added an example called "Bottled Water" where you can see how that may look.

There are roughly 17 weeks to the course and there are 17.5% marks allocated to the area of Thinking/Inquiry.  Convenient. This means you will receive approximately 1% of that mark component based on your weekly participation.  You will be expected to tie in course material that we cover on methods of critical thinking and analyzing World Issues.

This blog is live - this means it is a work in progress and can be modified to suit the needs of your learning.  Feel free to post comments/suggestions under the tab titled "Mr. Lahaie please add"
Let's get this started then shall we?  I've created a tab titled Week 1-News where you can feel free to add comments on this week's top current events.

Enjoy!

Testing, testing, 1,2,3

Just checking to see if this thing called the internet and blogging actually works.  Let me know if you are able to see this.