Literature has the unique opportunity of being subject to a new style of learning in this digital age. Digital Culture presents many unique ways to interpret a once rigid and traditional area of academic. No longer is reading and writing papers necessary to communicate understanding of both ancient and modern authors. The digital concept of remixing allows students to demonstrate their understanding of key texts through new mediums.
Remixing is editing and reformatting of an existing idea and is an exciting trend occurring in all fields of the digital world, including music, videos, memes and pictures. If college English curriculums were to adopt this method of creation, students could transcend mere theoretical understanding through an applied knowledge. For instance, an English student would take a literary work of someone else's or his own and "remix" it through another means to communicate his total understanding of the original idea. This student might take Paradise Lost and create an encyclopedia of the classical allusions Milton uses or a video montage of key themes using artists' renditions of the literary scenes. Through remixing in Digital Culture, students transcend rote rehearsal of ideas and repetition in papers, and format the same ideas in a way that appeals to audiences beyond the classroom.
In practice here at BYU, we made memes, word clouds and videos of themes present in Moby Dick. This allowed us as students to narrow in on important concepts in the work and create artistic renditions that would convey our knowledge in an accessible and clear fashion. The art of remixing is constantly expanding, and if academic leaders choose to incorporate this idea into their studies, they will continue to be educated as new students present their ideas in innovative forums and styles. It benefits infinitely more people than the few an academic paper has the ability to impact. Overall, remixing, used as a creative tool in Digital Culture, can be applied to theories in learning, to positively influence and educate a greater audience than current traditional assignments.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Final Exam: Essay Two
Essay Two: Proposal
for Studying Literature in the Digital Age
One of the most important concepts in Digital Culture is
that of Digital Literacy. In order to better work with digital culture, people
must learn the essential skills of how to consume, create, and connect within a
digital age. Because these skills are so basic to understanding and working
effectively with digital culture, I propose that they be implemented in each of
our English courses in the new curriculum. Just as students must develop
specific skills in order to effectively analyze literature, they must also
develop skills in order to effectively consume, connect, and create within
digital culture. Specifically, I will focus on the essential nature of learning
to connect and how learning to connect will help our students to more
effectively work within digital culture.
In the traditional English class, students write within a
bubble. They may connect with their classmates or their professor by bouncing
ideas off one another or getting a draft of a paper peer reviewed. However, the
exchange of ideas limited. Students learn primarily from one instructor and
also a limited number of scholarly sources. However, this is not sufficient for
the digital age. By learning how to connect with others by using digital tools,
students have the ability to connect with others who are studying similar
material and to have discussions with them. This is different from having an
in-class discussion because students and those they are interacting with will
be learning about the topic from different sources, and thus have different
insights on the topic. Students will be able to learn more effectively about any
given topic by interacting with their peers because they will be exposed to
many different points of view.
Not only can students connect with their peers through
digital culture, but they should also be taught the necessary skills to connect
with enthusiasts and experts in whatever field they are studying. Digital
culture allows students to reach out to professionals and interact with them.
Students can share their ideas and get feedback from experts who are heavily
invested in the topic. This frequently leads to more enthusiasm on the part of
the student and a renewed determination to learn. Additionally, as students
network with experts in whichever fields they are interested in, they gain
valuable contacts that will help them both during and after school.
As we infuse the skill of connecting with others into each
course in our new curriculum, our students will gain experience interacting
with their peers and professionals that will not only help them with their
education while they are attending this university, but they will also gain
valuable skills for their future employment after graduation.
Essay Two: New Cirriculum
As English Majors, it's our job to share ideas. Our value comes in our ability to think critically and share our ideas in a clear way. Quoting Chaucer is a plus, but we need to understand why knowing Chaucer gives us any kind of advantage in life. A traditional study of literature is very helpful for English Majors, but we need to be able to apply these skills in ways that are relevant today. One of the most outdated practice for English Majors is to share their ideas in literary journals that are very selective and require complex writing skills. This does not allow for the fast exchange of ideas that is found today online through blog posts or video reviews.
Instead of 8-10 pages of literary critic jargon in magazines only being read by a specific audience, some critics are able to articulate their ideas in a way everyone can understand.
Anita Sarkeesian, for example, is able to convey her ideas about feminism in 30 minute presentations that anyone can understand. These utilize video clips and pictures to help illustrate her points. They are easy to share and people are able to participate in the discussion by posting their own response videos or by discussing the ideas in forums.
There are also shorter videos which are able to take a complex idea and summarize it in a two minute video. A 30 page essay about gamification and its potential to help prevent speeding in pedestrian-heavy areas would not be as helpful as this two minute clip.
In order for our English Majors to share their ideas effectively, they need to have the tools to share those ideas and participate in the academic conversation. Therefore, English majors should have a curriculum or classes that teach them how to give an academic presentation in a video or blog post. This does not have to replace traditional academic paper writing, and they will still need to learn how to formulate and support a thesis, but they should learn how to do it in the context of something more relevant like a video than an academic journal.
There is no MLA format for academic blogging or for making academic videos, so this might be a difficult thing to teach. How much personality is allowed in an academic blog post? How much video editing work should go into these? Although there is no form that we can teach students, we can pose those questions to the students and help them decide the best way to present their ideas. With this kind of skill set, students will be more able to meet the demands of an English major in the digital humanities age.
Instead of 8-10 pages of literary critic jargon in magazines only being read by a specific audience, some critics are able to articulate their ideas in a way everyone can understand.
Anita Sarkeesian, for example, is able to convey her ideas about feminism in 30 minute presentations that anyone can understand. These utilize video clips and pictures to help illustrate her points. They are easy to share and people are able to participate in the discussion by posting their own response videos or by discussing the ideas in forums.
There are also shorter videos which are able to take a complex idea and summarize it in a two minute video. A 30 page essay about gamification and its potential to help prevent speeding in pedestrian-heavy areas would not be as helpful as this two minute clip.
In order for our English Majors to share their ideas effectively, they need to have the tools to share those ideas and participate in the academic conversation. Therefore, English majors should have a curriculum or classes that teach them how to give an academic presentation in a video or blog post. This does not have to replace traditional academic paper writing, and they will still need to learn how to formulate and support a thesis, but they should learn how to do it in the context of something more relevant like a video than an academic journal.
There is no MLA format for academic blogging or for making academic videos, so this might be a difficult thing to teach. How much personality is allowed in an academic blog post? How much video editing work should go into these? Although there is no form that we can teach students, we can pose those questions to the students and help them decide the best way to present their ideas. With this kind of skill set, students will be more able to meet the demands of an English major in the digital humanities age.
Final Exam: Essay One
Essay One: The Importance of Literature in Understanding
Digital Culture
Our students are best prepared for understanding the digital
world around them by a traditional study of great literature. As students study
quality literature, they learn how to think critically and analyze difficult
texts. Their abilities to speak, write, and communicate in general are
increased. These skills and others help our students to be better equipped to
understand the digital world around them. However, today I will focus specifically
on how studying Moby Dick by Herman Melville helps our students to
understand the importance of collaboration in a digital age.
In Moby Dick, it is essential for the entire crew to
work together in order to successfully hunt whales. Paul Billis, in a recent blog post, discussed a similar concept as he detailed the importance of each
individual character in the text. Billis argues that Melville “craft[s] each of
these characters expertly to allow each of them their own voice and
personality.” Just as the Pequod cannot function without each of its crewmen
performing his assigned functions, digital culture cannot function at its
fullest potential without the countless men and women who actively consume and
create content in a digital world.
The importance of each individual in the crew is highlighted
by Starbuck’s futile attempt to convince Ahab to stop his fanatical hunt for
Moby Dick. He exclaims, “O, my Captain!...Away with me! Let us fly these deadly
waters!” (Melville 604). However, Ahab decides to ignore Starbuck’s counsel and
continue on his hunt for the white whale, eventually leading to his death as
well as the deaths of every crew member except for Ishmael. Had Ahab listened
to Starbuck, the story would have had a different ending entirely. However,
because Ahab ignored those around him, his quest failed and let to devastation
and ruin.
As students contemplate the results of Ahab’s dismissal of
Starbuck’s counsel, they learn about the importance of collaboration. When all
of the crew members work together as equals, they catch whales and all is well.
However, when Ahab reigns as the dictator of the ship, discounting advice from
his first mate, tragedy strikes. While the results of not collaborating with
others may not be as dramatic, the results are similar in that the end result
is not as good as it could have otherwise been. Collaboration allows others to
help us to see flaws in our work that we cannot always find on our own. As
students learn about Ahab and his mad quest, they also learn about the benefits
of collaboration.
This one specific example from Moby Dick shows both
the benefits of collaboration and the consequences for failing to do so, which
can help students to learn about this important aspect of digital culture. Classic works of literature help students to understand both collaboration and other important principles of digital culture as students think critically about such texts.
Works Cited:
Billis, Paul. "Moby Dick, Democracy, participatory Culture, and Games." Web. 18 December 2013.
Melville, Herman. Moby Dick. New York: Library of America Paperback Classics, 1983. Print.
Essay One: Moby Dick and Isolation in Digital Culture
Moby Dick reflects a multitude of themes present in Digital Culture. Primarily because of these four concepts: unique characters, new environment, a previously unknown/or misunderstood subject and relationships. I am going to focus on one of these ideas-relationships, specifically in terms of isolationism.
Within the bounds of Digital Culture, we have learned of the importance of collaboration, which Cheri will address, and how it is necessary to gather social proof and reach out to others. The very act of isolating yourself is forced denial of supporting ideas, helpful resources and a greater knowledge (Heidi is studying this in her essay). In theory, the concept of social outreach is comprehensible, but is largely neglected, in practice. Through Moby Dick's Captain Ahab, we see the dichotomy of collaboration and isolation and their respective effects.
From the beginning of the epic, Captain Ahab isolates himself from his crew. This does not inspire confidence in his comrades, and alienates him from them, and also his sole purpose-to find the great, white whale. Captain Ahab only slightly embodies the spirit of collaboration when he interacts with other ships and captains to inquire if they have seen Moby Dick. His lack of interest in their plights is not well-received and is destructive to his relationships. He even recognizes it in himself and his family, as his obsession deepens and gains control of his life and actions. Nevertheless, it is only through his collaboration with the other ships and their captains that Captain Ahab is able to track Moby Dick's whereabouts and eventually locate the whale.
Captain Ahab's example of isolation and collaboration can be echoed in Digital Culture as we create our online identities. We, as individuals, have the opportunity to build up reputations, yet if we do not interact with others, there will be no reputations. Beyond that, by isolating ourselves, we do not share our ideas, and allow them to progress, thus begging the question of why do we come up with these ideas? Captain Ahab represents one who does not care about his identity, and is thus, is disregarded or thought of as a lunatic. By creating an online presence and interacting with others, we further our own knowledge, establish credibility and ultimately, reach our full potentials.
Within the bounds of Digital Culture, we have learned of the importance of collaboration, which Cheri will address, and how it is necessary to gather social proof and reach out to others. The very act of isolating yourself is forced denial of supporting ideas, helpful resources and a greater knowledge (Heidi is studying this in her essay). In theory, the concept of social outreach is comprehensible, but is largely neglected, in practice. Through Moby Dick's Captain Ahab, we see the dichotomy of collaboration and isolation and their respective effects.
From the beginning of the epic, Captain Ahab isolates himself from his crew. This does not inspire confidence in his comrades, and alienates him from them, and also his sole purpose-to find the great, white whale. Captain Ahab only slightly embodies the spirit of collaboration when he interacts with other ships and captains to inquire if they have seen Moby Dick. His lack of interest in their plights is not well-received and is destructive to his relationships. He even recognizes it in himself and his family, as his obsession deepens and gains control of his life and actions. Nevertheless, it is only through his collaboration with the other ships and their captains that Captain Ahab is able to track Moby Dick's whereabouts and eventually locate the whale.
Captain Ahab's example of isolation and collaboration can be echoed in Digital Culture as we create our online identities. We, as individuals, have the opportunity to build up reputations, yet if we do not interact with others, there will be no reputations. Beyond that, by isolating ourselves, we do not share our ideas, and allow them to progress, thus begging the question of why do we come up with these ideas? Captain Ahab represents one who does not care about his identity, and is thus, is disregarded or thought of as a lunatic. By creating an online presence and interacting with others, we further our own knowledge, establish credibility and ultimately, reach our full potentials.
Essay One: Dr. Glen Smith
An advantage of our position as English majors is that we are given the tools to put current writing in a historical context. We can compare literature now to literature written hundreds of years ago, we can compare social situations that created certain literary works to literature being created now in different circumstances, and we can use forms and tools that have been utilized for hundreds of years to continue a tradition of high quality literature. Traditional literary study is essential for an understanding of current literary study.
The same applies to a digital approach to studying the humanities. As Alan Liu points out, social media is not a brand new idea. Humans have been sharing ideas in different forms for centuries. Web 2.0 is the current manifestation and it would be harmful to ignore all of the forms of sharing that have been used in the past.
Moby Dick is a great example of a book that reveals a lot about digital culture that might be ignored if we are preoccupied only with writing that is current or discarding traditional literature. Moby Dick, with all of its tangents about mariner life, whales, and back stories for each character, functions a lot like a wiki. Reading chapter 32, about cetology, might be like opening a browser alongside the text to learn more about whales and to better understand the narrative, which is heavy with nautical jargon.
Moby Dick is obviously more complex than a wiki because it offers its facts through the lens of the narrator, which is not always reliable, and the presentation of information is all in the context of the story, but what it showcases is the human hunger for knowledge. The author channels his enthusiasm for the sea and his own research about whales into a narrative with a lot of chapters about cartography, how lines work in a ship, and how whales are taken apart and boiled down into oil after they have been caught. Without the explanatory chapters, we would have a harder time understanding what it means to be "caught in the line." This is very much like how modern bloggers will insert links in their entries to direct readers to more information about a subject.
If we connect with traditional literature, it will continue to enrich our writing and help us to offer better reading experiences for our readers. Sharing stories doesn't mean that we need to limit ourselves to a narrative. Like Herman Melville, we can be creative with the text and add things to give a better overall understanding.
Class Reflection: Building Ideas and Sharing Them
Like I've said before, the reason I decided to join this class was mostly because it fulfilled a course requirement and fit into my schedule. It also had the word "blog" somewhere in the course description and I thought: Bird Course.
What I'm learning, though, is that there are no courses at BYU that you can just fly right through. I'm glad we were warned that we would be reading Moby Dick over the course of a month, which helped give a better idea of what this class would require. (I'm sure that was a mechanism to weed out the weak. Like Accounting 200.)
This class has been challenging, but is has given me a lot of tools that I know I'll be using beyond this classroom. I made real-world connections with people in fields that I'm interested in by experimenting with tools for connecting. The class helped me get outside my comfort zone and email people I didn't know to ask them questions about a field that's still developing. I know I'm actually learning in a class when I stop focusing on how I think I know everything and open myself up to what other people have to say. Reading the posts from other people in the class helped me see what other people were getting out of the same discussions in class and how there are a lot of different ideas we can build on if we share them with each other. I already have a lot of ideas that I want to continue building and sharing even after the class is over.
Something that has been a running theme in several of my English classes has been a push to go deeper than a simple analogy and to make claims about things and back up those claims with facts. I have been resisting a lot of these ideas because I have thought that it's always better to just tell a story or make a simple analogy without working yourself into a philosophical fit trying to constantly connect to a greater whole. The more I've seen movies this year and thought about the stories, the more I've found that deeper stories or stories that resist a simple reading are a lot more satisfying. A lot of elements of our culture are becoming immediate and shallow and we could use English majors in this world to help us create more meaning. This doesn't mean I'm going to find Christ analogies in everything like my high school English teachers seemed to want, but it does help me appreciate how my professors are trying to teach me to think and what this could do for me outside the classroom.
Photo taken from Sister Act 2. Used for illustrative purposes as fair use.
What I'm learning, though, is that there are no courses at BYU that you can just fly right through. I'm glad we were warned that we would be reading Moby Dick over the course of a month, which helped give a better idea of what this class would require. (I'm sure that was a mechanism to weed out the weak. Like Accounting 200.)
This class has been challenging, but is has given me a lot of tools that I know I'll be using beyond this classroom. I made real-world connections with people in fields that I'm interested in by experimenting with tools for connecting. The class helped me get outside my comfort zone and email people I didn't know to ask them questions about a field that's still developing. I know I'm actually learning in a class when I stop focusing on how I think I know everything and open myself up to what other people have to say. Reading the posts from other people in the class helped me see what other people were getting out of the same discussions in class and how there are a lot of different ideas we can build on if we share them with each other. I already have a lot of ideas that I want to continue building and sharing even after the class is over.
Something that has been a running theme in several of my English classes has been a push to go deeper than a simple analogy and to make claims about things and back up those claims with facts. I have been resisting a lot of these ideas because I have thought that it's always better to just tell a story or make a simple analogy without working yourself into a philosophical fit trying to constantly connect to a greater whole. The more I've seen movies this year and thought about the stories, the more I've found that deeper stories or stories that resist a simple reading are a lot more satisfying. A lot of elements of our culture are becoming immediate and shallow and we could use English majors in this world to help us create more meaning. This doesn't mean I'm going to find Christ analogies in everything like my high school English teachers seemed to want, but it does help me appreciate how my professors are trying to teach me to think and what this could do for me outside the classroom.
Photo taken from Sister Act 2. Used for illustrative purposes as fair use.
How I Have Come to Understand Digital Culture
This semester has been eye-opening for me. I have always been
one of those people who think that it is bad to rely too much on technology,
and I was proud of myself for staying away as much as I had. However, I have
come to realize that digital culture and technology have a lot to offer me that
I simply hadn't been willing to see before.
Perhaps one of the biggest realizations that I had came as a
result of seeking social proof for my final paper about tablets and autism. I
have been a bit skeptical and hesitant throughout this semester at the idea of asking
strangers for help on a research paper for class. I didn't want to be
presumptuous or bother anyone. However, I decided to be brave and seek out help
for my final project. I joined a group about education and technology on Google
Plus and posted a question. To my surprise, I received two responses almost
immediately. One was an educator who had received her Master’s degree studying
my very same topic. The other was the father of an autistic son. Both were very
willing to help out, and being able to communicate with them helped me to
understand more specifically how tablets can help students with autism. I am
still amazed at how easy it was to get in touch with them and how helpful hearing
their opinions was. I may try a similar strategy for other papers in the
future.
Another benefit of this class is that I have noticed myself
using Facebook more to connect with other people, rather than simply “lurking”
and reading about their lives without interacting with them. I have actively
shared things that I think my friends would enjoy as well as initiating conversations
with them. This class helped me to remember that all forms of human connection
are valuable, whether that is in person or over the internet. My relationships
with a few friends and family members have improved as I have actively made an
effort to connect with them.
I have really enjoyed Ash’s work on how parenting is
impacted by our status as “digital natives”—that is, people who have grown up
with technology and the internet. I haven’t really thought about how that will
impact my parenting style someday until I started hearing about her research.
However, it is a very relevant topic to me as I do plan on having a family
someday. I think her effort to understand how digital culture will impact
parenting is very valuable and very relevant. It also reminds me that I need to
continue to stay informed about digital culture as I begin a family if I want
to be able to help my children to understand the benefits and dangers of
digital culture. Helping my future family is one of the biggest motivations
that I have for continuing to learn and be involved in digital culture after
this class is over. Digital culture is going to be around for a long time, and
I plan to continue to learn about and become familiar with it in order to more
fully understand and use it effectively in my own personal life.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
How I've Come to Understand Digital Culture
I do not think I will ever be a Digital Culture aficionado. That being said, I learned a lot this semester and have implemented more class material into my habits than I would have thought possible, for me, at least. Several areas of technology are still beyond my scope of understanding or interest...video games...sorry Greg, Paul and Heidi. Nonetheless, all my classmate's contributed unique and valuable ideas to the digital culture community.
Primarily, I will incorporate socially optimized research into my academic future. I really enjoyed all the resources we received regarding how to reach out to friends, professionals and strangers. For myself, I used several social media sites this semester to gather opinions from my peers (instagram, Google+, Twitter and Facebook). When writing my final paper, I found email addresses for a journalist at the Guardian and a Professor of Parenting, both of which responded to my queries! I liked being surprised with new tools the internet has to offer, such as the curating add-on's available which are so much easier to use than emailing links to myself. As for social proof, I think it makes papers more credible when there is a variety of sources and you have a personal knowledge, investment, and experience with the topic.
I personally struggle with going beyond my comfort zone and I still have that "I don't want to rely on technology too much" attitude. The course "forced" me to explore different websites, use media to explain things, read online books and share my intellectual ideas with others on a public forum. My final research paper on digital natives was more a three month journey than a one-sitting, regurgitation of a paper (which it typically is). I was able to incorporate experiences from my peers into an academic paper that I have a genuine interest in and a subject I believe is relevant and forthcoming in society. Cheri's topic of tablets with autistic children appealed to me because I wrote about technology in school and in parenting and her research literally proved the benefit of electronic devices in families and educational settings.
Overall, I feel more at ease with the digital world and what it can do for me, especially in the writing field. It is merely about traveling the long tail, on various legs of a journey.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Outreach and Paper Submission
My paper is more formal and I don't think it would be applicable to format it for a parenting blog. However, I did submit an "abstract"/proposal to Parenting.com, which is associated with Family Circle. It will be another 4-6 weeks before I hear anything though...
I was hoping to submit to a BYU magazine/journal and I've contacted both the McKay School of Education about their magazine and the Family, Home and School Sciences journal, "Connections". have yet to hear back from them about the process of submitting papers.
As a back-up, I did submit my paper to the BYU Scholars Archive. So it is in the public records for a small percentage of academics to glean from!
I was hoping to submit to a BYU magazine/journal and I've contacted both the McKay School of Education about their magazine and the Family, Home and School Sciences journal, "Connections". have yet to hear back from them about the process of submitting papers.
As a back-up, I did submit my paper to the BYU Scholars Archive. So it is in the public records for a small percentage of academics to glean from!
Final Paper: Using Tablets to Help Autistic Students Learn
My Final Paper is complete! You can access the complete work here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rs7tUZo9kR9fsb8PsgSuG_-VcsAQLRGEsVjublA1eao/edit?usp=sharing
Thank you each for a wonderful semester! I will see you at the final!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rs7tUZo9kR9fsb8PsgSuG_-VcsAQLRGEsVjublA1eao/edit?usp=sharing
Thank you each for a wonderful semester! I will see you at the final!
Venue for Article
I kept looking at my article and thinking that it wouldn't be as useful on a gaming blog. This article would fit better into a business journal.
I also looked at other business journal articles and realized that they have experts to write their articles. I figured I might have a better shot if I tried for something local. Perhaps on the local level gamification isn't being addressed as fully. I called both the Utah Business Journal and Utah Valley Business Q and asked if they accept guest articles. They gave me email addresses and directions and I submitted the idea and the first couple of paragraphs to these venues. (I rewrote the first couple of paragraphs to be more cohesive and less formal.) Although my article is still very much in the scholastic journal form I was taught in Eng 295, perhaps they'll work with me!
Thank you +Greg Bayles for your feedback! I realized In my third paragraph I was arguing both for and against gamification at the same time.
If the business journals aren't interested, I might try to send it to First Person Scholar, a venue working with +Paul Bills, because a new journal building credibility is a great opportunity for new writers.
I also looked at other business journal articles and realized that they have experts to write their articles. I figured I might have a better shot if I tried for something local. Perhaps on the local level gamification isn't being addressed as fully. I called both the Utah Business Journal and Utah Valley Business Q and asked if they accept guest articles. They gave me email addresses and directions and I submitted the idea and the first couple of paragraphs to these venues. (I rewrote the first couple of paragraphs to be more cohesive and less formal.) Although my article is still very much in the scholastic journal form I was taught in Eng 295, perhaps they'll work with me!
Thank you +Greg Bayles for your feedback! I realized In my third paragraph I was arguing both for and against gamification at the same time.
If the business journals aren't interested, I might try to send it to First Person Scholar, a venue working with +Paul Bills, because a new journal building credibility is a great opportunity for new writers.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Second Draft of Paper
Here is the link to the second draft of my paper:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Bg3hU1ZHaItBd2WrnsAXJohxr2rml2-GweatuVsA4LI/edit?usp=sharing. I'm not sure how to add a Header in a google doc, but I promise there was one in the original document. If any of you have time to look over my draft, I would love any feedback!
My final paper will be up within the next day or two. Thank you, Dr. Burton and Dr. Wickman, for being merciful!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Bg3hU1ZHaItBd2WrnsAXJohxr2rml2-GweatuVsA4LI/edit?usp=sharing. I'm not sure how to add a Header in a google doc, but I promise there was one in the original document. If any of you have time to look over my draft, I would love any feedback!
My final paper will be up within the next day or two. Thank you, Dr. Burton and Dr. Wickman, for being merciful!
Digital Natives Raising Digital Natives
Here's the link to my final paper: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1id9Eef8WcF4KEJj4yrM5FYWuB52uyWR4bVKQ87KcpHk/edit?usp=sharing
Sorry if the formatting is not right, it seemed to change some things when I pasted from the Word document.
Sorry if the formatting is not right, it seemed to change some things when I pasted from the Word document.
Bringing Humanity Back to the Cubicle: How Deloitte and James Paul Gee See Games as a way of Reengaging the Disinterested
Here is a link to a Google doc of my paper. I sent the first two paragraphs revised to be more business-article-like to a couple local business magazines.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Outline/Part of Draft
I've heard back from Amy Gray at the Guardian and I'm still waiting to have my questions answered by Dr. David Nelson, a Parenting professor at BYU. He did respond once! Here's my ROUGH outline:
Intro
P1 What are digital natives and digital immigrants-Prensky
P2 How have times changed? Analog to digital; dvd/cd/internet/school/friends/social lives-Barr
P3 What do parents need to consider now? how do i track them; when do i introduce them Studies by Lee, Leung and Wong
P4 Are there still concerns? lack of focus; add; trouble; early exposure-Houle
P5 What are the benefits? multitasking; communicating; monitoring-Palfrey and Gasser
Conclusion
Some sources I'm trying to use:
2. The influences of information literacy, internet addiction and parenting styles on internet risks
3. Yu Cheung Wong “Cyber-Parenting: Internet Benefits, Risks and
Parenting Issues”
http://web.ebscohost.com.erl.lib.byu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=fc3f4ce2-1359-4f15-b638-93897a68fd09%40sessionmgr113&vid=1&hid=120
4. Leticia Barr http://www.parents.com/blogs/tech-savvy-parents/2013/05/01/education/how-to-parent-in-the-digital-age-raising-digital-families-amy-lupold-bair/
5. Marc Prensky
6. John Palfrey and Urs Gasser Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives
And here's part of my draft that I have NOT edited or formatted, so I feel like I'm walking outside undressed by posting it already:
Digital Natives Raising Digital Natives
The progressive nature of technology simultaneously brings ease and convenience in daily tasks, as well as a constantly changing learning curve that is quickly adopted by each new generation. This swift seizure of digital devices and such by youngsters places parents in a quandary as their children, digital natives, far outsmart them in technological matters. Such practices have occurred since the early 1990’s and will continue to happen, but the situation has changed, as digital natives are now becoming parents. There is an extensive market for non-digital parents (digital immigrants) on how to raise children in a digital world, however none have yet addressed savvy digital natives and their familial dynamics. I intend to substantiate formal research regarding parenting in a digital age, with several modern adaptations for not only the new generation of children, but the new generation of parents.
Marc Prensky coined the terms “digital native” and “digital immigrant,” in his 2001 book Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants and I will use the phrases as he defies them. After consideration of other terms, Prensky concludes:
But the most useful designation I have found for them is Digital Natives. Our students today are all “native speakers” of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet. So what does that make the rest of us? Those of us who were not born into the digital world but have, at some later point in our lives, become fascinated by and adopted many or most aspects of the new technology are, and always will be compared to them, Digital Immigrants. The importance of the distinction is this: As Digital Immigrants learn – like all immigrants, some better than others – to adapt to their environment, they always retain, to some degree, their "accent," that is, their foot in the past. The “digital immigrant accent” can be seen in such things as turning to the Internet for information second rather than first, or in reading the manual for a program rather than assuming that the program itself will teach us to use it. Today‟s older folk were "socialized" differently from their kids, and are now in the process of learning a new language. And a language learned later in life, scientists tell us, goes into a different part of the brain” (Prensky 1-2).
Prensky’s book primarily focuses on digital immigrant instructors educating digital natives, but he includes universal examples of digital adoption and “accents” including: printing out an email, bringing co-workers to a computer to see an online video, as opposed to sending it to them and calling somebody to inquire if he received an email. Clearly, these are not bad habits, but they do represent a cultural shift from natives who are characterized as, Digital Natives are used to receiving information really fast. They like to
parallel process and multi-task. They prefer their graphics before their text rather than
the opposite. They prefer random access (like hypertext). They function best when
networked. They thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards” (Prensky 2). In the twelve years since Prensky published his findings, authors and researchers have amplified his ideas through studies and books on learning styles, internet usage effects and parenting guidelines. Even Oprah Winfrey, media mogul, addresses the topic on her website, “This generation cannot remember not having a computer in the home, cannot remember Mom and Dad not having cell phones, cannot remember watching TV without dozens—if not hundreds—of channels, and even more importantly, cannot remember not having access to the Internet.. . . . . Simply put, they are distinctly different than their parents and even different than the older millennials in their late 20s” (Houle). The need for an updated parenting style has been established in academic and social realms since the early 2000’s and many educators and parents are recognizing and reacting for their children. As we approach 2014, there is a new market opening as the first generation of digital natives start families. How do we adapt parenting advice on raising children in a digital society to parents who were born into said digital society?
There is a marked difference in digital immigrant and native parenting as natives are much more willing to embrace technology. For instance, I, born in 1990, grew up in environments that constantly discouraged the use of cell phones, video games and instant messaging, most especially in public. Currently in 2013, two of my friends’ children have the opportunity to “bring technology to school” several times in the year where they and other students are taught how to use various applications and programs. My friends and their children enjoy this school outreach method. Amy Lupold Blair, author of How to Raise a Digital Family, reminds readers that even digital native parents will still be outmatched by their children, “ I think that if parents start by asking their kids to share what they know about each of the digital topics covered in the book, they’ll be surprised at how willing most kids are to take the lead in getting the entire family on the same page. Topics like cyberbullying and online safety are the native language of the current generation of kids, all of them digital natives . . . . . It is only fitting that they should also discuss these topics at home and be provided with parameters and support by their parents” (Barr). Digital immigrant parents are hesitant to relinquish their children to the technological world because it is one they were not able to explore themselves at the same age, thus creating a barrier between them and digital native parents who do not fear such things like toddlers playing with iPads or pre-teens with smart phones because of their own comfort with the digital world as children.
The major differences between “analog” parenting and “digital” parenting can be overwhelming. In the space of ten years, technology implemented itself into homes and lives like a weed in a garden.
As a parent, the game has certainly changed as children now have instant knowledge at their fingertips and thus demands that parents maintain their authority iin another manner. “Studies—and, certainly, parental experiences—show that digital natives can concentrate on more than one thing at a time. In my opinion, the huge percentage increase in the diagnosis of attention deficient disorder in American children in the past 20 years is largely due to a combination of two factors: First, they can concentrate on more than one thing at a time; and second, we don't think they can! Now, of course, there are children who truly do have ADD, just as there are adults that do” (Houle).
Draft: Using Tablets to Help Autistic Students Learn
Using Tablets to Help Autistic Students
Learn
Photo Credit: Mariordo (Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz), Creative Commons License
My cousin’s
son Spencer is autistic. I remember when he was first born wondering about what
life would be like for him. What would he be capable of? Would he be able to
succeed in school? The Oxford English Dictionary defines autism as “A condition
which has its onset in childhood and is marked by severely limited
responsiveness to other persons, restricted behaviour patterns, difficulty with
abstract concepts, and usually abnormal speech development." It
is easy to see how children who have experienced any of the above may struggle
to learn in traditional, low-tech classrooms. However, fortunately for Spencer
and so many others like him, we live in a time where useful technologies such
as iPads and other tablets are easily accessible and affordable.
So what
exactly are the benefits of using tablets to teach autistic students? Author Temple
Grandin, who has experienced Autism herself, addresses this issue. She writes,
"These devices are an improvement over previous computers because the
keyboard is right on the screen; autistic viewers don't have to move their eyes
to see the result of their typing." She then adds, "First, they're
cool. A tablet is not something that labels you as handicapped to the rest of
the world. Tablets are things that normal people carry around. Second, they're
relatively inexpensive...And the number of apps seems limitless."
Tablets
can be used to help autistic students learn in ways that build on their
strengths rather than their weaknesses. A variety of apps can be used to
provide students with opportunities to learn through watching videos and using interactive
features. For example, among the available options are interactive e-books,
which helps the process of reading be more varied. Other available apps include
videos and educational games. The possibilities are far-reaching. Because
tablets are so popular, even more apps and learning tools could be developed
specifically to help autistic children.
Perhaps one
of the most useful features of tablets is their ability to play videos. Plavnick
cites a study of video modeling that was done in 2000 which had hopeful
results. Out of 5 participants, four children learned desired behaviors more
quickly when the behaviors were modeled via video. The fifth child learned at
the same pace regardless of whether behavior was modeled in person or via video
(Charlop-Christy, Le, and Freeman, cited by Plavnik). A similar study by
a school librarian found, "In our small sampling, every child with autism
improved when using the iPad and interactive e-book over text books, except
one. However, that student answered 100% of the comprehension questions
correctly on all four assessments. There were no students whose comprehension
decreased when using the iPad and interactive e-book. The rate of increase in
comprehension when using the iPad and interactive e-books was 21% in students
in middle school grades, 25% in students in the high school grades, and 21% in
students ages 18-22. All three groups showed statistically significant
improvements in information acquisition when using the iPad, interactive
e-books" (Price).
So what is
the take-away from all of this? Students who are autistic frequently have
difficulties in responding to other people. This can severely restrict learning.
However, tablets and other similar technologies can allow autistic students to
learn in a way that best meets their individual needs. This will give them the
opportunity to succeed by using their own unique abilities to learn in a way
that meets their individual needs. Spencer will soon be entering middle school.
When he does, I hope that he is given the opportunity to use tablets and other
technologies to help him succeed.
Works Cited:
"Autism, n.".
OED Online. September 2013. Oxford University Press. 6 December 2013
<http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/13363?redirectedFrom=Autism>.
Grandin, Temple and
Richard Panek. "Excerpt: Author Temple Grandin Reports on The
Autistic Brain." Time. Time Magazine, 19 May 2013. Web. 6 December
2013.
Plavnick, Joshua B.
1., plavnick@msu.edu.
"A Practical Strategy for Teaching a Child with Autism to Attend to and
Imitate a Portable Video Model." Research & Practice for Persons
with Severe Disabilities 37.4 (2012): 263-70. Web.
Price, Amy. "Making
a Difference with Smart Tablets." Teacher Librarian 39.1 (2011):
31-4. Web.
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Outline for Games in the Workplace
Title needs work. I want it to be more specific and stand out a little.
Thesis/Introduction
Humans are not meant to operate like machines, they need work that is fulfilling. Though industrializaiton tends to take away identity, games can be a means of restoring that identity. Incorporating game elements into employee tasks has been shown to increase productivity and engagement.
I. James Paul Gee and Identity
a. JPG syas that the classroom is inhibited by "damaged learners". Examples of "damaged learners"
b. Examples of "damaged learners" - "I'm a slow reader," "I'm no good at math," etc.
c. 3 step solution from JPG for "repairing" "damaged learners"
d. The workplace is inhibited by "damaged workers" - "I work for the weekend," "I'm just here to earn a paycheck," etc.
e. Solution for damaged workers proposed by George Bradt
f. Video games show players taking on identities very different from their real-world identities. The same can be done in the real world.
II. The Importance of Intrinsic Motivation
a. Quote from Yu-Kai Chou, "Everyone claims to be an expert on gamification..."
b. This usually means a points system, leaderboard, or badges with no meaning or poorly worked into the system.
c. Why this won't work. Chou, "80% of current gamified processes will fail..."
d. Intrinsic motivation as real aim of gamification/employee satisfaction.
III. Jobs that Could Use Some Gamification
a. There are a lot of reasons a company might be afraid to consider gamification - we work with serious contracts, huge amounts of money, etc.
b. They might worry gamification would trivialize the work.
c. We can see form Animal Crossing that games can help a person take something very seriously (you won't quit without saving after getting chewed out by virtual mole).
d. Design your system to reward employees for the right things.
III. Deloitte Case Study
a. This is not a computer company. Other big companies experiencing success are Samsung, Dell, and Accenture.
b. What the company does.
c. What they wanted to accomplish and how gaming helped them get there.
Conclusion
Although gamification is not the only means of motivating employees, it is a method that has been proven effective if used correctly. This may be an especially good way of motivating the upcoming workforce. Provide statistics about percentage of working population that engages in games.
Thesis/Introduction
Humans are not meant to operate like machines, they need work that is fulfilling. Though industrializaiton tends to take away identity, games can be a means of restoring that identity. Incorporating game elements into employee tasks has been shown to increase productivity and engagement.
I. James Paul Gee and Identity
a. JPG syas that the classroom is inhibited by "damaged learners". Examples of "damaged learners"
b. Examples of "damaged learners" - "I'm a slow reader," "I'm no good at math," etc.
c. 3 step solution from JPG for "repairing" "damaged learners"
d. The workplace is inhibited by "damaged workers" - "I work for the weekend," "I'm just here to earn a paycheck," etc.
e. Solution for damaged workers proposed by George Bradt
f. Video games show players taking on identities very different from their real-world identities. The same can be done in the real world.
II. The Importance of Intrinsic Motivation
a. Quote from Yu-Kai Chou, "Everyone claims to be an expert on gamification..."
b. This usually means a points system, leaderboard, or badges with no meaning or poorly worked into the system.
c. Why this won't work. Chou, "80% of current gamified processes will fail..."
d. Intrinsic motivation as real aim of gamification/employee satisfaction.
III. Jobs that Could Use Some Gamification
a. There are a lot of reasons a company might be afraid to consider gamification - we work with serious contracts, huge amounts of money, etc.
b. They might worry gamification would trivialize the work.
c. We can see form Animal Crossing that games can help a person take something very seriously (you won't quit without saving after getting chewed out by virtual mole).
d. Design your system to reward employees for the right things.
III. Deloitte Case Study
a. This is not a computer company. Other big companies experiencing success are Samsung, Dell, and Accenture.
b. What the company does.
c. What they wanted to accomplish and how gaming helped them get there.
Conclusion
Although gamification is not the only means of motivating employees, it is a method that has been proven effective if used correctly. This may be an especially good way of motivating the upcoming workforce. Provide statistics about percentage of working population that engages in games.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Initial Draft/Working Outline
I have
tweaked my topic a bit from tablets and education to how tablets can help
children with disabilities-- specifically those with Autism. I’ve focused my
outline mostly around sources and quotes that I want to use to help me organize
them. If all goes well, am planning on having a complete draft up by tomorrow
night.
This is
my working outline:
1.
Thesis: New technologies such as tablets can help students with learning disabilities--specifically
those with Autism.
2. The
OED Defines Autism as "A condition which has its onset in childhood and is
marked by severely limited responsiveness to other persons, restricted
behaviour patterns, difficulty with abstract concepts, and usually abnormal
speech development."
3. Autism
has since been recognized as a broader condition. The term "Autistic
Spectrum Disorder" was first used in the late 1980s. This term
acknowledges that there is a spectrum of Autism. The term is defined "Any
disorder in which the subject displays autistic characteristics (esp. impaired
communication and social interaction and restricted activities and interests)
(OED).
4.
Tablets can be used to help autistic students learn in ways that build on their
strengths rather than their weaknesses.
5. Author
Temple Grandin, who has experienced Autism herself, lists some benefits of
tablets for people with Autism. She writes, "These devices are an
improvement over previous computers because the keyboard is right on the screen;
autistic viewers don't have to move their eyes to see the result of their
typing." She then adds, "First, they're cool. A tablet is not
something that labels you as handicapped to the rest of the world. Tablets are
things that normal people carry around. Second, they're relatively
inexpensive...And the number of apps seems limitless."
a. One website lists 78 free iPad apps for students with
disabilities (http://www.slideshare.net/elearningindustry/78-free-ipad-apps-for-students-with-special-needs). Of the 78 apps, 12 are created specifically for users who
have Autism.
6. One
useful feature of tablets is that they can play videos. Plavnick explains why
this is so useful for children with autism, "Explicit instruction in
attending to video can be an important skill to teach children with autism as
it can lead to the acquisition of new skills via video modeling."
a. Plavnick cites a study of video modeling that was done
in 2000 which had hopeful results. Out of 5 participants, four children learned
desired behaviors more quickly when the behaviors were modeled via video. The
fifth child learned at the same pace regardless of whether behavior was modeled
in person or via video (Charlop-Christy, Le, and Freeman, cited by Plavnik).
b. A similar study by a school librarian found, "In our
small sampling, every child with autism improved when using the iPad and
interactive e-book over text books, except one. However, that student answered
100% of the comprehension questions correctly on all four assessments. There
were no students whose comprehension decreased when using the iPad and
interactive e-book. The rate of increase in comprehension when using the iPad
and interactive e-books was 21% in students in middle school grades, 25% in
students in the high school grades, and 21% in students ages 18-22. All three
groups showed statistically significant improvements in information acquisition
when using the iPad, interactive e-books" (Price).
7. Howard
Shane warns, “Caution must continue to be exercised to ensure that the dazzle
of this impressive technology does not replace a methodical, clinical process
that matches a person with communication assistance needs with the optimal communication
technology available” (1229). However, he later adds, “The widespread uses of
innovative technology across every segment of society bodes well for persons
with ASD” (1234).
Works
Cited:
"Autism, n.". OED Online. September 2013. Oxford
University Press. 6 December 2013 <http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/13363?redirectedFrom=Autism>.
Grandin, Temple and Richard Panek. "Excerpt: Author
Temple Grandin Reports on The Autistic Brain." Time. Time
Magazine, 19 May 2013. Web. 6 December 2013.
Plavnick, Joshua B. 1., plavnick@msu.edu. "A Practical Strategy for Teaching a Child with
Autism to Attend to and Imitate a Portable Video Model." Research
& Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities 37.4 (2012):
263-70. Web.
Price, Amy. "Making a Difference with Smart
Tablets." Teacher Librarian 39.1 (2011): 31-4. Web.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Working Post - Games in the Workplace: A New Wave of Employee Satisfaction
Games in the Workplace: A New Wave of Employee Satisfaction
Thesis: Gamification is an extension of existing efforts to boost employee satisfaction. If used well, it can help keep work interesting. If not used well, it will be a useless tacked on points system.
Preliminary Exploration: I've spent some time reading and analyzing James Paul Gee's book What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy and comparing it to other books that discuss the value of games in learning. In a post about precursor domains I've explored how the transferrability of skills is essential in our quickly changing work environments. From here I've researched how gamification might benefit the workplace and boost employee satisfaction and looked for companies that are successfully implementing these sorts of tools.
Relevance:
a) As video games grow in popularity and availability, many are using games as a way to escape reality, as we see in Exodus to the Virtual World by Edward Castronova. We can choose to continue to escape real life or we can use games as a way to make real life more enjoyable, as theorized by Jane McGonigal in Reality is Broken.
b) There's a lot of buzz in the business world about gamification hows and whys. I think business managers and employees would also be interested to know how valuable this is in practice.
Format: I would like to target serious academia because there are already a lot of hype articles out there on managements. If we want to take a more realistic look at games in the workplace, I think this should be taken to an academic conference.
Outlet: I sort of snoozed on calls for papers and missed a lot of opportunities because many November deadlines have passed. However, I was able to find
one London call for papers: ICCBM 2014: 2014 2nd International Conference on Computer and Business Management (ICCBM 2014)
And a classmate, +Aleesha Bass posted a call for papers that lines up with my topic as well: CATaC Conference Call for Papers
I've also noticed that the gamification wiki is in its beginning stages and could use some articles and information. If I'm struggling with the traditional call for papers approach I may benefit from taking a wiki approach instead. There are little to no examples available on the wiki of successful businesses using gamification strategies.
These calls for papers might also be a little beyond my abilities as a writer. They seem a little advanced for undergrad work. If I'm really articulate, though, and show that I'm serious about the material, I might have a shot. I'll have to keep an eye out for more local, basic ways to share my work as well.
The more I think about it, the more I'm sort of daunted by the idea of submitting to serious academia and wondering how useful my paper will be at a conference in Norway. I'm emailing a few business journals in Utah to see if they accept guest articles.
These calls for papers might also be a little beyond my abilities as a writer. They seem a little advanced for undergrad work. If I'm really articulate, though, and show that I'm serious about the material, I might have a shot. I'll have to keep an eye out for more local, basic ways to share my work as well.
The more I think about it, the more I'm sort of daunted by the idea of submitting to serious academia and wondering how useful my paper will be at a conference in Norway. I'm emailing a few business journals in Utah to see if they accept guest articles.
Curation:
a) I've found a lot of great books that talk about similar gamification theories and problems such as the books I've mentioned before from Jane McGonigal, Edward Castronova, and James Paul Gee. This has given me a good foundation for understanding what good can be done with gamification.
b) I've been collecting articles speculating about the use of gamification in the workplace - why it can be good, how it can be used poorly, and how many businesses are predicted to use these methods in the future.
c) I've thrown out some social lines on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and a Google community dedicated to gaming. I've also emailed some business professionals I hoped would be able to help me understand how gamification is being used to boost employee satisfaction. I've gotten some great responses and have plenty of material for a paper.
Social Proof: I was surprised direct emailing sometimes flopped as a way of obtaining more social information. However, I received an email back from a professional at Qualtrics, which is a company that employs a lot of students in the area. I think obtaining and retaining students is a difficult task and if a company is successful, they might be able to clue us in on employee satisfaction.
I was also directed to some helpful websites on Twitter and Linkedin. Linkedin was a little more personal and the responses were from business people who are working on some of the same problems, so this was a great tool for me.
Facebook also came through for me in the end. I told my friends I was hitting a dead end and some of my gaming friends led me to more articles and companies to check out.
Next Steps: Now I've got to go through some of these company suggestions and see where companies are having success. I need to articulate my thoughts in a way that will benefit those in business management who want to know if there's anything to be learned from gamification strategies. I also need to make sure I'm offering more than some of the basic "gamification is the new thing" articles that are already out there.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Finding the Middle Ground: Balancing Technology and Traditional Education
Working Thesis:
Technology can be helpful in education when used in moderation. However, it should not replace traditional instructor-taught learning, but should supplement it.
Preliminary Exploration:
-Posts on Disrupting Class
-Playlist on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ0uEtt00EyPudmz-nUsBBwcMmJgplv8v
-I made a list of helpful sources in my post that I created before reading Disrupting Class: http://teamstarbuck.blogspot.com/2013/10/education-and-digital-culture-in.html
Relevance:
-To Digital Culture: Technology is a hot topic in education right now. This topic is very relevant.
-To Specific Audience: Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in how to use all of the new tools that are available. My project will allow educators to take a step back and realize that technology is best used as a means to an end rather than the end itself.
Format:
Editorial or Editorial-style blog post
Outlet:
Potential outlets include:
DHQ Editorial (http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/submissions/index.html)
Guest Blog on Edutopia: (http://www.edutopia.org/contact-us)
Guest Blog at Edgital: (http://www.edgital.org/guest-blogging/) Note: This outlet would require that I focus in more on informal education. Right now my focus is on public education.
Curation:
-Disrupting Class-- I feel like this book argues for too much of an emphasis on technology, rather than a balance.
-TED Talks: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ0uEtt00EyPudmz-nUsBBwcMmJgplv8v
(The )TED talk by Paul Anderson was especially relevant.)
-Anderson's website: http://www.bozemanscience.com/about/
-I made a list of helpful sources in my post that I created before reading Disrupting Class: http://teamstarbuck.blogspot.com/2013/10/education-and-digital-culture-in.html
-A personal interview with a middle school teacher who received a grant for each student in her classroom to receive iPads
-Independent Study's website: https://is.byu.edu/site/about/coursetypes/tl.cfm (explaining a balanced course model that integrates both technology and the influence of a teacher)
Social Proof:
-My roommates have given me a lot of input into ways that they have seen technology successfully and unsuccessfully used in classes (one of them hates Powerpoints; the other has found that technology has hindered her attempts to research (she says that she needs to become more familiar with it before it will really be useful to her))
-Interview with a middle school teacher: She has found that increased technology in her classroom has pros and cons, but she says that overall she likes having more technology in her classroom.
-I also plan to speak with a public librarian tomorrow evening to get her input.
Next Steps:
My next step will be to write a draft of my editorial. I'm interested in seeing how I will be able to talk about this in an Editorial or guest blog rather than a more traditional scholarly source. I think I will need to rely more on personal experience and insights with minimal external sources, which will be tricky. Because of this, I want to run my draft by someone before I finalize it.
Technology can be helpful in education when used in moderation. However, it should not replace traditional instructor-taught learning, but should supplement it.
Preliminary Exploration:
-Posts on Disrupting Class
-Playlist on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ0uEtt00EyPudmz-nUsBBwcMmJgplv8v
-I made a list of helpful sources in my post that I created before reading Disrupting Class: http://teamstarbuck.blogspot.com/2013/10/education-and-digital-culture-in.html
Relevance:
-To Digital Culture: Technology is a hot topic in education right now. This topic is very relevant.
-To Specific Audience: Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in how to use all of the new tools that are available. My project will allow educators to take a step back and realize that technology is best used as a means to an end rather than the end itself.
Format:
Editorial or Editorial-style blog post
Outlet:
Potential outlets include:
DHQ Editorial (http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/submissions/index.html)
Guest Blog on Edutopia: (http://www.edutopia.org/contact-us)
Guest Blog at Edgital: (http://www.edgital.org/guest-blogging/) Note: This outlet would require that I focus in more on informal education. Right now my focus is on public education.
Curation:
-Disrupting Class-- I feel like this book argues for too much of an emphasis on technology, rather than a balance.
-TED Talks: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ0uEtt00EyPudmz-nUsBBwcMmJgplv8v
(The )TED talk by Paul Anderson was especially relevant.)
-Anderson's website: http://www.bozemanscience.com/about/
-I made a list of helpful sources in my post that I created before reading Disrupting Class: http://teamstarbuck.blogspot.com/2013/10/education-and-digital-culture-in.html
-A personal interview with a middle school teacher who received a grant for each student in her classroom to receive iPads
-Independent Study's website: https://is.byu.edu/site/about/coursetypes/tl.cfm (explaining a balanced course model that integrates both technology and the influence of a teacher)
Social Proof:
-My roommates have given me a lot of input into ways that they have seen technology successfully and unsuccessfully used in classes (one of them hates Powerpoints; the other has found that technology has hindered her attempts to research (she says that she needs to become more familiar with it before it will really be useful to her))
-Interview with a middle school teacher: She has found that increased technology in her classroom has pros and cons, but she says that overall she likes having more technology in her classroom.
-I also plan to speak with a public librarian tomorrow evening to get her input.
Next Steps:
My next step will be to write a draft of my editorial. I'm interested in seeing how I will be able to talk about this in an Editorial or guest blog rather than a more traditional scholarly source. I think I will need to rely more on personal experience and insights with minimal external sources, which will be tricky. Because of this, I want to run my draft by someone before I finalize it.
Paper Proposal
I am excited to write my paper on digital natives raising digital natives because it is a pertinent and relevant topic right now (in my opinion), has not really been explored yet and is important to the new generation of children being born, whose parents are tech-savvy.
I was inspired while reading Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives because I consider myself to be a digital native, and will be starting a family soon, like many of my peers who are already parents. This topic needs to be addressed because hereafter, everyone born will be a digital native, raised by digital natives. The first generation of digital natives were introduced to computers, cell phones and portable video games, but now babies play with iPads and kids scroll through Netflix like they are reading a book. Parents are more comfortable with technology and need to be educated on how and what to do and not to do, especially since they themselves are never without their smartphones.
I intend to compile research (thank you, Cheri!) like surveys, knowledge from sources like John Palfrey and Urs Gasser's book, and INTERVIEWS/personal surveys. I will create a survey via Qualtrics and pose questions to those I'm connected to on social media sites like Google+, Facebook and Twitter. I know it will be a limited survey but at least I will get some modern, quick information from digital natives who are now parents. Through personal interviews, I can contrasts parenting methods of digital natives and digital immigrants.
Overall, I want to show that we, as a society, have reached a shift where digital immigrants are no longer the majority and that parents will be embracing technology and already have vast online presences. My paper will by no means be a parenting guide because I am not qualified to write such a thing, but a call to attention that this is an issue parents need to consider as they raise their children, through the combination of wise traditions and innovative advancements.
I was inspired while reading Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives because I consider myself to be a digital native, and will be starting a family soon, like many of my peers who are already parents. This topic needs to be addressed because hereafter, everyone born will be a digital native, raised by digital natives. The first generation of digital natives were introduced to computers, cell phones and portable video games, but now babies play with iPads and kids scroll through Netflix like they are reading a book. Parents are more comfortable with technology and need to be educated on how and what to do and not to do, especially since they themselves are never without their smartphones.
I intend to compile research (thank you, Cheri!) like surveys, knowledge from sources like John Palfrey and Urs Gasser's book, and INTERVIEWS/personal surveys. I will create a survey via Qualtrics and pose questions to those I'm connected to on social media sites like Google+, Facebook and Twitter. I know it will be a limited survey but at least I will get some modern, quick information from digital natives who are now parents. Through personal interviews, I can contrasts parenting methods of digital natives and digital immigrants.
Overall, I want to show that we, as a society, have reached a shift where digital immigrants are no longer the majority and that parents will be embracing technology and already have vast online presences. My paper will by no means be a parenting guide because I am not qualified to write such a thing, but a call to attention that this is an issue parents need to consider as they raise their children, through the combination of wise traditions and innovative advancements.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Ashley's Edition of Gamification in the Workplace
Heidi is searching for a way to make the work environment more engaging, and as such is studying gamification in the workplace. Her idea is to incorporate video game-esque tactics and software into companies to motivate and excite employees. I know my current job as a secretary (a desk job) often bores me and it's only four hours a day and I get to move around/have new encounters (for the most part) every day. I cannot imagine sitting in a cubicle for eight hours every day, continuously entering the same information into a software program. Thus, I highly support Heidi's cause and have done a little research on it.
I began with a simple Google search of random phrases like "how to make the workplace more exciting," "company software that acts like a video game," etc. and I either got too many results or not related results. Surprisingly, or not, when I entered "gamification in the workplace," I got the results I was looking for.
This first article, "Adam Penenberg: How Gamification is Going to Change the Workplace" is extremely helpful! I was so surprised to see that companies like Microsoft, IBM, Canon and L'oreal use "gaming" as tools in their research, recruiting and repairs.
I looked up Adam Penenbeg's book Play at Work: How Games Inspire Breakthrough Thinking and was surprised to see only one Amazon customer review. And it's by a friend/colleague! So, this tells me that the topic is still very new and unexplored.
This presentation by Carnegie Mellon University's Professor Jesse Schell is referenced in the Forbes article and is about the world of game development, even projecting games into future workplaces.
At the bottom of my first article, there were several search suggestions and oen of them was "Safety and Training Games". This got me thinking about whether we need to take baby steps into introducing gaming into the work industry. Several companies use games for recruiting and training and that's a great start. I know a lot of companies do team-building activities and maybe gaming could be included. This also raises an important point-what about the people who don't like gaming? Ultimately, companies will have to have several versions of software to appeal to all their employees.
Another angle to explore is the benefit of video games! In this DataBeat article, they found that, "The study found that trainees who used video games to train had a nine percent higher retention rate, an 11 percent higher factual knowledge level and a 14 percent higher skill-based knowledge level, according to an announcement today by the game industry trade group, theEntertainment Software Association". Heidi can also use statistics about gaming, in general, to emphasize longer attention spans, more agile fingers, better focus...etc. Because there is not a lot of specific research on gaming in the workplace, she will probably have to juxtapose data found in other studies like low motivation in the workplace or the rise of boredom and job dissatisfaction in data entry jobs.
It is an awesome and apparently beneficial idea that I think many hip companies like Google and Amazon would be quick to adopt.
I began with a simple Google search of random phrases like "how to make the workplace more exciting," "company software that acts like a video game," etc. and I either got too many results or not related results. Surprisingly, or not, when I entered "gamification in the workplace," I got the results I was looking for.
This first article, "Adam Penenberg: How Gamification is Going to Change the Workplace" is extremely helpful! I was so surprised to see that companies like Microsoft, IBM, Canon and L'oreal use "gaming" as tools in their research, recruiting and repairs.
I looked up Adam Penenbeg's book Play at Work: How Games Inspire Breakthrough Thinking and was surprised to see only one Amazon customer review. And it's by a friend/colleague! So, this tells me that the topic is still very new and unexplored.
This presentation by Carnegie Mellon University's Professor Jesse Schell is referenced in the Forbes article and is about the world of game development, even projecting games into future workplaces.
At the bottom of my first article, there were several search suggestions and oen of them was "Safety and Training Games". This got me thinking about whether we need to take baby steps into introducing gaming into the work industry. Several companies use games for recruiting and training and that's a great start. I know a lot of companies do team-building activities and maybe gaming could be included. This also raises an important point-what about the people who don't like gaming? Ultimately, companies will have to have several versions of software to appeal to all their employees.
Another angle to explore is the benefit of video games! In this DataBeat article, they found that, "The study found that trainees who used video games to train had a nine percent higher retention rate, an 11 percent higher factual knowledge level and a 14 percent higher skill-based knowledge level, according to an announcement today by the game industry trade group, theEntertainment Software Association". Heidi can also use statistics about gaming, in general, to emphasize longer attention spans, more agile fingers, better focus...etc. Because there is not a lot of specific research on gaming in the workplace, she will probably have to juxtapose data found in other studies like low motivation in the workplace or the rise of boredom and job dissatisfaction in data entry jobs.
It is an awesome and apparently beneficial idea that I think many hip companies like Google and Amazon would be quick to adopt.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
The Parts of a Whale in Moby Dick
I have been thinking lately about the chapters in Moby Dick devoted to each individual part of the whale. For instance, there is an entire chapter devoted to a whale's blubber. There are others focused on various other parts of its body, including its head and tale. Those chapters were particularly frustrating to me as I struggled to get through them. I would wonder, "How does learning about the skull of a whale help me to understand this story better?" Interestingly enough, as I have thought about why Melville would choose to put these chapters in his story, I have come to understand that it is important to learn about the pieces, or components, that make up a particular thing in order to understand the thing as a whole.
For example, we have been studying digital culture this semester. However, it is impossible to understand digital culture as a whole without looking at each of the little pieces that digital culture is made up of. How could I possibly begin to understand digital culture without looking at the social media aspect of it? Or if I ignored the phenomenon of the long tail? Conversely, how am I supposed to understand digital culture as a whole if I assume that it is only made up of one of these categories? That would be similar to Ishmael focusing only on the whale's tail and ignoring the rest of the massive creature.
Ishmael, as he describes the right-whale's head, explains, "As you come nearer to this great head it begins to assume different aspects, according to your point of view" (Chapter 75, Project Gutenberg electronic text). This reminds me of the process I go through every time I write a paper for class. As I look at a text through different lenses, I am able to understand it differently. Ishmael's in-depth descriptions about the parts that make up a whale show the importance of each detail of a text, no matter how trivial or difficult to distinguish from the whole it may appear at first glance.
The chapters in Moby Dick that are focused on describing different parts of a whale have reminded me of the importance at looking at the details--whether I am writing a paper for a class, learning about digital culture or other topics, or just thinking about life. Though I admit that I struggled with these chapters at first, as I followed Melville's model and looked at how that particular part fit into the story as a whole, I realized that it was teaching me to do just what I was doing-- to seek the meaning in each individual piece in order to better understand the whole.
For example, we have been studying digital culture this semester. However, it is impossible to understand digital culture as a whole without looking at each of the little pieces that digital culture is made up of. How could I possibly begin to understand digital culture without looking at the social media aspect of it? Or if I ignored the phenomenon of the long tail? Conversely, how am I supposed to understand digital culture as a whole if I assume that it is only made up of one of these categories? That would be similar to Ishmael focusing only on the whale's tail and ignoring the rest of the massive creature.
Ishmael, as he describes the right-whale's head, explains, "As you come nearer to this great head it begins to assume different aspects, according to your point of view" (Chapter 75, Project Gutenberg electronic text). This reminds me of the process I go through every time I write a paper for class. As I look at a text through different lenses, I am able to understand it differently. Ishmael's in-depth descriptions about the parts that make up a whale show the importance of each detail of a text, no matter how trivial or difficult to distinguish from the whole it may appear at first glance.
The chapters in Moby Dick that are focused on describing different parts of a whale have reminded me of the importance at looking at the details--whether I am writing a paper for a class, learning about digital culture or other topics, or just thinking about life. Though I admit that I struggled with these chapters at first, as I followed Melville's model and looked at how that particular part fit into the story as a whole, I realized that it was teaching me to do just what I was doing-- to seek the meaning in each individual piece in order to better understand the whole.
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