I commented on the following blogs:
Yolanda
Laura
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Red Queens and Increasing Returns
When I read the instructions for Module 4 about needing to
view a science fiction movie based on a Philip K. Dick book, my first choice
was Video-on-Demand, which is offered through my cable provider. Due to the movies being older, there were
none available for viewing on this convenient, at home feature. My next stop was Red Box but once again due
to these films being older, they were not offered there either. My final choice was, Hastings, which is our
only video rental choice in town.
According to Dr. Thornburg (2008), when two entities are
competing for the same cause, it can be considered a Red Queens. In today’s ever demanding world, it is
crucial that all entities keep up with the demands of the consumers. Overall, consumers want convenience which is
why video-on-demand has been such a success.
Another feature that today’s consumers like is the idea of the video
rental option Red Box. As a consumer
with a 4 year old, this has proved to be a great idea. While traveling to the beach this past spring
break, we were able to stop in one town, rent a DVD via Red Box, my son watched
that movie then in the next town, return that DVD and rent another one. How is that for convenient?!?
According to McLuhan’s tetrad, DVD’s and Video-on-Demand
would fall in Quadrant 2. These two
technologies have pretty much eliminated the need for large DVD retail stores
and the need for a separate DVD/VCR device.
When it comes to me watching a movie, I prefer the traditional TV
viewing versus watching it on my computer screen!
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (2009).
Emerging and future technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Thornburg, D. (2008c). Red Queens,
butterflies, and strange attractors: Imperfect lenses into emergent
technologies. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space
Exploration.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
The Disruptive Power of Second Life
First
let me start with my experience with Second Life: my middle school students LOVE the idea of it
and always want to access the various sites they use at home. I have found that this is more popular with
my African American students compared to my Caucasian students. Of course I don’t allow my students to access
these types of sites in my classroom but there are always a few that try their
hardest to get around this “classroom rule”.
Before I was educated on “Second Life” sites, I thought they were pretty
much harmless but several years ago I monitored a few of my student’s usage by
creating my own avatar on the site and found that this type of peer interaction
can actually be harmful.
Second
life sites allow individuals the potential to create a virtual individual and
pretty much be the person they can’t be in the “real world”. They are able to create the avatar to appear
like they would like to appear or as an individual that they may think is “cool”
whether it is a person accepted by society.
They can change their attitude to one that can be portrayed at
disrespectful and completely unacceptable.
This “virtual person” they create is one they can hide behind, one they
can use to be hurtful to others that may simply being seeing it as
entertainment.
Another
concern I have with virtual worlds and avatars, is that some more vulnerable
people may forget that it is in fact just virtual and may mistake it for
reality. After creating my avatar and
observing my students in their virtual world, I found that some used language
that I was shocked to “hear” come out of their mouth and the clothes they
dressed their avatar in was far from what I would ever see them wearing at
school. Another concern was that they
wouldn’t have any idea who they were interacting with but would share personal,
and potentially harmful information with these complete strangers. All of the Internet safety discussions I have
had with my students seemed to “fly out the window” when they were in these
virtual worlds—that became their life, their reality, for the time and to me
that is scary.
In
the article, How Second Life Affects Real
Life (2008) from Time Magazine, it brings up the same information that I
discussed earlier about how an individual can create an avatar to be anybody
they want to be. The article talks about
how an individual created an avatar to be much better looking and cool than he
is actually portrayed in real life. He
is able to be more outgoing in this virtual world making it so more people like
the individual and so people want to “hang with the avatar”.
References:
Dell, Kristina (2008, May).
How Second Life Affects Real Life.
Retrieved July 22, 2012 at
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Module 3: Rhymes of History Technology
The cell phone was first introduced back in the 1940's to the military and some business people but was not commonly used with the general public. As the years advanced so did the use of the cellular phone. By the 60's and 70's more business people were using them. Once the 90's came, more common people were using them but they were so bulky and they were restricted to more of using only in your car. As technology advanced so did the use of cellular phones and their capabilites. Today, you can't walk in public without seeing the majority of people with a cellular phone in their hand, up to their ear, texting or searching the Internet. Cell phones and their abilities have come a long way since the 1940's--majority of individuals having them versuses the traditiaonl land lines. People are all about convienance and cellular service has provided the people the convienance they desire.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7432915/ns/technology_and_science-wireless/t/first-cell-phone-true-brick/ Retrieved July 4, 2012.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mobile_phones Retrieved July 4, 2012.
The cell phone was first introduced back in the 1940's to the military and some business people but was not commonly used with the general public. As the years advanced so did the use of the cellular phone. By the 60's and 70's more business people were using them. Once the 90's came, more common people were using them but they were so bulky and they were restricted to more of using only in your car. As technology advanced so did the use of cellular phones and their capabilites. Today, you can't walk in public without seeing the majority of people with a cellular phone in their hand, up to their ear, texting or searching the Internet. Cell phones and their abilities have come a long way since the 1940's--majority of individuals having them versuses the traditiaonl land lines. People are all about convienance and cellular service has provided the people the convienance they desire.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7432915/ns/technology_and_science-wireless/t/first-cell-phone-true-brick/ Retrieved July 4, 2012.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mobile_phones Retrieved July 4, 2012.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Module 2: Tetrad on the Tablet
Module 2: Tetrad on the
Tablet
Tablets have become part of a lot of classrooms and
workplaces due to their versatility.
They have started replacing the traditional paper/pencil which allows
for individuals to become more organized.
The size of tablets makes it easier for individuals to transport them
from one setting to the other. The
advancement in the touch screen and use of stylus pens has also helped to make
the use of tablets more user friendly.
Another great feature is that most tablets allow the user to use the
same applications and software that they are used to using on their traditional
desktop and laptop computers.
Enhances: With tablets, they
are easier to travel with, they allow the user to print, search the Internet,
etc. Pretty much anything you can do
on a desktop and laptop can be done on the tablet.
|
Obsoletes: This piece of
technology could possibly make the desktop and laptop obsolete in the
future.
|
Retrieves: With this piece of
technology paving the future, there will be room for advancement in the
tablets. In the past individuals
assumed that the bigger the piece of technology was, the better it must
be. Then we went to era where the
smaller the tablet was the more convenient it was. Society has moved to a happy medium on the
tablets—where a decent size screen is easier to use.
|
Reverses: This piece of
technology can reduce the amount of traditional paper/pencil that so many
people are used to using. Tablets
allow the user to be more organized with various applications that are
available on the device.
|
References:
Chen, T., E. Chow, et al. (2005).
"Positivo Informática: The Tablet PC Textbook."
Retrieved June 24, 2012, from http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/glab/files/positivo_case.pdf.
TabletPc2.com. (2007). "Software
For The Tablet PC."Retrieved June 24, 2012, from
http://www.tabletpc2.com/Software.htm.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Module 1: Emerged Technology
Clickers in the Classroom
Clickers, or student response systems, are a technology used to ensure active learning in the classroom. Current research on the benefits of using clickers in the classroom has shown that students become actively engaged and enjoy using them. However, the majority of research on learning outcomes has only compared the use to clickers to traditional methods of learning. Research has proven that learning outcomes are higher when using clickers, the question is whether the clickers or the active learning pedagogies are the cause for this increase in learning. When clickers are compared to active class discussion is has been proven that clickers are more effective due to students being able to anonymously respond and clickers implement more of a game approach which seems to keep our students attention for a longer time.
Some of the challenges associated with clickers is that the questions students are supposed to answer using them are not challenging enough. In other words, the questions fall into the lower level of Bloom's taxonomy. Another challenge that faces teachers using clickers is sometimes technology can be problematic, especially when there is a large number of students in the classroom. Overall, the disadvantages are minor compared to the advantages associated with clickers and active learning.
From my experience with clickers, I personally find them to work great in the classroom when compared to traditional methods or teaching/learning. The students are more excited about learning when they know the clickers are involved. The students that are typically reluctant about answering questions become active in the lessons because they can do so anonymously.
References:
Beatty, I. 2004. Transforming student learning with classroom communication systems. Educause Center for Applied Research (ECAR) Research Bulletin ERB0403 2004 (3): 1–13. http://www.utexas.edu/academic/cit/services/cps/ECARCRS.pdf.
Draper, S., J. Cargill, and Q. Cutts. 2002. Electronically enhanced classroom interaction. Australian Journal of Educational Technology 18 (1): 13–23.
Clickers in the Classroom
Clickers, or student response systems, are a technology used to ensure active learning in the classroom. Current research on the benefits of using clickers in the classroom has shown that students become actively engaged and enjoy using them. However, the majority of research on learning outcomes has only compared the use to clickers to traditional methods of learning. Research has proven that learning outcomes are higher when using clickers, the question is whether the clickers or the active learning pedagogies are the cause for this increase in learning. When clickers are compared to active class discussion is has been proven that clickers are more effective due to students being able to anonymously respond and clickers implement more of a game approach which seems to keep our students attention for a longer time.
Some of the challenges associated with clickers is that the questions students are supposed to answer using them are not challenging enough. In other words, the questions fall into the lower level of Bloom's taxonomy. Another challenge that faces teachers using clickers is sometimes technology can be problematic, especially when there is a large number of students in the classroom. Overall, the disadvantages are minor compared to the advantages associated with clickers and active learning.
From my experience with clickers, I personally find them to work great in the classroom when compared to traditional methods or teaching/learning. The students are more excited about learning when they know the clickers are involved. The students that are typically reluctant about answering questions become active in the lessons because they can do so anonymously.
References:
Beatty, I. 2004. Transforming student learning with classroom communication systems. Educause Center for Applied Research (ECAR) Research Bulletin ERB0403 2004 (3): 1–13. http://www.utexas.edu/academic/cit/services/cps/ECARCRS.pdf.
Draper, S., J. Cargill, and Q. Cutts. 2002. Electronically enhanced classroom interaction. Australian Journal of Educational Technology 18 (1): 13–23.
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