Integrating Tablets into Pre College Teaching

Did you know that the studies of the editorial team at EdTechReview shows that very year at the college level, 70% of students take notes on digital devices and that 78% feel that using the aid of various technologies help them study faster. Not only that but 86% of students believe that tablets could be the universal textbook of the near future and that 3/4 students believe that tablets are more useful tool combining their text books and notes into a single compact device ( “Positive Impact of Technology” ). These same positive statistics could be applied to younger children too. Experts believe that while technology benefits students in multiple ways it is also significantly decreasing our learning aptitude from grades 4-12 compared to peers in other countries. They feel that teachers will lose jobs, students will feel more ample to plagiarize, and that the technology will be used for meticulous things such as texting, social media, and other non educational actions. Students should have access to technology in multiple forms during school in order to give them the best form of teaching possible to increase their learning abilities.

 

If you look at most school in other countries you will notice that as the year increases, their student’s grades also increase. Countries Like China and Japan are within our relative area when it comes to Kindergarten to grade 3. Once you get to grade four, American students start to fall. How could this be? Are the students being distracted? Are they not receiving the proper instruction? Those answers could be a definitive yes. But is there a way to increase this and bring these students out of depravity? The answer is most definitely technology. More specifically the answer would be tablets. With this tablet the student would have interactive learning aerials at their disposal. Calculators, books, word processing, informative curriculum provided over the internet. The students could both receive their homework and turn it in over the internet. They could receive specialized training and extra help over the internet via websites and online tutors. But the big question is cost.

 

What would it cost to supply a over 1000 students with iPads? It would cost roughly $300,000. It seems alarming at first but when you look at it, the cost of books that have to be constantly updated can be cut to a minimal fraction of that price. The supply of notebooks, crayons, pencils, and other school materials would be needless. The students would have everything on their tablet. Now another thing that brings money into mind. The teachers. Where would the teachers be placed in terms of teaching?

 

Teachers would be used as more of a catalyst for the students. The teacher would instruct on how to best use these tablets and the internet in order to gain the information they need. The teachers job just got extremely easier and more interactive.

 

In his article “Is Google making us stupid?”, Nicholas Carr takes a almost definite stand against the the technological advancement that is slowly starting to both impede and advance the human race. He gives valid points on how we are now reading substantially more than we were 30 or 40 years ago but, that people can change both their writing and reading influence by their setting and status. He himself and a few of his colleagues have seen the value of their concentration drop over the years as they read more and more materials online. The demographic of people that he is referring to are most certainly in their 50’s. Technology has long sense passed their time and is advancing effortlessly. Can his statement that “The Deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle” really be true? Does this statement even involve the modern day readers who are much more accustomed to this reading lifestyle?

Based on Carr’s findings, people are slowly being changed because of Computers. The ability to quickly access, process and utilize small amounts of information from a large piece of work is both positively and negatively affecting people. Through the ages, humans are slowly adapting starting distinctly at the industrial age with the printing press up until Google with computers. Carr gives information on how business, life and industry use technology to change humans. It’s slowly but surely changing them in how much you can read and how much of what you read is actually absorbed. Reading tricks such as skimming and paraphrasing are examples. Is this really considered a negative? Carr does not mention the demographic of readers that he is referring to so should we count this as a definitive fact that all readers are losing their reading abilities?

Reading long articles or books supposedly becomes harder based on Carr’s points made. Carr shows a great example of a shift in style of writing after a drastic change with his informational section on Friedrich Nietzsche. Although losing the ability to visually see, Nietzsche was able to continue writing by converting to a typewriter. Even though it gave him a new light on writing, it also changed his style. Actions the body takes on it’s self to adapt to it’s surroundings such as the brain reprogramming itself to change its functions. This reflects beck to his original statement on weather or not the effects of technology are positive or negative.

Companies have been identifying ways on how to alter the human mind in order to increase production for years. Companies now add even more ads and distractions to much of the reading articles we have today in order to slow the reader down and pry away their attention. In the past, companies altered work patterns and processes in order to increase work production. Carr relates humans to automatons in the way that they access and utilize informational applications such as Google just as industrial companies viewed workers as automatons that could be adjusted to increase production output. Quickly identifying what is needed, pulling it from the large piece of work and continuing on rather than absorbing the whole structure as a whole is becoming more common. Although it might subliminally effect the reading capabilities of the reader, is it truly hurtful to the human race in terms reading potential?

Carr stands heavily on the opposing side of the spectrum in terms of this new technological age. As an older age reader, just as the previous generations of our elders feared their technological advancements, Carr represents the old age trying to hold back the new age of advancements. Carr does in fact address the positives of reading with technology but stands heavily on the negative side showing that he is quite weary of such rapid advancement. This is a predominantly biased view that does not represent reader’s as a whole.

The demographic for this paper is probably suggested to older viewers. I feel as a younger reader and writer, that I don’t suffer from this inability to read long articles. Usually I do some of the things he mentioned. Skimming is a perfectly useful tool when reading. It allows the reader to find exactly what the need from an article, then come back and pick it out for use. This is commonly used in annotating. Overall I believe that this modern age is effecting the previous generation more than the people coming into this age.

Ethnography

 Video games are a popular form of communication and pleasure shared between players that use them.But what about the people that play them? How do they differ from regular everyday people that play more sports or are more business orientated? A better question would be how are they similar. There are so many people out there that share the love of video games that the same person who works in a accounting cubical might actually be a royal knight who fights dragons along side his online peers. Throughout this ethnography, we will focus mainly on the players in the game League of Legends.

Specifically I am observing a young gentleman by the name of Bill. For the sake of Bill’s personal information, I changed his name. Bill is a 5’9” 20 years old Portuguese male that works at a local supermarket. He has a medium build, brown hair and bluish eyes. Occasionally you will see him wearing dark slacks with a kaki button-up (his work attire) and his silver rimmed glasses. Bill lives at home with his parents, saving until the day he moves out on his own, building his work career and financial portfolio. Bill is also an avid video game player. I asked Bill if I could observe him for about an hour to two hours while his casually played his games. I explained to him that after my observation I would then ask him a few questions.

The first thing I started to observe was his entry way to his room. It was spacious, had a white border framing the rich blue room. As I entered the room I noticed the environment he played in trying to make out big features and move to smaller features. A town sized bed was facing me in the corner of the room. Next to it was a light wooden colored bureau with six drawers, each with a single engraved metal handle. On top of the bureau was a decent sized black LED television, approximately 36”. Across form the bureau was pale wood desk, with metal legs and drawer. On top of the desk was a laptop. A high end Asus gaming laptop. As he started up the computer and game I looked around at the environment I was currently in and began to log everything that I could.

On the floor there was a over flooded basket with dirty clothes in it. Next to it was a library case with various books, games, and other important documents in it. On the top of the bookcase there was a small M&M dispenser that took quarters. Next to it were 2 model cars. To the left I noticed a large poster of a hockey player on the Boston Bruins and across the room adjacent to it was a model plane hanging from the roof on wires. As I was writing things down he told me that he was ready.

“Which game are you going to be playing?” I asked.

“You said you were going to watch me play league of legends so I’m started it up first.” He replied quickly.

I reviewed my notes for other questions I had prepared and asked him “If you could shortly describe the game League of Legends in a short answer, what would you say?”

He paused for a second to think of an answer, “League of legends is a typical MOBA that  is extremely competitive and takes a lot of skill and calculations to take everything into account and win.”

After thanking him for his answer, we started up the game. I quickly tried to write down what the interface of the game looked like. The game had a blue window, there were sales on “champions”, videos explaining current gameplay strategies and a box at the top where players could watch other players play.

Technology is a fascinating field, filled with wonder and excitement. What is it about technology that makes it so interesting?  Walk down the street today and you will not find a single person using some type of electronic device. But it wasn’t always like that. Technology made me the person I am today and its effected countless others.

I have been immersed in technology since the age of three. I don’t exactly remember the day my dad brought home my first computer, but I remember continuously using and adapting to having a computer. Not specific details exactly but the overall usage of it. Me and my dad playing thief II (2000) or Mortal Kombat III sharing a keyboard together. It wasn’t just games that helped me integrate into using computers at a early stage, but also the information at my disposal. My dad thought it was best if I learned as much as I could at a very young age to be able to absorb as much as possible. So eventually he started teaching me how to build computers.

If you were to look at my dad today, I don’t thing you you get the “I love computers” vibe coming off of him. I’ve noticed over the years he has slowly started to deter from computers even though his entire life revolves around computers. He sells Apple for a living. But if you were to directly ask him “Do you like computers?” he would tell you “Yes, but not for fun.” He can build a computer from the ground up, take it apart, tell you everything about it, put it back together, slap a price on it and sell it to you. Those are the skills he has. He went to college for computer engineering, has certificates and degrees in multiple fields involving technology, but I still don’t think he truly loves computers. How could the person who taught me to love what I’m making my life after not love it too? Its because technology has many applications, and the way he uses it isn’t always going to be the same not only for himself across a timespan but to others as well.

I do remember those special times where me and my dad worked together plugging in sockets and completing circuits, connecting a mother board to its components just to create our own device. Its amazing. I’ve never had a child before but to me its probably the closest thing. Haha that sounded kind of nerdy. But we did work hard, and it was an enjoyable time. I lost some of the knowledge as my dad move further and further away form the computer engineering side of the guy I knew over to the salesman side I was growing to know. I didn’t stop learning though. I wanted to learn more and more. Eventually my dad went back to it and we built a second one. A true monster of it time.

We went online and started purchasing new parts. The usual stuff, a motherboard, power supply, graphics card, ect., and the extra components like fancy IR sensors and bluetooth receivers. By the time they all came in it had already been about 2 week, but the magic was about to start. I loved looking at motherboards. I  used to look at them and think they were little metropolises because they looked like cities. Connecting the wires together reminded me of bridges where people from the cities came and went. I didn’t understand the important numbers and calculations when I was younger that I do now. My dad did most of that for me, but now I realize that if I used a power source that didn’t have enough voltage, I could hurt the entire system.

I’ve made a few computers and tampered with countless others since that time. I’ve grown to love it, not only because it is a fun hobby, but also a personal link between my dad and I. It created a time where both of us could bond over something we both loved, something we both strived at perfecting. Everyone has that something they can do with loved ones, even tough they may not do them together anymore. Everything is possible as long as you have the will do do it. Technology was that something for me.

My theme for this blog is going to be Technology. I feel that Technology is a viable theme because there are so many ways to approach the subject seeing as it has such a broad and various history. There are tons of Topics you could use for Technology. Computers, Video Games, Cellphones, and mp3 players are all viable topics. They can all be compared or contrasted or even broken down and viewed closely.

Here’s a Link with Memoirs from the New York Times that is very close to my theme.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/investors-and-customers-yearn-for-an-apple-ithingymajig/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Technology&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs&region=Body

My name is Anthony Sanes and I’m a reader/writer.

As a reader I had a tough time starting out. When I was young, reading was very difficult. I almost got kept back in the first grade because of my reading capabilities. Back then I cared little about reading because it didn’t interest me. It wasn’t until a year later in the fourth grade that i seriously got into reading. I went form below average to reading at a high school level before entering middle school. (I didn’t take extra classes or receive extra help even though my mother tried her hardest). What really got me into reading was the content.

In an effort to help my reading abilities, my father took me to the library regularly to find book that sparked my interest. Eventually I came across a book titled “The Last Apprentice” by Joseph Delaney. This is where I found my love for action and adventure books. I currently own ten out of the thirteen books written in this series and the sub series “The Wardstone Chronicles”. I brought it home and my mother thought I would never finish it within the 2 weeks. To her disbelief I finished it in a week. At the time she would never believe that I read a book above 100 pages never mind 350 pages. Looking back at it now, I’m happy I found the book and I’m glad it had the effect on me that it did.

As your reading this your probably wondering why I’m blabbing about a children’s book. Well this is where that “book” effects who I am as a writer. And the first place to talk about my writing would be middle school.

Going into middle school was very easy for me. I didn’t notice it at the time but it was because of that book, and all the others that came after it. They all sparked my inspiration and creativity. These books gave me the tools I needed to write my creative stories . My teacher, Ms. McCaughey, had the class do a lot of creative writing. Anything you wanted to write about (as long it stuck to the guidelines/moral of the assignment) was fair game, and I made sure to take advantage of that. A creative writing story about friendship? Ok. Turn that into a story about a couple of friends that get locked in a mall overnight and decide to reap havoc. She said it was creative all right, and it still followed the syllabus.

I could only use the form of creative writing for so long. As I entered into high school, the opportunities were still there. They just weren’t as abundant. Although I did have some fun with certain assignments I can still recall from my Honors English III in my Junior year, we had to read “Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales”. After completing it, there were a variety of different assignments they we could choose from that related to the stories. Of course I chose to recreate the Canterbury Tales into my own version. Even though I know that I chose a childish assignment, I still got a 94 as a midterm grade, and she kept the paper to use as a reference for her other classes. If only I had peer edited more I probably could have bumped that up to a 100. I still have lots of weaknesses such as grammar every so often and I tend to run off topic, but I have the creativity to enhance my writing.

I’ve gone well over the 250 word minimum, and ranted about my childhood for quite a while, but I did get to show off my creativity which I think is the most exciting part of any story. Creativity can bring out the best qualities in a person. After all, its all about how creative your willing to get.