I was definitely surprised at the number 1 being twitter for learning. This might be because I hadn't had a twitter before this class so I do not know much about it. I can see why google docs, youtube, powerpoint and google are the next leaders. I use those on an eery week basis. I was surprised though that Wikipedia was at 18. It is not a reliable source but I guess for quick and dirty information, it is an ok site to use. I would definitely not for a research paper or anything like that though. I assume facebook is used for learning because it helps people stay current with the newspapers pages on everyones news feeds. There are also current events in the news that pop up all the time on my feed. I have heard of linkedIn and that it is a good network builder but I have to look further into it. I use 7 out of the top 10 on a regular basis so I would say this list is pretty accurate for me. I did not know I used so many of them already (probably around 30-40 of the top 100)
Web 2.0 as compared to 1.0 is much more interactive than before. Rather than looking up and receiving information, people can now communicate with each other about the information. There are more ways to interact with the information you receive by posing questions and possible reviews based on real human experience. People are able to view the information from other people's experiences and use that to make decisions. I have personally researched products I have bought online on many different sites. I usually do a lot of research on different sites before purchasing anything online. I always read almost every review of a product I want that way I can get a feel for the reliability of the reviews. I have heard sometimes the company writes fake reviews to sell their products so I am always careful for that.
The term online productivity tool was completely foreign to me although I have used some of them before! I guess it really isn't foreign because I just didn't know thats what they were called. I have used google docs many times in my undergrad career because when there were group projects everyone could contribute their ideas instantly and we could work from home. We did not have to set dates and times to meet up because everyones schedules were different and we could use this tool. I also use pandora almost daily (the free version) and it is one of my favorite tools/apps I use on a regular basis. Another one I use is map my run, a tool that tracks the distance you ran and keeps track of the time. I like this one a lot because I like to explore when I go running but I also like getting in a certain distance and this tool allows me to do both!
Technology can come in handy in my career because I hope to become a college teacher and coach. I can create a page (possibly facebook) for class discussions online or questions or new information. It could be used in addition to email because many students now check their facebook more than their school email addresses. I have known a few people who have had this type of communication from their instructors and they said they liked it. It can also be used for the students to ask each other questions for any assignment or aspect of the class, especially for group projects. This would work really well if the class was being taught online and everyone wanted to get to know their class mates a little better. They can visit their classmates on facebook and add them if they want. I could also someday use Flickr or Youtube because as a coach pictures can be used to demonstrate certain techniques. The students might want to look at the pictures or videos to use the techniques when they are not at school.
Podcasting is being used more in the educational system and I think there are pros and cons to this. Podcasting is good just like some of the readings said because students can re listen to lectures or watch the videos online or from their smart phones. The cons of this is the attendance of students because they will rely on the podcasts. Just like the readings said, students will not go to class knowing the lectures will be online but the professors can have an attendance policy to counteract this problem. I have had teachers in my undergrad studies that would post lecture slides online but they would leave out important information so the students had to go to class and fill the slides in. This prevented students from skipping class and engaged their learning and gave them the opportunity to use the slides again later. On the flip side, teachers who posted their slides completed had worse attendance from what I noticed. A good attendance policy however could potentially fix this problem and make podcasts and videos very useful
My thoughts about being "always on" are a mix of positive and negative but leaning more towards the negative. Their study had 55% of people seeing the "always on" being more positive while 42% saw it as negative. I am in the middle because I think the AO generation will be quick thinkers and able to research quickly and efficiently. They will also be able to multitask more. On the downside, as the article states, they will not retain information and be distracted easily. They will lack face to face interaction and social skills, something I feel like is already becoming a problem. If they are unable to find something they need on the internet, they will not be able to solve the problem.
This will effect education because as mentioned above, if somehow the internet goes down, the AO generation will become useless since it has relied heavily on the internet. They will be able to learn quicker than previous generations because they have the internet but they will rely too heavily on it. They will also possibly be able to learn more than previous generations but I do not think much will be retained due to the instant access of being able to look up the information they might have forgotten. I had an idea that many college students spend a lot of time online every week but the study showed how many hours students actually spend online. I was surprised to see that 33% spent up to 8 hours a week online and 37% spent over 9 hours a week! That is an astounding number if you think it means about 1-2 hours a day online. It has almost become a drug for some students, constantly having to be online to entertain themselves.
I also noticed 65% of students reported they use social media to build/support interpersonal relationships. I can admit that I regularly use facebook to keep in touch with friends and what is going on in their lives. 60% of respondents answered that facebook can help enhance their learning process and make classes "more interesting." I agree with this, especially with an online class setting. It is similar to a sit in class learning outside on the grass on a sunny day. It gives the students a different setting to learn in and can make learning interesting rather than the same setting every day. The same goes in the coaching world and keeping ideas new and fresh to keep athletes interested and motivated. I also think that around half the students would rather post on facebook discussions rather than blackboard discussions possibly because they are usually more familiar with facebook in today's society. Facebook is easy to navigate about and could be easier than some discussion boards. |