Technology's New Footprints

Recently I read an article entitled “Footprints in the Digital Age” by Will Richardson.  The article was about Internet usage by students and how much the web is influencing the younger generation of kids.  It also describes how educators need to be teaching students, in order for them to reach their full learning potential. The article begins with Richardson describing some of his fears about how much the web is involved in our daily lives and how little information is actually being absorbed.

I really enjoyed his line “Not that they won’t be able to use Google well, mind you, but that when a certain someone (read: admissions officer, employer, potential mate) enters “Tess Richardson” into the search line of the browser, what comes up will be less then impressive.” His statement makes me think about how we as kids are always warned about what we post on the internet and how it is so easy now a days for anyone to find you via social networks. In a way this is scary because someone you don’t even know can learn almost everything about you. It could also be a disadvantage to have personal information on the Internet because an employer could make a decision about you based on that information without ever meeting you.

Richardson writes about the challenges that educators face right now balancing easier access to information with helping kids learn.  He states that educators are helping students “create, navigate, and grow the powerful, individualized networks of learning that bloom on the Internet.” He describes this new learning network as a “tectonic shift” in the way we need to think about the world and our place in it (Shirky,2008). This shift requires us to “create engaged learners, not simply knowers, and to reconsider the roles of schools and educators.” When I read this paragraph I immediately thought of the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid” because the author of that article had similar ideas in how we as learners need to fully understand the material we are learning and not just complete assignments using easy to access information.

        According to the article the National School Boards Association took a survey in 2007 about the use of technology and found that of they 80% of students who used technology regularly - 70% of them used it for education related topics. I think that three years later these results are probably different because of the very popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter.  Internet usage has likely shifted from mostly education related topics to interacting with friends and communicating in a social manner.  I wonder..do people spend more time on Facebook than they do actually learning? I think that people have been able to learn how to multitask more efficiently. I really liked how Richardson said that we as students need to really push our thinking and try to understand what we are learning. I definitely do agree with him because we have access to so much information and it is so readily available that it is easy to become lazy in our approach.  Students today need to take the time they are saving on accessing the information and use it on studying the information so that it can be retained on a much deeper level.

Depression and Suicide Affect More Than Just One Person

Recently I read an article about the Denver Bronco’s wide receiver Kenny McKinley’s apparent suicide by The Associated Press. McKinley was found with what police say was a self-inflicted gun shot wound at his home in Denver. Investigators say that McKinley had been depressed over a recent knee injury only shortly after recovering from a similar injury last season. An officer reported that, McKinley made statements around his friends like “he should just kill himself.” Unfortunately nobody believed he was serious about his statements. He had a one-year-old son, his family, his teammates, his friends, and his fans that he left behind because he took his own life.

          After reading this article I thought about how one life can affect so many other people in very different ways. I thought about the son that was left behind without a Dad. I thought about the team that would have to deal with this tragedy and still not let their fans down. When someone is depressed they may feel like they aren’t worth much, or like they aren’t relevant, but they are. Everyone has people that love him or her and care about them; but when they can’t see that it is so sad. I know from experience that it is really hard to have an injury because when you can’t play, you tend to feel helpless.  You feel like you can’t do anything to help your team and are letting everyone down. You feel like they don’t need you, and it makes you question your value. I understand some of what Kenny McKinley might have been feeling, but not as deeply as he felt it.  I just wish someone could have recognized the signs of his depression. To realize it was more then just being upset about being injured again. Depression is a serous matter if more people could recognize the signs, and get help for themselves, friends, or family they could ultimately save a life.

         

One person can affect so many lives, even if they don’t realize it or understand it they really do matter. Last year we had two deaths occur at my middle school.  One was my really close friend who died from cancer. After the first death we were all slowly recovering only to have another student die two weeks later. The only difference was that the second student took his own life by means of hanging himself. If only he knew how many people cared about him maybe things would have been different. I remember walking down the hall and seeing so many people crying, and seeing people find out about the death was really hard; especially, because a lot of us were still getting over my friend Aaron’s death. Depression and suicide are very serious matters and it really is a hard thing to have to go through having someone you know kill themselves because they are unhappy. The worst part is that when someone takes their life they might think they are only affecting one life and that it is better for everyone else around them.  However, the reality is that it affects so many other people and makes a tragic situation even worse.  My thoughts and prayers go out to the McKinley Family.

 

 

How does the Internet affect our thinking?

          Is the popular search engine Google making us stupid? Nicholas Carr wrote an article in 2008 asking what the Internet is doing to our brains and how it is affecting us. In the article he writes, “over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain.”  Is the Internet to blame?

When I first read this line in his article I was immediately alarmed at the thought that technology could have such a huge impact on our learning and the way we think. When Nicholas Carr begins describing his reactions to reading longer texts, I realized that I possessed similar reactions. For instance, when I read books or articles that have extensive text, I get fidgety, I dread the amount of time its going to take me to finish, and I begin looking for something else to do. Growing up with texting, social media, and instant access to everything, shorter and faster is always better.

This article describes how the Internet and the new media are making information more accessible and easier to read. The Internet allows us to locate information more quickly and answer questions about topics faster. But are we really learning and retaining the information we are seeing? These days, people (including me) are really just skimming articles and assignments instead of reading the full text. The shorter attention span we have developed in this age of technology has resulted in spending less time on research and missing important information.  The bottom line is that we may not be learning the information as fully even though access to more information.

Prior to the Internet, it was a much more extensive process writing a research paper.  First, you had to go to the library and check out a book on your topic, read it, take notes, and then write the actual paper. It was a much longer process but by spending that much time a student probably learned the information a lot better.  Today when writing a research paper, all you have to do is Google the topic, find a web site, read and write about it. This process is much faster and easier, yes, but are we really learning as much as we should?

So the question remains is Google making us stupid? I don’t think that it is making us stupid, I think that the way information is so easily accessible it provides us with more knowledge. However I also think that Google is making researching subjects more efficient but making our full understanding less proficient. We now have less academic discipline then before Internet but we now have easier access to information. So, no I don’t think Google is making us stupid.

Fearful

Recently I read an article entitled, “Can the Quran Burning Be Stopped Before it Begins?” published by AOL news. This article explains how a Florida Pastor plans to set fire to the Muslim holy book (the Quran) in order to mark the nine-year anniversary of the terrorist attack that took place on September 11, 2001 (9/11). Although the act of burning holy books is protected by the first amendment (freedom of speech and religious expression), many people would view this act as being insensitive to other religious viewpoints. In addition, such inconsiderate act could ultimately result in increased violence against Americans. As an example, the United States Defense Department has been monitoring very recent threats from extremist Islamic groups that indicate they will carry out an act of retribution against the Pastor and others if he follows through with his plan. Further, according to Mohammad Mukhtar (a cleric running for a seat in the Afghan parliament) who is quoted in the article, “If this happens, I think the first and most important reaction will be that wherever Americans are seen, they will be killed. No matter where they are in the world, they will be killed.”




This quote really worries me because I realize that the Pastor’s actions could put many American lives at stake, just so he can protest in his own way. In my opinion the Pastor does have the legal right to follow through with this act, but he does not have the right to endanger the lives of other Americans. I think that he feels he is somehow causing as much suffering to the terrorists who were involved in 9/11 as they caused us. However, I don’t think he is really seeing the bigger picture. Does he realize how many lives could be at stake as a result of his actions? I can only hope that he will come to his senses and not follow through with this act.



UPDATE: According to the USA Today article, “Pastor says he won’t burn Qurans” by Larry Copeland, the Pastor is quoted saying, “"We have agreed to cancel our event on Saturday and on Saturday I have agreed to meet with the Imam."

A Vision of Students Today

After watching Michael Wesch's video, A Vision of Students Today, I was shocked at the number of students that don’t take their college education seriously. The video displayed how many students, rather then get a good college education, play with technology or update their Facebook posts instead of taking valuable notes. It showed that many college students buy $1000 dollar textbooks that they never even open, and how some people pay $8,000 dollars for a class that they don’t show up to. This really bothers me, I think that they as learners should be there to get a valuable education that will allow them to help our country continue to progress forward with new jobs and research. This video really opens my eyes as to how much knowledge is really getting wasted becuase of technology.