Post #10

The article I found the most intriguing this week is the one by Kurt Squire, "Open Ended Video Games: A Model for Developing Learning for the Interactive Age". I liked this article because, as a future teacher, I think it is important to attack learning in any way possible. Fostering a good learning environment involves using any medium a child can best learn with. The fact that this paper shines the light on video games as providing "diverse interests, creative problem solving, and productive acts (such as creating art work or using them as tools for moedling (building world civilizations))", simply shows how video games can be useful in diverse ways in the learning enviroment. In pertaining to children with developmental delays or learning disabilities, these children may find using video games extremely useful because it gives them another way to understand the material while fostering social interactions and stimulating their mind in a different way other than reading a book. A child with a developmental delay or learning disability may find it difficult to learn information from a book but may grasp the concept better if it is presented in a graphical, interactive form such as video games.

Post #9

The readings for this week definitely gave me a lot to think about - where technology is going in the field of education seems to be a rising question. It seems to me that technology and software in the field of education is of great importance. This being said, while there are great advancements students can make when using this software, there are issues that come along with it. Teachers may begin to rely solely on the 'blogs' or 'wikis' and forget about the face-to-face interaction students need to thrive in any type of environment they will encounter in life. It is important that teachers don't just sit their students down in front of a computer all day and have them write a blog or comment on an issue; they need social interaction and need to be able to verbally express their opinion as well. It is also important that the students remember there is an authoritative figure in the classroom. The discussion boards may make the students feel like they are talking to more of a friend than a teacher, especially if it is on a social software the child uses with friends outside of the classroom as well. It is important the student still recognizes the teacher as just that, so there is still a sense of a classroom environment on and off line. However, using social software in the classroom has many perks for students. I think especially for students in high school who may be afraid of what people will think of them if they express their opinion, they can have a safe place to do so that fosters a growing relationship with the teacher. If they are shy they can express their opinion and maybe even create new relationships with other students through commenting on something they may have written. Children in elementary school are able to learn new ways of expressing themselves without interrupting one another. Quite often it is difficult to get children in elementary school to 'settle down' and let others speak; a blog would allow them to write all of their opinions down free from interruption. However, if a child's assignment (especially in elementary school) is to write in a blog at home - we must make the parents or caregivers aware that the child will be using an on-line method of communication with the teacher. On-line risks to run in to predators is extremely high, it is important to make the parents aware of what the child will be doing on-line and make sure they monitor them and notice if the child is using a web-site or talking to someone they should not be. I think using an on-line social software in the classroom has more benefits than not, but they must be used correctly and carefully.

Post #8

I just so happen to have done a presentation about Child Abduction before I read one of this week's articles, "New Media and Society". This article discussed parental attitudes towards the interent and how it effected how and when they let their children use it. It seems that some parents were afraid of on-line predators and were hesitant to let their children use the interent at first because of it. On-line predators are a real threat, while most are sexual predators some even turn into child abuctors. Parents have every right to feel hesitant to let their young children use the interent for this reason. While this is a real threat, it did seem that most parents out grew the feeling of this threat and were more afraid to let their children use the internet because they had lack of information on it or less accessibility to it. Parents should definitely guard their children from dangerous things on the internet, however, as seen in other articles, using the internet can be a very positive social aspect to someone's life. As seen in the "Benefits of Facebook Friends" article, people were able to maintain old friendships and create opportunities for themseleves from holding on to these relationships and keeping in touch with others. I think the internet has a lot of positives and negatives, but if used correctly it can positively effect almost every aspect of one's life - such as jobs, relationships, and opportunities. Parents should be skeptical of the internet but try to keep an open mind and learn more about it so they can teach their children how to safely use it.

Post #7

The article I found the most intriguing this week was the Ritchel article about being "Attached to Technology and Paying a Price" (2010). I think I enjoyed this one the most because of its relateability. Somehow all of us can relate to not being able to put technology down - if we're not on our laptop or ipad we're on our iphone or even watching television. I thought it was interesting how the article related it to "This is your brain on computers" and how we actually have more difficulty multitasking and focusing because of the different technologies we force our brain to attend to at one time (Ritchel, 2010). I think this is becoming a rising problem in today's society. We are constantly absorbing technology and attending to many tasks at once that we cannot focus on one thing when we really need to (i.e., a test or paper we need to write). It has come so far that even our social relationships with those we care about suffer, as seen in the article. I thought this piece of the article related nicely to Liz's article/presentation from two weeks ago. We are so focused on technology that we feel we cannot function without it in the real world and find real life interactions almost strange and perhaps boring. It seems technology is taking over our lives and changing our value system in how we relate to others and focus on what we feel is important.

Post #6

Hi all,

The article I chose was "The Design and Function of Cochlear Implants" by Michael F. Dorman and Blake S Wilson. The article discusses how Cochlear Implants affect adult's and children's hearing and what advance we can expect from the technology. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Cochlear Implant, it is a surgically implanted device that stimulates inner hair cells to electrically transmit sound through the cochlear to the auditory nerve and to the brain to be interpreted as sound. The article found that the Cochlear Implant should be implanted before the age of 7 or if the person has a good foundation for language. Some advances we can expect are Electrical Acoustic Stimulation and a Drug-Delivery System to preserve hair cells in the cochlea.

My critique was about the fact that the article did not discuss the controversy between the Deaf and the Hearing world. The authors state they will not be discussing this and will only function on the science; in my opinion, the authors should have discussed it to support the idea of hard technological determinism which the article seemed to support. I also felt that the societal implications for hard technological determinism of the Cochlear Implant should have been discussed. The Cochlear Implant will inevitable diminish Deaf culture and the use of American Sign Language.

That was just a brief summary of what I said in class. If you would like me to elaborate on anything please feel free to ask. I am eager to see what comments you have about the article and my critique :)

Post #5

For this week's readings, the one article I was most interested in was "Being Trini and Representing Trinidad". We all use the internet for communication and social relations, but it was interesting to read how different cultures related to others through the use of this tool. The article explains how each person can experience other cultures through talking with other people through the internet. One point in particular stuck out to me.. the fact that while the internet chat and ICQ can overcome distances and people almost feel a sense of trust with the other person they are communicating with. Is it possible to build a relationship over the internet without ever meeting someone? For some, the chat and ICQ let them explore differences between cultures and people often feel a sense of trust and emotional connectivity with the person they are conversing with. I thought it was interesting to read how people could find this sense of connection with people they have never met. Furthermore, the on-line meetings allow people to experience and feel connected with places they have never been to. They can get a real feel for how a certain place, like Trinidad, is through websites or through conversing with other people. It is amazing the amount of social connectiveness the internet allows us to have now.

Post #4a - Extra

I stumbled upon this article and thought I'd share. While it does not necessarily tie in with this week's topic, I thought it tied in well to the class as a whole in how technology impacts our society. It is interesting to note that while we have all of these technological advances, sometimes we don't want to use them. Sometimes what we are looking for involves going back to basics. I will admit that I am not a particularly technologically savvy person. I have a laptop (of which I am an avid user of the internet), a Droid, etc. but when it really comes down to it, I enjoy using things as they are and not using any fancy technology. I am probably one of only a few who still use paper and pen to take notes in class. I am only now looking into what an Ipad has to offer and am still contemplating how much I would really use it. I particularly like this article because it emphasizes that sometimes technology is not what we need... sometimes we need the human interaction to make our points. I can attest to going in and out of many doctor's offices of which I felt like a number behind a screen, instead of a human with a physical ailment that needed attention. It seems doctors today are too quick to diagnose and prescribe medication that may or may not help without actually looking at and listening to the patient; this article attributes this to the advances in technology that have turned patients into numbers, instead of people. As stated before, the article doesn't deal with topics of this week but I thought it was interesting to consider. I encourage you to read and decide for yourself :)

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/02/opinion/verghese-doctors-touch/index.html?hpt=op_bn2



(**To see my post about this weeks readings please go back one post by hitting "Older Post" at the bottom of the page**)