Talking about negative issues with technology, this is an interesting thought.  Are we trying to fight the idea of being lonely by connecting via social technology and does it in the end feed our fear of being lonely.  Take a look at the video and give me your thoughts. 

One of my last graduates course is web 2.0 and I have taken a few classes that focus on the online course development.  I am taking my entire graduates degree online so obviously technology is important for my course work but is there a downside to technology for learners?  We ran a little experiment with my daughter a year or two ago.  Ok, not a true experiment but she decided to give up technology for lint.  She could use it to read and do school work but nothing more and no TV. The level of her ability to focus on work, her creativity and overall mood was really better.  I can't say this was the technology part as far as iPad, computer, etc but the television was probably the largest part of that influence in her creativity and focus. I then started to wonder what the different technology does to the younger learners.           

I ran across an article The Four Negative Sides of Technology by Pamela DeLoatch.  She gives us three negative issues with technology. Negative #1: Technology Changes the Way Children Think.  According to Psychology Today, technology can alter the actual wiring of the brain.  Some of the examples given is that the use of video games can increase the ability to focus n more then one stimuli but can also lead to distraction and decreased memory.  Negative #2: Technology Changes the Way Children Feel.  The studied reviewed found that children that was exposed to technology more had issues identifying emotions and nonverbal cues and that this could be due to less physical contact. This causes the difficulty in developing social skills and emotional reactions. Negative #3: Technology Can Put Privacy and Safety at Risk. The increase of online technology can put the learners at risk.  82% of online sex crimes committed, sex offenders said they got the information from social networks or the learners preferences.  There are also an increase of bullying online and sexting.  Negative #4: More Use of Technology with Less Physical Activity Leads to Obesity.  Well this one is pretty self explanatory. 

So how does this apply to us as graduate students and how do we make sure that we address these concerns?  Many of the graduate students come from the education profession and will interact with younger learners in their job.  For those that work in the instructional development for younger learners you must also take these issues into consideration when developing. I would hope that as adults we would be able to recognize these negative traits and overcome them on our own or try and avoid these but even adults fall victim.  Look at the new headings and watch a facebook forum and you will see that there are predators on adults also and that there is just as much adult bullying going online.

So how do we fight against these negative threats?  DeLoatch gives five recommendations for younger learners.

• Monitor the use of technology.  
• Teach responsible usage.
• Be familiar with technology. 
• Use classroom technology intentionally.  
• Offer alternatives to technology.

 Technology is changing fast and we have to keep up with it.  Just like the web 2.0 class is introducing us to so many web 2.0 tools we must make sure to keep up with it after the course is over. I have even found sites that help you as a instructor to know whats the latest and greatest and how it is used or just keep you ears open and you will hear the discussion on a topic from some of these younger learners, then due your research. 

This weeks chapter in our text book, Network, focused on the social network revolution and how this is really an old concept with a new name and fresh look.  We have always had social networks but people called the groups or just didn't recognize it.  No one can go around in this world without some type of network or a lone wolf on their own.  We all interact with people, even those that live only in the internet world still connect with people just through the lines of their computer.  As I read this chapter and it gave some pretty interesting statistics on networking I thought about how I have created a social network and that the focus seems to have been through mostly my work.  Especially since I am hitting my 20 year mark with the Coast Guard.

I then ran across the article by Laura Roberts, How to Build Stronger Bonds with Fellow Teachers.  Laura starts off with a look at a study that said that half of American workers are not happy with their job and 67% of those that were relating it to their friendships in the office that made it satisfying.  She then gives the reader various ideas on how to build your bonds as teachers but really these can be applied to any job.

• Create Regular Opportunities for Sharing:  She mentioned lunch with coworkers to get break routine and build relationships
• Use Social Media Groups: As we are learning there are plenty of web 2.0 applications that can be used to build this.  They specifically mentioned google+ and the different themed networks that you can join.
• Connect through Edmondo:  This is an education driven site but look for something similar for your profession. 
• Attend Conferences or Plan Field Trips Together
• Branch Out of Your Discipline
• Respect Confidentiality
• Pick up Your Phone:  This was towards those that tend to send that quick email reply all the time and do not just pick up the phone once in a while.  I have been bad on this myself at work and even will add, get up from your chair and go to someones office to talk about it. 

With the big focus with the class in building a network or community, this article really added some great ideas on how you can do this in your profession.  The relationships in your network and community takes work and devotion of time.  If you expect something from someone you should expect to give the same type of devotion to them also. 

So week one is behind us and week two has kicked off.  I hope everyone has a great 4th of July weekend and stayed safe. I spent the weekend digging a 130 foot trench, 18 inches deep so that my wife could have a outdoor sink in the back yard.  This week we are starting to look at a few more web 2.0 tools, Pinterest and Diigo.  I do not know why I never thought of Pinterest as more then a place to save things for hobbies but for a board for other interest, to include education.  My wife and daughter have been using Pinterest for a while but mostly for art work and getting ideas for new projects.  I guess that is what my experience has been for with the group of friends we share, art and food.  


It happened that at the same time I also saw an article by Sarah Muthler, TheEducator’s Guide to Pinterest on my feedspot RSS feed and decided to take a look.  It is amazing the idea that you can take your Pinterest and set up a board for the classroom or lesson plans. I can see how this would be beneficial to setting up a personal learning network.  When I am working on a project for school I tend to print the files to adobe and save them in a folder.  This does not provide a quick glance at all of the work and I like the idea how I can go to a board and look at all of the pins I have to organize my thoughts.  One disadvantage I do see is that when I am not connected I don't have the items at my fingertips to read.  I will have to look at the application more to see if I can save somethings offline on the application on the ipad or iphone. A good question then, is how have you used pinterest? 

The week is coming to a wrap before the big 4th of July weekend.  The class has started off with a lot of work to get ready for the semester.  I will admit that I was overwhelmed at first with all that we have to do but after discussing things with classmates and Dr. Vanessa Dennen I have realized that I am in for a ride.  This class is different, even for online and distance learning, then I have experienced so far.  The class is still structured with the expected reading and guidance but each learner creates their instruction through development of their blog, research, responding to various other classmates discussions versus just doing the discussion board on the blackboard.  I like the idea of being able to expound my interest on the subjects of web 2.0 and looking at whats going on in the instructional development community. 

Our reading for this week has expanded my idea of a network and community and I look forward to digging deeper into the book.  In the webster dictioninary they define Network as "a usually informally interconnected group or association of persons (as friends or professional colleagues)".  Community seems to have a larger list of definitions but a few that applies to us are:

- the people with common interests living in a particular area; broadly :  the area itself <the problems of a large community>

- a body of persons or nations having a common history or common social, economic, and political interests <the international community>

-a body of persons of common and especially professional interests scattered through a larger society <the academic community>

I enjoy seeing the different directions that the others students take their blogs and look forward to seeing more.  

Our book for the class is Networked: The New Social Operating System by Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman.  So far I have read the first section and I will admit that I have always been suspicious of all of the technology and web 2.0 tools.  Partially because of the information overload and that I feel that people are loosing touch with each other or how to interact with real people, face-to-face.  The book looks at story about a couple that face some major medical issues and had to reach out to their networks and communities to ask for help.  The book introduced me to the idea of generations of connections.  These connections can include your immediate family and friends but even expand out further as the coupe found.  As people shared their request for help and story it spread within their networks to include work related and love for music like jazz.  People that reached out to just offer encouragement and financial help expanded out to those they never interacted with but had some type of connection through their networks.  

When I moved here to Hampstead, NC I joined a lot of different facebook communities associated with Hampstead.  I have watched many of the different people and watch how they interact and if you as an outsider looked at some of these pages as a taste of this city you wouldn't want to move here.  It seemed to be filled with gossip, and alot of hands out asking for things.  Many of the people who did post something seemed to always get attacked in some way or another and people had teamed up on one side or another for arguments.  I wondered if many pf these people realized how it portrayed them and their town.  I also wondered if the would act this same way if they couldn't hide behind the computer but had to face a person.  So this is what I was experiencing before taking this class and reading the book. 

I wonder if my fear of losing touch with reality or the amount of information that will come at me at once has prevented me from taking advantage of building on the generations of my network.  I am looking forward to reading the rest of the book, as compared to some of my graduate school text books this is an enjoyable one.  I am looking forward to expanding my idea on not only web 2.0 tools but on the idea of networks and communities.  

Technology in the Classroom

I was reading an article "What Wearable Tech Could Mean for the Classroom" by Aiden Wolfe.  In this article Wolfe introduces us to various new technology and some of the possibilities of its use in the classroom. This includes immersive learning with items like eye wear to produce augmented reality for the learners right in their own classroom.  I experienced a little of augmented reality in my recent trip to the Smithsonian.  I was able to take my iphone and place it over the bones of various animals and the animals would come to life and I could learn more information about them.  I was a little disappointed that this service was very limited to the bones display and did not continue on to the dinosaur section.  A few classes back I had looked into how the game Mindcraft could be used in the classroom and found that there are classes built solely around the game. With Mindcraft, instructors able to build historical monument with the learners and as they build discover the story behind it.  Now Microsoft is taking it to the next level with a set of hololens that allows the user to get into the game as if they were walking in the game for real life.  It also allows you to take the entire world and place it in front of you on your own table.  Can you imagine the capabilities of this type of technology to allow the learner to experience history as if it was going on around them. 

Technology is sky rocking and sometimes it seems like it is difficult to keep up with the latest and greatest.  Our teachers in my opinion are underpaid, overworked and still required to keep up with their own professional development.  So how do they handle all of the new technology and how do they go about adding it to their classroom with an already busy schedule.  I can see where in the future that instructional designers can becoming increasing more involved in our school systems with assisting in integrating this type of technology into the classroom.  If not already in place, I think that companies like Microsoft should look at hiring instructional designers to develop ready made instructional material for teachers to pick off the shelf and implement as they see fit into the classroom for these new technologies they develop.  Not only will it create more users for their programs but it would feed our new generations hunger for technology.