Trying to Stay Hip

I really enjoyed the article Why many kids are leaving social networks.  I like to take pencil and paper notes as I am reading, this allows me to reflect as I am writing my blog. Once upon a time I signed up for both Snapchat and  Instagram but have never done anything with it. Occasionally I will receive a Snapchat and will feel odd as I don’t even have a good reply. However, my 17 year-old step daughter is all over it like nobody’s business.  I think that it is wild that 11 million people have fled Facebook and shifted to Instragram. I find it odd when someone admits they don’t have Facebook!  It is even more interesting that shift is moving from broadcasting to narrow-casting, much more of an intimate exchange with the use of Snapchat and  Messenger.

The article grouped me into the older crowd who uses Pinterest and Twitter.  Twitter is also very new to me, but I am trying to keep up with the tweets and re-tweets! Of the people who are on Facebook, 70% are on at least once a day.  Whenever I have a down minute, I am often staring deep into my phone and checking my Facebook.  I even have my grandma signed up for Facebook.  I guess this is where the shifting demographic comes in, older people using Facebook to connect with family.  My cousin hasn’t added my grandma and she is quite perturbed about it!  The management of pictures is something that makes sense to me as my grandma was creeping my pictures and found one of me smoking at university like 15 years ago, then she commented. I guess by not adding my grandma my cousin is trying to avoid all the grief. I do admit when looking at my Facebook, I am not usually making a status rather just creeping everyone else.  After reading this line in the article about no contributing, I have made a point to add my statuses not just swim through everyone’s.

The article Teens, social media, & technology overview 2015 had a lot of great info.  I think I could be lumped into the category of teens that are constantly connected.  I continuously on my cell phone looking something up or Facebooking around as I call it. Many of the teens that go to the school I teach at do not have cell phones, it is just not something that is part of their daily lives.  They may be connected to others at home through an Xbox Live or even head to the library to go on FaceBook.

A guidebook for social media in the classroom was a great article that made me think.  I believe that we should continue to teach pen and paper letter writing to students.  It is a skill that will be needed on occasion.  Just last week I had to type a letter to submit with an application I was sending it.  I also believe that teaching students how to send an email is an important skill they they will use over and over in their lifetime. I believe that there are many awesome uses for social media in the classroom. As a class we tend to turn to the computer for examples and all sorts of ready made learning projects. When will I be brave enough to make a YouTube video with my students?

I also enjoyed this short article How Teens Are Really Using Social Media.  Sometimes short and to the point visual is a nice way for info to be presented. i do believe that kids are spending more and more time connected which is n’t a bad thing as long as it is monitored.  As a teacher I know that some of my students are coming to school exhausted as their devices are in their room, and they are on them all night long.  I do also think that it is a concern as kids can longer get away from a bully when they are at home, as the bully can still get to them online.  I think that parents have to teach their children boundaries and rules when allowing then to have Snapchat or Facebook. AskFM did cause problems for my step daughter as it became a way for bullies to be anonymous.  I also noticed this advertisement from TeenShield  which will let you know everything about your child’s digital world, I would be mortified if my parents had that when I was growing up.

The short video Snapchat murders Facebook was neat in the sense I didn’t know much about Snapchat before this class and the readings.  I hadn’t even heard of Friendster before this video. The power of Snapchat became evident as Just last night at the Brad Paisley he interacted with the audience by taking selfies and making Snapchats on audience member’s phone.  I mentioned it to my Step Daughter and she said her friend was making a little snap video of the concert when Brad grabbed her phone and starting singing into it. 

 

 

 

Blogging is making me smarter??

I really enjoyed the reading Why Even the Worst Bloggers Are Making Us Smarter.  I found some amazing facts: 154.6 billion emails are sent daily, I just think of some days when I open my inbox and there are a few.  3.6 trillion word are shared daily on social media, wow, I guess if we consider Facebook, twitter and other outlets this is not surprising.  It is hard for me to think that the internet wasn’t so rampant in my life.  I can think back to being about 18 and paying for AOL on my first credit card.  The dial-up sound is still fresh in my mind.  I think that children are lucky to grow up in this age of “know where to”.  My younger cousins knew how to operate a computer at age 3 and 4 and this was in the early 90’s, I was jealous.  I understand how time have shifted and with the access to internet as a platform has allowed for people to begin to share their ideas in a public space, it was rare for people to write for pleasure. Mind baffling that we can’t get student to put many words on paper, but I am sure at night social media is-a-booming.  Social media allows the world to share their ideas, good and bad for the world to see.  Not that long ago, I was explaining a 3D printer to my student, we looked at how a group printed a 3D leg for a dog, then we took a look at how the technology could be used for humans.  It was well understood that 3D printers were great for printing limbs for kid as they quickly grow and a new one could be printed as needed for minimal cost.  We also came across a controversy of open online plans for a 3D gun.  We had a great discussion of “sharing bad ideas for the world to see”.  I also watch a series called The Good Wife , the issue of the 3D gun came up as a court case, as someone printed the gun and it malfunctioned injuring someone.  While watching, I thought it is kinds neat how the idea of open online sharing made its way into a TV series, I guess even law and order is fictional but based on real events that we sometimes see pop up in the news. It is true we tend to polish our writing and make it better for an audience.  I do apologize that this entry is not my best, as I am battling a cold and utter exhaustion all at the same time, I can not countdown the days fast enough for my February break .

Success in a MOOC

I have come to realize that our online course is a MOOC.  I think it is a wonderful way to take a course.  It is true, the more that you put into the class and the reading the more you will get out of it.  I like that I can work at my own pace.  My colleague enjoys that she can connect from anywhere she is at the time, but I enjoy sitting on my couch.  I do find it a little annoying that my husband has to peak at my computer and check everyone out haha, or when my dog needs to go outside and I have to get up.

I think it is neat that my blog is exactly where I declare my knowledge about healthy eating.  I am enjoying my Digital learning project.  I am a little shy, as I haven’t lead on to too many friends
that I have a blog.

I also enjoyed Dave’s presentation on Rhizomatic learning.  In fact I hadn’t heard about it prior to this class. What I got out of his presentation was that it is similar to inquiry  learning. Students are responsible for their own learning; it doesn’t just stop after an assignment is handed in or a unit is completed. Learning should be ongoing and is considered a process. Through learning new questions and new understandings develop it can and will lead to more research or a completion of a project.  Somehow inquiry learning is a bit of a tough one for my teacher ways.  I like to take the lead, have the info and deliver it to the students. I do understand that students in this day and age should be allowed to have some control in their learning.

If anyone has any examples of inquiry based project in the middle years I would love to hear from you!

Learning Knowledge in a Connected Age

Wow, another week flies by.  I quite enjoyed the readings and more so the videos this week, something about reading more than a few paragraphs on my laptop is torture, but somehow never a problem on my phone.  I will reflect briefly about each article, hitting a few points on what I have taken away and connections that I have made.  

Networked Student really clicked with me.  I do believe that all learning is networked.  As a student, it is very easy to put off reading or even avoiding purchasing a costly textbook.  Just last week a gal in one of the videos admitted that she rarely did the reading.  I think that knowledge and learning is moving past books.  Knowledge changes so quickly, and new edition textbooks are just annoying.  I believe that connecting with experts is such an amazing idea, technology at our fingertips allows us to connect with experts and authors by simply tracking them down on twitter or through the web.  I also am intrigued about iTunes U.  I think that I may just explore a free learning course this summer, such a cool idea.

Welcome to my PLE was such a cool video.  This girl is in grade 7, wow what a pro.  There is still hope for me to tweak my techno skills.  I think it is great that she is using note-taking software to help her keep track of her reflections.  A friend of mine uses Evernote for everything.  At the time, I was not sure if it was something that I needed in my life but as a way of keeping all your little notes, reflections and anything else you want to organize safe, it seems like something I should check out a little further.  I also think it is amazing that this girl is sending off her work to be peer reviewed; perhaps this is something that I should try.  Collaborative learning is the way of the future, and why not gain insight from others along the way.  I think that by having students use technology from such as young age make them so much more connected, even their learning, this young gal is proof.  She made a valid point about the learning being her choice as to the how and the when; quite often, it is nice to work at your own pace.  Overall, I think allowing the students the freedom to work on the internet will make them accountable in their learning and make them digital citizens.

The article on Connectivism has really illustrated how technology has reorganized life.  I believe that it is difficult to keep up with the changing knowledge; I understand this from the perspective of a Grad Student who has to find current research.  It is amazing that knowledge doubles every 18 months, wow!  As for informal learning, my brother always gave me a hard time about taking classes, he often pointed; out he could just read the book and be as smart as I am. Another valid point is the know how has changed to the know where to, quite often we turn to YouTube tutorials, online forums, or the web when we are looking for information on how something is done. Just today in my class one of the boys said, “Search it up” as we were chatting about the process of a grape turning to a raisin.  The fact that even young students understand that you just need to know how to Google something and voila you have the answer instantly.  My husband has noticed a decline in what he calls the “Bullshit factor”, buddies can no longer easily bullshit each other cause everyone has a smart phone and will challenge you on something that they don’t feel is accurate.

In the final article, Attention and Other 21st Century Social Media Literacies the author makes note of the disengagement from students.  As a teacher, I know that eye contact somehow equals attention; I am forever waiting on a student to pay attentional and look up front.  I know that while I am attending university class, it is respectful to pay attention and avoid distraction; I have even heard a Prof Stress that phones should be shut off and put away. Even as an adult, I am guilty of using my laptop at a staff meeting for multitasking, total partial attention.  I have run into problem with too much technology in the classroom, I thought about asking the school division to change the Wi-Fi password as too many students are distracted on Facebook during lessons, I understand the necessary intervention that banned the internet use in university classrooms.  Many people in society are always attending to media, I am guilty as I can’t even watch a TV program without googling or face booking, my husband is the same way.  Even when people are in a group, someone typically has their cell phone out.  I enjoy making the connections with the articles to my teaching and my personal life, wow I am networked!!

My fist blog/reflection #eci831

Hello, my name is Chalyn Smith and this is my first blog entry in a very long time, and first for my Masters class in ECI 831. I hope to use this blog to help me through the journey of learning how to incorporate technology into the classroom. I love using technology, it helps make my everyday life more manageable and the best part is that I find it easy to use.  My favorite use of technology is social media. I love being connected to the world around me and to friends/family. I am old enough to remember a world that was not so automatic, and at times, I miss the simple ways of communication; I cannot remember the last time I picked up the phone to call someone and have a conversation with. Now to often we inbox or text a friend. I recall being in grade 7 through 12 and being on the phone for hours. Knowing that technology and social media will not go away anytime soon I am going to roll with it and enjoy the many tools that are out there.