Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction Response

Vishal explains that "on Youtube you can get a whole story in 6 minutes. A book takes too long". Although, I'm not constantly online like Vishal, I feel that our attention spans are similar. When I was younger I was able to spend hours reading a book whereas now I could barely read 20 pages without getting bored. However, the same thing applies to my online habits, personally I cant spend more the 10 minutes on Facebook without getting bored either. I feel that the cause of the shortening of my attention span, and Vishal's as well,  is the ability to do many things at once which technology allows us to do.  Rarely, I'm I doing one thing at time when I'm on the computer just like Vishal, "I’m doing Facebook, YouTube, having a conversation or two with a friend, listening to music at the same time. I’m doing a million things at once." Although, my marks have not been negatively affected by short attention span yet, I feel like its only a matter of time before it does and I can definitely see how a short attention span can lower the marks of other students.

In the article, Mr.Reilly says that "... technology amplifies whoever you are." In my opinion, technology doesn't amplify a person personality but creates a platform to be a completely different person. The ability to stay anonymous online gives people the chance whatever they want without any major consequences. This gives people the opportunity to say things they normally wouldn't say if their identity was known. This allows everyone to be more outgoing and loud then they really are. 

The article discusses a study that concluded that engaging in a highly stimulating actives such as playing video games affects your sleep habits and ability to retain information. Although, I'm sure that  playing video games can affect sleep patterns because the stimulation keeps you excited and eager for more. However, I believe that the difficulty retaining  information stems from the lack of sleep not the stimulation of the videos games. Personally, I think I retain information better while stimulated and I often listen to music or pace while studying. 

I believe that technology should definitely be continued to be used in classrooms because by putting technology into classes you will be able to grasp the very little attention they have. Mr. Eaton, a Latin teacher, said " When rock ’n’ roll came about, we didn’t start using it in classrooms like we’re doing with technology." I think the reason its a good idea to implement technology over other teenage hobbies like rock n roll is that the ability to use technology is key in most careers today, so if you can couple computer literacy with other subject, your not only engaging them in a lesson you are also teaching them skills vital in the workplace. 

The article has an overall focus on the way students waste time while using technology, they also do spend time learning things online as well. Technology allows students to learn and research faster then ever and I believe that a lot of students  do take advantage of that.  All in all, however the author did have a good grasp of technology use among teens. 

Enrinching Technology Conclusion

After going over my idea and looking over some of the comments my peers, I think I need to alter my idea a bit to make it more effective. Firstly, I need to narrow down on the amount of technology I am trying to incorporated at once. I think I should focus on Google docs and Prezi as they are the most effective in my opinion. Next I need to pick a specific course to introduce these tools into; I think a course like SAP ( Intro to psychology, anthropology and sociology) because it had lots of group related projects.

To incorporate these technology, first we would have to teach teachers in the social science department who might teach the course about the technology. This way the could comfortably introduce the technology into their classes.Also the teachers should be encouraged to really get their students excited about using the technology. I believe once students get to using the technology the will clearly see the benifits for theirselves.

Enriching Technology

Throughout my 4 years of high school , I have had numerous group research assignments which required me to work in a group to create a presentation and a report. If I had known of all the various technology that was out there other than power point, I feel like a could have done a much better job. This is why I feel that students should be ensured to all the technology available to them as soon as possible.

Subject Area : Social Studies, Science , Technology and English

Details:

For most group projects, each person is assigned on set number of slides to create which they send to a designated member in the group who edits and puts the presentation together. So basically, there is very little to no teamwork actually involved in the making of the presentation and the same goes for the report which is done in the same manner as the presentation. However, with a tool like Google docs students can work much more collaboratively. With Google docs students can work and edit the presentation  simultaneously as well as discuss ideas in the very useful chat function.

For the design and making of the presentation , every student believes the only way to make a presentation is through Microsoft PowerPoint. However, students are unaware of the great presentation making tools and software available to them. For example, students can use Jing's image capturing software to create excellent tutorials and voice overs of video's which could prove to be much more effective than powerpoint presentation. Students could also use prezi which allow them to make much more animated and visually appealing presentations.

For the research aspect of the assignment, students are often hard pressed to find credible resources and usually settle on not so reliable sources like Wikipedia. With the help of educational resources like learn360 students can find more than enough information to make an informed report. Learn360 is an online database of educational articles and videos which can be very useful for students that are looking for credible information. Diigo is also very useful because students can use this tool to bookmark different resources and place notes, and highlight other useful information so they can come back and easily see the information that is useful to them.

In conclusion, by introducing students to the technology available to them they can complete their assignments easily and also get more out of completing the assignment.

Pros:

•    Students can work collaboratively on group projects.
•    Students can create more creative and  informed presentations 
•    Students will have more options to look for research and will be able to better utilize sources they do find

Cons: 

•   It will take time to teach teachers about all these tools so they can then introduce it to their students

Technolgy needed : 

  Basically all you need is internet connection as all these tools are available online

What needs to be done for this to idea to work: 

Teachers need to learn the basics of these tools, so they can then tell their students about. Teachers also need to be enthusiastic about these tools so they can also get their students excited about it as well. 

Shaping Technology In Classrooms

In our IDC class we recently read an article called Shaping Technology In Classrooms which describes the different ways we integrate technology into classrooms.

For dabbling method , I would say the best of way of using net books in this method is to allow teachers and students to play around with a variety of software and find out what works best for them.

For doing old things in old ways, I would say that the best of doing this with net books is for students to be able to write and complete assignments using word processors as most students are more comfortable with typing as opposed to writing.

For doing old things in new ways, the best way of doing this with net books is incorporate more interactive
software, like gizmos and widgets that model real life situations and this will help students better understand concepts taught in class.

For new things in new ways, we can accomplish this by teaching students about completer new subjects such as nanotechnology or robotics with related software.