A Movie For Class

Multitasking

Hypermediacy changes from age to age depending on social context. Does the same idea apply to multiple capabilities such as multitasking with technology? If you think about it most of us listen to music as we operate our car. That is seen as multitasking. I'll sometimes listen to music as I read. This too can be considered as multitasking. But how much does it limit us in the ability to intake knowledge? Can we still function to our full capacity or have we been limited in the amount of information we are capable of absorbing because we are multitasking?

Hypermediacy uses multiple ways of simultaneously representing an idea or concept. Through hypermediacy we can see that there are moments in which a person can have several different tabs or windows open on their computer. From this we can gather that a person can be multitasking while they soak up bits of information from each website while only paying a little bit of attention to each window they are connected to. Does this limit our comprehension when we multi task in this very technologically advanced age? Or can it be seen as a good thing that we can do so many things at once? I pose the simple question of asking whether this has been solely socially constructed or if it has become something that is necessary during our day and age making it important that we can participate in such tasks as being hypermediacy literate?

Classroom Situations

So I was conversing with a class of Juniors at a high school I substitute teach at and I posed the question of whether they would enjoy using Twitter in the classroom during a discussion. They all agreed that too much wouldn't be cool. However, what they did like about the idea was that they would have to make their point about the topic very concise because the characters are limited on Twitter. This class has given me another positive aspect of using Twitter in the classroom. The students would have to be clear and concise in each and every Tweet if they wanted to make an impact on the conversation. I really like the idea.

Digress

I value my understanding of computers and other technology I use on a daily basis. Without my phone I wouldn't get calls for work. Without my computer I wouldn't be able to do my homework and go to school to get a great job. Without technology I fear that we are all lost. There are many forms of technology that take control of the different facets of our lives. We have all become dependent on it and I hope that one day we might, as humankind digress ever so slightly so as to remember where we started from. The pencil and the paper. Reading from a book without using any other form of technology besides the written word itself and glasses. Will the machines take over our lives?

Hello

the sun!!!!

Uploading

Visual Essay

My Visual Essay

file:///C:/Users/Leontine%20Armstrong/Documents/Documents/Leontine%20Armstrong%20Visual%20Essay.pptx

Bing

So apparently there is a website that my students are using more than Yahoo searches or Google. It is called Bing. I had no idea what it was, or that it existed until my students showed me. It is a search engine similar to Yahoo and Google, but it's supposed to be better. We shall be the judge of that ultimately.
http://www.bing.com/

I think this new development is similar to that of critical literacy Selber has defined. The internet is being used for developing more and more search engines that are used by students. I saw some of my students looking up games to play as well as research for their projects. I think it is classified as critical literacy because they are using Bing as something that it might not have been initially designed for.

Remember

Selber makes some interesting points about how constructivism basically comprises of common sense concepts. He writes, "In oversimplified terms, constructivism is a philosophy of learning based on the premise that learning is an active process in which students construct new knowledge based upon their current/previous knowledge" (76). The importance of building more information on top of already useful information should be more heavily emphasized in education. There are moments from Kindergarten through college that a teacher will tell their students to completely forget everything they have learned about a given topic and listen to only what they have to say about it. I strongly believe that this creates a set back to the advancement of the student. How can we build up knowledge if the student has been continuously told to forget everything they have learned and start to adapt a new way of thinking? This actually sets back the advancement of future learning for everyone on the planet. When we are forced to continuously forget what we have learned in the past how will we remember anything?

For Love Of Education

Computers open up an immense amount of doors for advancing learning, understanding, comprehension, technological capabilities, and much more because this isn't even the start of the very long list of possibilities.
Stuart A. Selber makes some excellent points about how re-thinking the concepts of what computer literacy will do in his book "Multiliteracies for a Digital Age." He explains that it should be more important to have competent and computer literate teachers rather than just having an immense amount of resources. I agree that having teachers who love to teach what they know to their students has a much greater value compared to having unlimited computers or resources that won't be used well because of funding issues. Shouldn't the content and quality of education be deemed more worthy than quantity? Education is a valuable real life aspect of a student's creativity and understanding that shouldn't be ignored.

Here's a link to the California state site: http://www.ca.gov/

So here is my experimenting with embedding an episode of Family Guy from Hulu.com. Next step will be a movie!

Why Aren't Things Getting Better?

I really like the fact that Selber discusses the importance of “a computer literacy program that is comprehensive, innovative, and relevant” (7). Wouldn’t you think that this is what all educational systems would be striving for? Our schools however, don’t operate that way. The districts and school boards are only concerned about results when they should be thinking about how to create better more functional programs for students. So much usefulness goes to waste.