The experience of a fictional technophile student in 2020
Callum's day starts off by him turning on his laptop and checking his Facebook and messages, while at the same time looking on his Blackberry to check his daily emails. He's got very good at multi-tasking these past few years! He sees that he's been invited to a party group via Facebook so checks his PDA to check if he's free on the calender. He is, so clicks confirm on the party invitation. After his social tasks are done he then gets ready for his virtual seminar that is about to start.
Once Callum's webcam is set up he joins the rest of his classmates on the virtual seminar. On the same screen he can see the other 6 students and his tutor who are all discussing the topic on whether or not to eradicate classrooms all together as online teaching is the main method these days. Once the seminar is technically over his stays online and chats to his classmates a bit longer before signing off the university portal and signing onto Skype to chat to his friend Mike in Australia. After making numerous jokes that Mike's new beard makes him look gay he signs off Skype and turns off his web cam so he can do some work.
Callum downloads this weeks lecture off the uni podcast and listens to it on his IPod while playing World of Warcraft with 200 other people online. After the podcast has finished he makes notes on the topic discussed and gets ready to go out for another party he got invited to on Facebook last week!
Monday, 14 April 2008
Week 9 tasks
Frustrations of the fictional neo-luddite
Sophie was having the best dreams about winning scrabble to her flatmate tim last night, until she slowly drifted awake to the harsh sunlight beaming on her face. Crap, it's midday and she slept through her wound up alarm clock again. The quiet bell just isn't enough to wake her up from her good dreams anymore! Unlike herself, sophie's classmates had all been woken up by their mobile phone alarms at 8 o'clock promptly and had been in lectures all morning.
Sophie rushes out of bed and gets dressed to the quiet hum of the cars outside her window, every now and again catching parts of Britney Spears 'Gimme More' which is being played in the flat next door. She quickly leaves for the 40 minute walk into uni with only her thoughts to keep her entertained.
As sophie realises shes missed all of the day's lectures she walks into the library to try and make up for the lost work of the day. She cannot find a spare table anywhere to get her notebook out and write notes so she has to sit at a computer space. How the hell does she log into this?? She presses a few buttons and after an hour realises the password is her uni number. The library is filled with the mixing sounds of everyone's IPods and mobile phone conversations. She remembers the days when library's were strictly silent.
After constant struggling to get to grips with the computer, the patronising looks from the people sitting next to her get too much and she decides today is a lost cause and leaves. The long walk home gives her time to think about the day's frustrations. Maybe in today's society there just isn't room for a neo-luddite like sophie....
Sophie was having the best dreams about winning scrabble to her flatmate tim last night, until she slowly drifted awake to the harsh sunlight beaming on her face. Crap, it's midday and she slept through her wound up alarm clock again. The quiet bell just isn't enough to wake her up from her good dreams anymore! Unlike herself, sophie's classmates had all been woken up by their mobile phone alarms at 8 o'clock promptly and had been in lectures all morning.
Sophie rushes out of bed and gets dressed to the quiet hum of the cars outside her window, every now and again catching parts of Britney Spears 'Gimme More' which is being played in the flat next door. She quickly leaves for the 40 minute walk into uni with only her thoughts to keep her entertained.
As sophie realises shes missed all of the day's lectures she walks into the library to try and make up for the lost work of the day. She cannot find a spare table anywhere to get her notebook out and write notes so she has to sit at a computer space. How the hell does she log into this?? She presses a few buttons and after an hour realises the password is her uni number. The library is filled with the mixing sounds of everyone's IPods and mobile phone conversations. She remembers the days when library's were strictly silent.
After constant struggling to get to grips with the computer, the patronising looks from the people sitting next to her get too much and she decides today is a lost cause and leaves. The long walk home gives her time to think about the day's frustrations. Maybe in today's society there just isn't room for a neo-luddite like sophie....
Week 9 tasks
Threats to the notions of digital immigrant/native
I think both of my posts about the oldest digital native and the youngest digital immigrant i know threaten the notion of these terms. They both go against what Prensky says about these categories and therefore threaten his theory.
I do not think that you have to be under 25 to be a digital native, you can be any age as long as you have the thirst for knowledge and the desire to learn new skills in new technology. Also, i don't think that just because you are young and born in this generation it means that you have to have the skills to use new modern technology.
I think this theory should be made broader as i believe age shouldn't be such a significant factor, and there should be more categories instead of just two terms to describe the whole of society.
I think both of my posts about the oldest digital native and the youngest digital immigrant i know threaten the notion of these terms. They both go against what Prensky says about these categories and therefore threaten his theory.
I do not think that you have to be under 25 to be a digital native, you can be any age as long as you have the thirst for knowledge and the desire to learn new skills in new technology. Also, i don't think that just because you are young and born in this generation it means that you have to have the skills to use new modern technology.
I think this theory should be made broader as i believe age shouldn't be such a significant factor, and there should be more categories instead of just two terms to describe the whole of society.
Week 9 tasks
The youngest digital immigrant i know
The youngest digital immigrant i know is my friend Josh who is 20 years old and is pretty behind the times when it comes to new technology! I am still shocked that he doesn't have a 'Facebook' profile and that he doesn't really even know what it is! I don't think i know anyone, especially at university that isn't on facebook. Even my little cousins know what it is! In some ways i respect him for not going along with the crowd as his view on it is, "I've lived this long without it, i can live on without it fine!". However, i do feel that he is missing out on a great socially interactive form of technology and i still try to persuade him to get facebook every time i see him lol.
He also doesn't have a very modern mobile phone which is quite unusual for people of his age who would usually want to have the newest one out. His view is that he doesn't use the sophisticated parts on a mobile and literally uses it to call and text, so therefore he doesn't need to pay loads of money to get the newest and most technologically advanced one out. I can defiantly see his point of view, but i would miss the other features on my phone like the camera and internet service.
My friend goes against Prensky's theory as he is born in this digital native generation yet is not a digital native himself and is unlikely to change and gain these skills because of the views he holds towards it. Even though i couldn't go through life myself without modern technology, i do respect him for standing by his guns!! It also shows again that Prensky's argument is not always correct.
The youngest digital immigrant i know is my friend Josh who is 20 years old and is pretty behind the times when it comes to new technology! I am still shocked that he doesn't have a 'Facebook' profile and that he doesn't really even know what it is! I don't think i know anyone, especially at university that isn't on facebook. Even my little cousins know what it is! In some ways i respect him for not going along with the crowd as his view on it is, "I've lived this long without it, i can live on without it fine!". However, i do feel that he is missing out on a great socially interactive form of technology and i still try to persuade him to get facebook every time i see him lol.
He also doesn't have a very modern mobile phone which is quite unusual for people of his age who would usually want to have the newest one out. His view is that he doesn't use the sophisticated parts on a mobile and literally uses it to call and text, so therefore he doesn't need to pay loads of money to get the newest and most technologically advanced one out. I can defiantly see his point of view, but i would miss the other features on my phone like the camera and internet service.
My friend goes against Prensky's theory as he is born in this digital native generation yet is not a digital native himself and is unlikely to change and gain these skills because of the views he holds towards it. Even though i couldn't go through life myself without modern technology, i do respect him for standing by his guns!! It also shows again that Prensky's argument is not always correct.
Week 9 tasks
The oldest digital native i know
The oldest digital native i know has to be my nan, she surprises me every time i go round to see her! No more than 5 years ago i would have classified her as a digital immigrant, but over the years she has gained so many new skills concerning technology i would defiantly call her a digital native now.
She has a lot of resistance from my grandad as he is a definate digital immigrant and is no chance of changing, but she still enabled her house to include numerous new technologies. To start with she got a computer and installed the internet (with a little help from me i admit, but this was a few years ago!), and started to use it nearly everyday. She loves emailing her friends and instead of getting a letter from her once a week like i used to i now receive numerous emails letting me know the family news! - that alone shows how society has changed!
She then got 'Sky Plus' which she got the hang of straight away and now records everything she can. One time i didn't know why things kept deleting themselves on our Sky Plus and she showed me how to fix it! She also has an up-to-date mobile and often texts me off it.
It just shows that Prensky's theory isn't concrete - you don't have to be under 25 to be a digital native. Its as young as you feel!!
The oldest digital native i know has to be my nan, she surprises me every time i go round to see her! No more than 5 years ago i would have classified her as a digital immigrant, but over the years she has gained so many new skills concerning technology i would defiantly call her a digital native now.
She has a lot of resistance from my grandad as he is a definate digital immigrant and is no chance of changing, but she still enabled her house to include numerous new technologies. To start with she got a computer and installed the internet (with a little help from me i admit, but this was a few years ago!), and started to use it nearly everyday. She loves emailing her friends and instead of getting a letter from her once a week like i used to i now receive numerous emails letting me know the family news! - that alone shows how society has changed!
She then got 'Sky Plus' which she got the hang of straight away and now records everything she can. One time i didn't know why things kept deleting themselves on our Sky Plus and she showed me how to fix it! She also has an up-to-date mobile and often texts me off it.
It just shows that Prensky's theory isn't concrete - you don't have to be under 25 to be a digital native. Its as young as you feel!!
Week 9 tasks
The 'Semantic Web'
The Semantic Web is not a different technology to the World Wide Web that we have today, it is the technology that will evolve from it. Most of the Web's content today is designed for humans to read, not for computer programs to manipulate meaningfully. Computers can read web pages for layout and routine processing such as what is a 'header' and what is a 'hyperlink', but in general, computers have no reliable way to process the semantics - for example the home page of a Doctor's clinic will have the CV of the doctor, the hours that specific doctor works, the appointment times that doctor has, and the exact distance it would take for you to drive there from your house, etc. The Semantic Web will bring structure to the meaningful content of Web pages that are already here where computers can carry out these sophisticated tasks for the users automatically.
These semantics will be encoded into the Web page giving the page well-defined meaning and enabling people and computers to work together efficiently. These developments are on their way in the near future and will enable computers to process and "understand" the
data that they merely display at present.
I think this is extremely interesting and exciting as it will greatly improve the way we use the internet and technology today. What do you think? Do you think it will change our society in any way?
The Semantic Web is not a different technology to the World Wide Web that we have today, it is the technology that will evolve from it. Most of the Web's content today is designed for humans to read, not for computer programs to manipulate meaningfully. Computers can read web pages for layout and routine processing such as what is a 'header' and what is a 'hyperlink', but in general, computers have no reliable way to process the semantics - for example the home page of a Doctor's clinic will have the CV of the doctor, the hours that specific doctor works, the appointment times that doctor has, and the exact distance it would take for you to drive there from your house, etc. The Semantic Web will bring structure to the meaningful content of Web pages that are already here where computers can carry out these sophisticated tasks for the users automatically.
These semantics will be encoded into the Web page giving the page well-defined meaning and enabling people and computers to work together efficiently. These developments are on their way in the near future and will enable computers to process and "understand" the
data that they merely display at present.
I think this is extremely interesting and exciting as it will greatly improve the way we use the internet and technology today. What do you think? Do you think it will change our society in any way?
Week 9 tasks
Education being tailored to personal preferences
I do not think education should be tailored to personal preferences as this can only lead to problems and inevitably a problem in the students behaviour and discipline. If teachers adapt their way of teaching for a specific student then the rest of the class will feel as though that one student is getting 'special treatment' which could lead to bullying for that one student. This could then lead to the students revolting against the teacher for them not getting special treatment also.
However, i do believe that if it is an issue concerning the student's health or learning capability then i do agree with the teachers adapting slightly to assist them. For example, if a student in my exam in secondary school was dyslexic or had a learning disability then i found it fair that they were given extra time and extra help than the rest of us. I didn't resent them for getting extra help and i didn't find it unfair that i wasn't getting that help as well because i understood that in that situation the education system had to be adapted and tailored to fit that specific student's needs.
What do you think on this topic?
I do not think education should be tailored to personal preferences as this can only lead to problems and inevitably a problem in the students behaviour and discipline. If teachers adapt their way of teaching for a specific student then the rest of the class will feel as though that one student is getting 'special treatment' which could lead to bullying for that one student. This could then lead to the students revolting against the teacher for them not getting special treatment also.
However, i do believe that if it is an issue concerning the student's health or learning capability then i do agree with the teachers adapting slightly to assist them. For example, if a student in my exam in secondary school was dyslexic or had a learning disability then i found it fair that they were given extra time and extra help than the rest of us. I didn't resent them for getting extra help and i didn't find it unfair that i wasn't getting that help as well because i understood that in that situation the education system had to be adapted and tailored to fit that specific student's needs.
What do you think on this topic?
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