Digital Nation - Part II

According to Shakespeare, we are consumed with that which we are nourished by. In 1609, these words rang as true as they ring today in relation to the state of South Korea’s technology use. Prior to my viewing of Digital Nation , I thought that gaming was a issue in terms of teenagers as well as some adults devoting to much of their time to this virtual reality however, I never knew this habit could transform into something life threatening or fatal. One of my previous posts, Real Baby Dies as Parents Raise Virtual Daughter goes into terrible detail around how escaping reality to live in a virtual world can have real consequences in real life. One particular point that I found quite interesting is the concept of Internet Rescue Camps for South Korean students who either feel the need themselves or their parents desire them to disconnect and get back into touch with life without technology.

Technology enhances my everyday life. Because I was born into an era when computers were just starting to take off, I must admit that even though I am quite fond of the old way of doings things (writing a letter with pen and paper, calling someone on the telephone instead of texting or chatting on MSN) I am addicted to the instant gratification that a website like Google can provide. Back on the farm before we got high speed, I used to think that dial up was fast. Now, if a webpage does not load instantly or ads or pop up screens block my view of the site, I find myself getting anxious and a tiny bit irritable. If my current self have to put up with dial up, I do believe that I would reach new heights in terms of frustration level. But why do I feel this way? Because I was born close to the beginning a new computerized generation where, according to the Teaching with Technology section, technology is like oxygen. However, as a older member of this generation, I plan to ensure my students not only know how to use a variety of technology tools but also educate them in regards to keeping a balance between their virtual and real worlds since, as displayed in the Digital Nation video, in some cases, too much of a good thing can turn out to not be a good thing after all.

Digital Nation - Part I

So after looking over my blog as well as my notes for this class, I realize that I have yet to write up a post on the Digital Nation video. So better late than never...

During the first segment of the feature, Distracted by Everything , several points were made that I found not only true but insightful as well. I am in totally agreement that students do need to be stimulated in ways that they haven’t been stimulated before in terms of how we as teachers teach. We need to come up with creative and new ways to grab and hold their attention and using technology within our classrooms is one of the sure fire ways to do that.

Besides the video stating that “geeks are normal now” (which I always knew to be true!), I also found the discussion revolving around multitasking to be particularly interesting. I like to think of myself as a multi-tasker when it comes to balancing my social life with my academic one however, according to the research that that was done in the second segment, What’s It Doing to Their Brains? , I am questioning whether or not I should continue to practice this philosophy. I honestly had no idea that according to classic psychology, multitasking just is not possible. The study conducted by NASA proved that you are significantly slower when doing more than one task than if you were to do just one task continuously. However, I was not surprise to hear that the students in the study still believed in the success of multitasking since I am of the same opinion.

Maybe this has something to do with feeling over connected with the world as well as feeling the pressure to stay on top of everything constantly in your life? I mean, think about it, I personally feel like I have accomplished something and have had a more successful day if I managed to work on and maybe complete as many assignments as possible. On the days, that I don’t managed to work on anything except one particular subject or assignment, I feel restless, disconnected and worried that I will not get everything in by the due date. It’s like I am juggling way more bouncy balls than I have time to handle. However, I feel the urgent need to focus on each one for a moment just to see where it is in the air but if I keep that focus too long I jeopardize the whole routine so to speak.

The same can be said for technology, at least for me. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy being connected with my friends, family and society through a variety of technology tools however, that is a juggling act that is still quite new to me and occasionally I forget the steps. I am starting to see how our much our world is connected and that, as it was demonstrated via Skype in class on Tuesday, can be of great use and value in the classroom but from time to time I think I do enjoy, as the video says, ‘pressing the pause button’ temporary just to make sure that my multitasking juggling act has not bounced too far out of control.

Stay tuned for Part II :)!

Prezi Presentation

For my EPSY 332 class this semester, we divided ourselves up into groups and chose a disability to research and present. I was in an awesome group that consisted of Danelle Mondor, Katherine Shepherd and Megan Tokaruk.

I originally decided to make a Power Point presentation however, I had already made one this semester for another presentation and working with that program, in my opinion, was starting to get redundant. Even though it took me a good portion of my weekend, I dived head first into the Prezi program...and you know what? I survived to tell the tale. I managed to figure out the majority of things either on my own or through the instructional video on their site. However, I have to give a huge thank you to both Jessica Ward and Daelynn Estabrooks for helping me figure out how to control my zooming in and out as well as how to embed a YouTube video, called Asperger's Syndrome , which to my joy and delight worked no problem during our presentation!

Anyways, below is my 1st Prezi Presentation...and I have to say that I am quite proud of it!

Asperger's Syndrome on Prezi

Flickr Spelling Application

As I was going through the recent blog posts, I found a very interesting post titled, Flickr Spelling by Erica . She had discovered a Flickr application that will allow you to spell your name with pictures of single letters. I think that this was quite creative and have been inspired to try it myself...Thank You Erica!

Below is my final result:



Overall, I found this application to be fairly easy to navigate however, the site that I used to create the above image looks slightly 'unofficial' but you still arrive at the desired result. I definitely could see classroom applications for this technology tool specifically relating to letter recognition and spelling.