Sunday, September 29, 2013
Monday, February 27, 2012
Response to Dr. Michael Wesch
First, it always bothers me a little when people giving a lecture critique the lecture format. Glass houses, dude. Just because people can post comments, doesn't really make the format interactive.
But overall I liked the video. I thought the beginning was interesting when he talked about the unforeseen consequences of technology, and how one cannot "opt out" of the new changes. It made me think of a quote from my favorite writer on technology, MIT's Sherry Turkle, who writes a lot about how our relationship with our devices and being constantly connected changes our relationship with ourselves. If you feel compelled to share every thought and decision you have with others, are you still able to make decisions yourself? Do you even have a self anymore? Turkle talks about how eventually, we will find our way, but that this may not happen until the generation of digital natives grows up and is able to create a culture in which technology, human relationships, and the self are balanced in a positive way. After all, the invention of the printing press lead to the Protestant reformation and the rise of democracy in Europe, but this was only after decades of war and uncertainty. So I think it's OK that things are kind of messed up right now, since we're still figuring it all out. It's important to remain critical without being reactionary, as well as to embrace change without losing a sense of perspective.
As for the discussion about modern classrooms, it bothered me that he didn't really tie it to the beginning of his talk, which was about unforeseen consequences. I also frequently get annoyed with the whole "break down the classroom walls!" talks since my discipline, literature and composition, has rejected the lecture format in favor of group discussion and collaborative learning for nearly 30 years. But it's true that this type of learning is still dominant in many disciplines and classrooms, in large part because of class size. I do worry about who will give feedback to students in large, interactive online environments. You can't respond to 300, 500, 1000 people individually -- you can't even have a conversation with them. It's true that you can get a kind of wiki group knowledge, but that isn't always reliable, and it lacks the relationship between student and professor that also adds to the student's (and professor's) growth.
But overall I liked the video. I thought the beginning was interesting when he talked about the unforeseen consequences of technology, and how one cannot "opt out" of the new changes. It made me think of a quote from my favorite writer on technology, MIT's Sherry Turkle, who writes a lot about how our relationship with our devices and being constantly connected changes our relationship with ourselves. If you feel compelled to share every thought and decision you have with others, are you still able to make decisions yourself? Do you even have a self anymore? Turkle talks about how eventually, we will find our way, but that this may not happen until the generation of digital natives grows up and is able to create a culture in which technology, human relationships, and the self are balanced in a positive way. After all, the invention of the printing press lead to the Protestant reformation and the rise of democracy in Europe, but this was only after decades of war and uncertainty. So I think it's OK that things are kind of messed up right now, since we're still figuring it all out. It's important to remain critical without being reactionary, as well as to embrace change without losing a sense of perspective.
As for the discussion about modern classrooms, it bothered me that he didn't really tie it to the beginning of his talk, which was about unforeseen consequences. I also frequently get annoyed with the whole "break down the classroom walls!" talks since my discipline, literature and composition, has rejected the lecture format in favor of group discussion and collaborative learning for nearly 30 years. But it's true that this type of learning is still dominant in many disciplines and classrooms, in large part because of class size. I do worry about who will give feedback to students in large, interactive online environments. You can't respond to 300, 500, 1000 people individually -- you can't even have a conversation with them. It's true that you can get a kind of wiki group knowledge, but that isn't always reliable, and it lacks the relationship between student and professor that also adds to the student's (and professor's) growth.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Annotated Bibliography Guide
This is a guide from one of my writing classes for an annotated bibliography. The citation information is MLA, but the structure of the bibliography is pretty much standard.
https://docs.google.com/a/cougars.csusm.edu/document/d/1i_14ufQcmr3EOgR3I4DCV-kdE3R5e2BIQFS82wg-Qi0/edit?pli=1
https://docs.google.com/a/cougars.csusm.edu/document/d/1i_14ufQcmr3EOgR3I4DCV-kdE3R5e2BIQFS82wg-Qi0/edit?pli=1
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Speedy Reading Guide
Here's the speedy reading guide Dr. Santamaria mentioned. It's as an image, because Blogger doesn't allow Word documents to be uploaded easily, or you can view it on Google Docs here: https://docs.google.com/a/cougars.csusm.edu/document/d/1JCDepo2adQFYwl_072w3WNh5FdgVACLFPZuJDXpKBa0/edit .
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Response to visitors/residents video
I think that I am a resident at work: I've taught online classes (and am currently teaching a hybrid class) and maintain blogs and a Twitter account for work. For my personal life, such as it is, I am mostly offline. The issues of privacy really bother me, which I guess makes me a visitor. Also, since I'm still looking for work, it worries me to leave too much of a digital footprint for employers to follow.
I do think we need to be careful about thinking that what is now will be forever. For example, my students really don't seem to be too involved in Twitter, and rely much, much more on my blog posts and Blackboard.
In the future, I will likely move more online. I'm waiting for the thing after Facebook to come along, since I really hate Facebook. I had hopes for Google+, as I <3 Google, but it doesn't seem to really be taking off. Maybe too much time in Beta?
I do think we need to be careful about thinking that what is now will be forever. For example, my students really don't seem to be too involved in Twitter, and rely much, much more on my blog posts and Blackboard.
In the future, I will likely move more online. I'm waiting for the thing after Facebook to come along, since I really hate Facebook. I had hopes for Google+, as I <3 Google, but it doesn't seem to really be taking off. Maybe too much time in Beta?
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