Friday, December 14, 2012

Digital Minds

Technology has and continues to change us in so many ways... And I'd like to focus on communication and writing with respect to how our minds become more digital.

I remember getting my first e-mail account during my first year of college. I think my adaptation to e-mail has influenced my slight distaste for talking on the phone. I am able to pre-contemplate what I am going to say, so began communicating with all of my friends and colleagues through instant messenger. I continued to do so throughout college.

Nowadays I continue to  communicate mostly through electronic mail communications and texting. This certainly would not be as second nature to me, and I certainly wouldn’t prefer e-mail over phone communications if it were not for this technology.

Do emerging technologies focus our senses or distort them? I personally believe that technologies can focus our senses but without purposeful thought it will distort them. As I mentioned above, I prefer electronic communication. Many people prefer the voice contact because it is more personal. If I thought I was closer to someone simply because we have a lot of electronic communication , I might have a distorted view.

Despite the lack of the "personal," I think written communication has taken a giant leap. I believe that students today are much better writers than ever before. They e-mail, type letters, instant message, and text each other all the time. Even though there is slang that is used in these types of communications it is far more than they were used to writing when writing was solely done on a type writer or even pen and paper.

I would certainly say typed communications has focused our abilities to communicate effectively through written language.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Cool Things

The most beneficial part of today's class was learning to be aware of the simple (and inexpensive)things one can do to enhance learning in the classroom. It's OK to be creative with resources that are either inexpensive or, simply, ready for the trash heap (so long as these resources are safe).

Here's a cool thing...