Final Reflection

Colton Breister

Final Reflection

EDL 755

12/10/11

Coming into this class, I really wasn’t sure what to expect to learn or get away from this class besides learning technology “things.”  When we met for our first class and I learned of all the material and tools we would be using and learning, it was overwhelming at first.  It seemed like a lot of new material to “discover” in a little amount of time. 

            I didn’t have a lot of knowledge on technology tools that could help me in my career of wanting to become an admissions counselor.  After this class though, there are several of the tools that I see could being very helpful.  One of them is how to use blogs.  I think blogs would be a great way to help with recruitment and student retaining.  I had always wanted to look into blogging but wasn’t sure how to start one or even where to go.  It was very easy to start after we went through it in class and I will definitely be using it again.  My idea for a blog would be to use it as a recruitment tool by writing blogs that will pertain to high school students.  Blogs would be written about application process, what we look for in prospective students, and just ways to give them a better opportunity to get accepted into the college of their choice. 

            Twitter is another tool that I could use in my profession.  Twitter is becoming a bigger tool in the recruiting trail and it was nice to know how to use it.  It was something I always was curious about but never had actually gotten an account.  It again was something very easy to use and really don’t think it requires a lot of time to use.  Going along with that, I would say that certain tools don’t need a lot of time to learn so I would try to make sure certain programs get more time because they are more in-depth. 

            Google docs was another tool that I liked.  It has a lot of benefits to use that can be used in a professional way.  I can make a doc that showcases my talents and it is very easy for employers to go through what I have done in my professional career. This way, they don’t just see what my resume says and cover letter but a whole site.  With being able to add some fun sites like videos and pictures makes it more personable.  One can show what their personality might be like through the site. 

            One of the things I would’ve liked to learn about is the Ipad.  I know the class is in the process of trying to acquire Ipads for class and I just wish they had already been there.  Using one would be a great tool that will make my life much easier down the road when I want to get one.  Knowing how to use all the tools would be nice instead of trying to learn them on my own.  There will be a lot of different tools it has that I won’t know about that could be taught during the class.  Of all the things that we learned about, I think the Ipad would be one of the best tools to learn because of the amount of options it has.

            Wikispace is something that I wish I would’ve known about when I was an undergrad.  It is something that would be great to use when working on group projects.  Being able to communicate with your group without meeting is very convenient.  I think learning about wikispace earlier in the class schedule would’ve been more logical as well because it is something we could’ve used throughout our class when we worked on our presentation. 

            The readings for class were pretty interesting and it amazing how technology has evolved and become such a critical part of our everyday life.  Misa’s book was not as much about technology as I would’ve thought.  There was some technology in it but I felt it was very brief.  Carr’s and Shirky’s books were interesting though to me.  It wasn’t hard to read because the material was very interesting because of how what was being said about technology.  I also am very glad that we only had to read and reflect on two books instead of three.  It would’ve been very difficult to read three books in three weeks and write a reflection paper about them. 

            I enjoyed the fact that we didn’t have to meet every week.  We all are super busy with work and other classes and it is nice to have some classes off and to work online. 

            During class time, I felt rushed when learning about the new sites and tools.  Everything was brand new to me and it was a lot to take in such a short time.  I would’ve liked to be able to play around with the site a little longer to fully understand what it has to offer me.  Since there were so many sites though, I wasn’t able to really understand them.  There are a few sites we learned that I don’t even know what they are for and can do.  I feel to eliminate a few of the sites to learn would be beneficial to the learning of the class because of more time devoted to each one. 

            Overall, I enjoyed the class and took away a lot of new information.  I feel much more technology savvy and capable of using the different sites with a good understanding.  There are a few tweaks I would make to the class, but any class will have a few things not everyone enjoys.  I think the class is on the right track and would help any student.

Shirky Reflection

            After reading the book, Cognitive Surplus, by Clay Shirky, I was left thinking how our world would be if we didn’t have TV and the media.  TV has exploded over the times and is now a forefront of our society.   If someone was to say they don’t watch TV, you would wonder what they do with their free time.  Well, there are so many other things that can be done besides watching TV that can help them like exercising, socializing, working more, community service, and so many others. 

            One point I never thought of was that those who watch more TV are more likely to be lonely than those who watch little TV.  It makes complete sense though after reading that and thinking about it.  Watching TV may pass the time and give you something to do when nothing else is going on, but when people are watching TV over interacting with others is where it can become a very lonely thing.  “Television viewing has come to displace principally (a) other diversions, (b) socializing, and (c) sleep,” (Shirky, 7.)  I know I would rather hang out with friends any day than watch TV.  I think watching TV over getting sleep is a big problem.  I know I have many times stayed up watching a show when I should be sleeping, but watching the show was more important at the time. 

            One very important outcome of media is the ability to connect to so many others from all around the world.  We are now able to have conversations over Skype where we can see one another.  It is very helpful for businesses that are doing international trade and business together.  The amount of money that can be saved from having this media is huge.  Travel isn’t needed now to do face to face interaction when it can be done over the internet. 

            Another thing I found interesting was how people will use media and help others through it even though they are not getting anything out of it.  In the book, they talked about the website where people would post information and videos of brutality in Congo.   People were posting videos to keep everyone aware of what was happening around them so people were able to understand the nature of it.  Also, they talked about the Grobanites and how people were taking time out to help with the site and organization to raise money.  If people are given the ability to do things that can help change the world, they will do that because everyone wants to live in a better world.

            Sharing information with others is something that has been a big part of the media.  “Sharing thoughts and expressions and even actions with others, possibly many others, is becoming a normal opportunity, not just for professionals and experts but for anyone who wants it,” (177.)  The first thing that comes to my mind are blogs.  We have created blogs in our class and we have the ability to share information and our thoughts with whoever wants to read them.  If we were to be passionate about something or wanted to use it as tool to communicate with our peers in work and students, we can do that as well.  YouTube is growing bigger and bigger and videos get uploaded every day.  People never used to have this type of media form but now they are able to use the site for many different purposes.  Posting videos on YouTube can now even be a person’s job by having millions of people checking their videos out. 

            Cognitive surplus is a very interesting concept to think about and makes me wonder what if?  What if we didn’t have TV to watch during our free time?  How much would our work be impacted and our social skills? It is something that no one knows now because TV is just part of our everyday life to pass the time. 

Carr Book

In the book, What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, by Nicholas Carr is a very interesting read.  The book takes an in-depth look at what the use of the internet and other devices like television, and mobile phone has done to our brain.  There are a lot of very interesting points and experiments that are brought up to show that our brain is changing because of the time spent on the internet. 

Chapter 1: Hal and Me

The book starts out with how the author has difficult fully immersing him into a lengthy article because of the internet.  He now is more likely to just skim the articles and get distracted more easily and quickly.  As Carr puts it, “Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words.  Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski,” (7.)  Even though the internet has made it harder to fully immerse into a book, it has made finding information much easier.  It is interesting to think about how we skim compared to actually reading fully.  When online, I definitely do skim much more. When reading a book, I have no problem getting into book deeply unlike what they were saying happens a lot now. 

Chapter 2: The Vital Paths

            The chapter talks about the brain and the ways it thought it worked.  This quote illustrates how neuroscientists felt at the start of seeing how the brain worked, “Since the brain could not change, human nature, which emerges from it, necessarily fixed and unalterable as well,” (24.)   After a study done, neuroscientists found that the brain is “highly plastic” where it is constantly changing depending on the person’s experience, circumstance and need which never would’ve been thought earlier.  If our brains were unable to grow like originally thought, our world wouldn’t be close to how it is today with all the inventions.  There wouldn’t be much of a reason to try and learn a lot more if we wouldn’t be able to continue growing intellectually. 

Chapter 3: Tools of the Mind

            This chapter is all about how things around us influence our brain.  When talking about how we grow from drawing as a child to an adult, “We progress, in other words, from drawing what we see to drawing what we know,” (40.)  Our brain is constantly getting smarter from us learning.  The next part is how we speak, write, and read affects parts of our brain and how we see certain things in the world.  It is very interesting to me how our brains are different just by the way we write and read.  I wonder how it is for people who are able to read and write in many different languages.  This chapter is very insightful and really shows how important it is to constantly challenge our mind.  This way we continue to gain knowledge and allows our brain to keep evolving. 

Chapter 4: The Deepening Page

            This chapter is all about writing and reading and how it has changed over time.  At first, writing never used spaces between words because that’s how it was when spoken.  In the Middle Ages, writing started to change where there were spaces, and punctuation which made reading much easier and more people began to read.  It also goes on to talking how reading made people smarter and their consciousness changed once fully engulfed in the book.  “The brain of the book reader was more than a literate brain. It was a literary brain,” (65.)  At the end of the 14^th century, paragraphs, chapters, and table of contents were used.  I can’t even imagine trying to read a book without spaces.  It seems like it would be an extremely difficult task and would take forever to finish a book and fully understand what you read.  Just thinking about reading this book without spaces makes me sick to my stomach. 

Chapter 5: A Medium of the Most General Nature

            In this chapter, it talks about the use of electronic devices and the impact it has had.  The Web was able to take books, photos, and drawings and put them onto the computer by using coding.  Then sound processing was put onto computer and then finally videos were able to be uploaded and watched online.  One big thing with the net is that it is, “bidirectional,” (85.)  That means you can send and receive things which never had happened with other mass media.  It goes on to talking about how much we use the internet and amount of time spent daily on it has grown considerably from 2005 to 2009.  After reading about the amount of time we spend on the internet a week, I am definitely in that category and am probably higher because of school work, and being so involved with fantasy sports.  The tools we use keep advancing and making our life much easier than the decade before.  When I’m an old person and I’ll be sitting with my grandkids, I’ll tell them how we had Twitter and Facebook and they will just look at me like what are those. 

Chapter 6: The Very Image of a Book

            This chapter is about how online books are becoming more popular than actual books.  E-books on the Amazon Kindles and other devices makes it easier for readers because of the tools it provides like magnifying class, the ability to read in the dark, and it is also cheaper to buy a book with an Amazon Kindle or device.  Some books are even using videos in the text.  Simon and Schuster make E-novels that have videos called “vooks,” (105.)  With all of that, books will be written differently and presented differently to keep up with the times.  I have never read with an electronic book, but I feel I would like reading an actual book more because it feels more natural to me than it would be to read one online.  I do like the extra tools the online books have to offer though. 

Chapter 7: The Juggler’s Brain

            The chapter starts with this question, “What can science tell us about the actual affects that Internet use is having on our minds work?” (115.)  using the internet has caused us to use cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking and superficial learning.  “When we’re online, we’re often oblivious to everything else going on around us,” (118.)  I think this is very true because we are so involved in what we are trying to find or looking at that it makes it difficult to have a conversation with someone.  Online use is changing our brains because we are creating new paths but losing old ones.  

Chapter 8: The Church of Google

            This chapter is all about Google and how it came to be.  It also talks about how we as the general population has benefited greatly from Google.  It provides an easy way to find whatever one is looking for by just typing it into the search and then finding that information quickly.  I can’t imagine life without Google.  It is crazy to think how society functioned without it. (*sarcasm)  In reality though, it makes searching extremely easy and can makes work much more efficient and web surfing. 

Chapter 9: Search, Memory

              When reading this chapter, a quote caught my attention.  Clive Thompson said, “I’ve almost given up making an effort to remember anything because I can instantly retrieve the information online,” (180.)  This quote is very interesting to think about because you can find anything online these days.  Why try to remember when you can easily type it into Google and find it.  The chapter continues talking about memory and how we CHOOSE what to remember and listen to. 

Chapter 10: A Thing like Me

            In the final chapter, it talks about how we become reliant on the internet and when things aren’t easy to find, we get upset and struggle.  It was suggested to make it more difficult to find material so we aren’t so reliant and actually use our brains. 

            Overall, this book was very interesting and had lots of information that made me think about the use of the internet.  We as a society do rely on the internet heavily and even though it has a lot of pros, we do lose focus of what’s important sometimes because of how we believe the internet is always right.  As we continue to get older, the technology we use will do the same, get outdated and something we never thought possible will take its place.  The internet is a good tool for many things, but we just need to make sure we don’t rely on it too much. 

Reference

Carr, Nicholas. What the Internet is Doing to our Brains. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011. Print.

Misa Chapter's Reflection

After reading my chapter and watching the other videos in the Misa’s Book: Technology and Cultre, I learned of many new things that came about from certain times.  It was interesting to hear how every era had a large impact on technology and how each era continued to grow upon what was invented in the previous era.  Some eras were much more influential and had bigger impacts on today’s world, but all of the times were important to getting to where we are now technology wise. 

Chapter 1: Technologies of the Court

            Chapter 1 is from the time 1450-1600.  The Medici Rule is from 1452-1519 which is when many technological advances happened.  During this time, Leonardo da Vinci was a key part of the military.  I thought he was just a painter, but he was much more than that.  He was involved in military technology, weapons and deference development when he was a court engineer.  He also designed lavish weddings and was a philosopher for Louis XII of France.  The printing press was also pioneered by Johan Gutenberg which made work much easier.

Chapter 2: Techniques of Commerce

            During this time of 1588-1740, mass product factories were the large thing.  There were many new factories being built including herring fishing boats, fine textiles and windmill factories.  There also was the international trading block and from 1558-1740, the Dutch merchants were a very big part of the trade. 

Chapter 3: Geographies of Industry

            Chapter 3 is from 1740-1851 and many technological inventions happened during this time.  James Watt built the steam engine which helped factory work be much faster.  The first industrial city was in London.   Some of the big inventions or transportations during this time were the Canal Act in 1759, the first factory was built in 1761, the cotton gin in 1793, and the Health and Moral Act of 1802.  Beer brewing was also very large during this time.  The canal act helped with boats being able to travel much quicker instead of having to travel around the land.  The Health and Moral Act was important because it was a law about the work requirements and conditions so they were protected instead of working until near death. 

Chapter 4: Instruments of Empire

During the time of 1840-1914, railroads became a large transportation route.  Railroads were being built at a high level which made trading and transportation much easier.  Having railroads lead to national markets where trade could be done across the country instead of having to find goods that were close to them.  Telegraphs were also being built with railroads and they were built along the railroads.  Having telegraphs lead to the information being able to be passed along much faster where it was an information pipeline.   

Chapter 5: Sciences and Systems

During this era from 1870-1930, some great thinkers created some of the most important inventions of today.  The 2^nd Industrial Revolution began in 1870 and one of the big findings was the by-product of burning coal, called coke or coal-tar.  This helped to create the first synthetic dye that changed how colors were.  Now everything was just black and white but had vibrant colors.  Organic chemistry was also very big and was used for military purposes.  Thomas Edison was during this Era and he had an astounding 1,093 patents.  He built his invention factory and was creating a new invention 1 every 9 days.  In 1879, he created the first electric bulb which was the start of the light bulb which is still a staple today.

Chapter 6: Materials of Modernism

            During this time of 1900-1950, the idea of modernism took over.  It was a very artistic time with the Futuristos of Italy, Distale of Netherlands, and Synthesis of Theory and Practice being a large part of the modernism movement.  Mass production of steel was also a large issue during this time because steel was much more stable for buildings

Chapter 7: The Means of Destruction

During this era of 1936-1990, the use of technology for military purposes was the biggest factor.  World War 2 was during the time and military technological advances were crucial to winning the wars.  Some of the biggest military inventions were digital computing, the transistors, and the atomic bomb creation.  The whole country was turned into a factory to create all of the new weapons, inventions, and factories to put the US on top.  Many of today’s weapons were started during this era, but obviously now are much more advanced.

Chapter 8: Toward Global Culture

            This era was from 1970-2001 and many of today’s staples that we can’t live without were started.  Globalization happened during this time where world trade helped some countries that were involved in it, but it also widened the gap between other countries.  The World Wide Web became a new thing during this time which we all can’t live without today.  They created six different domains for the web and the web was used by the military to gain advantages. 

Chapter 9: The Question of Technology

            This era is from 2001 to the present day.  I found this chapter very interesting because there were a few things I never knew about today’s world.   Skyscrapers were being built as bragging rights for whose buildings were the tallest.  We rely too heavily on fossil fuels by wanting more land, bigger houses and cars which harms our world and this is called the “suburban sprawl.”  E-85, a gas from corn is not eco-friendly and hurts our food costs because corn is in more demand and is straining our relationship between Mexico.  Information Networks were not built as a secure network and cyber-warfare is a worry.  

So after all of this new insight, our world will continue to grow technologically but it might come at a cost for our world.  Global warming is a very big issue and many people are blaming it on the fact of how we live our lives and the desire for bigger and better things.  With that being said, technology is a part of our culture and will only grow and continue to make our lives easier. 

Reflection 4: Visual Learning

            After having class about visual learning, I can see the benefits of using these tools in my profession.  I felt it was easy to use these tools and was not difficult to load them onto YouTube.  The only thing I would have to say about the class is that it was a lot of information and different tools in a small amount of time.  It was a big overwhelming because once I started to understand how to use each tool it seemed as if we were already moving to the next step of the process. 

 I really enjoyed the screencast-o-matic because of the benefits it can provide to students.  It can very beneficial to post a video on how to use the admissions web page of the university to help prospective students see exactly where to go.  Then also to be able to tell them verbally about certain aspects of the page that will make it easier for them so it’s not such a hassle.  Providing tips and other helpful information about the process and how to give them the best chance to succeed in being accepted is another great aspect of it.              

            The ability to load them on YouTube makes it that much more beneficial to the students because of the ease of access to the tutorials.  Almost everyone uses YouTube in some form and being able to create your own page with all different tutorials about the website.  Prospective students interested in the university would first go to the actual website to get the information so there would have to be a link at the top of the page to take them to the tutorials on YouTube.

Another great way to use YouTube would be for a virtual tour of campus.  There are students that just don’t feel they have the time to travel to the university so to have it online still gives the ability to see what the campus is all about.  Being a vanguard at my campus for two years really shows me how beneficial a virtual tour would be.  Since on a normal in-person tour, we don’t go through every building and see every area of it, a virtual tour would be able to do that.  For each building on campus, you could show all the different parts of the building and what they have to offer.  This way if a student is interested in a certain building because they know their major’s classes are in that building, they can go online and see this virtual tour to know exactly what the building has to offer.   One final thing to provide prospective students would to talk to students on campus and have them talk about what they like about attending the university.  This is a great way for prospective students to get a feel how the general body feels. 

            As for the Pixlr and photo shop, there isn’t a need to use that in my profession.  The only situation that I can see it being helpful would be to take pictures of the universities’ buildings and then to photo shop them in different lights to showcase the best parts of that building.  This way it makes it more attractive to the students and they will be more likely to want to attend or visit the campus.  It is nice to know how to use it if it ever arises though.  It was easy to use as well but there are so many different tools to make the picture different that it will take awhile to be able to understand exactly what they all do and the benefits of them. 

            The last thing used was about.me.  It’s a nice website to have because it makes it easy to network with other peers since all of my online sites are in one space.  This gives those people the ability to get a good feel of what type of person I am and then they can contact me if they are interested.  Overall, I felt the new sites we used were beneficial and can be applicable in my profession.  To address my concerns from above, I feel it’s a lot of different sites and information to process and try to understand fully.  All of these tools are new to me and I feel I will have a hard time being able to remember how to use them once class is over with the fact that there is so much in such a little amount of time.

Reflection 3: Diigo, Social Networking and Twitter

For Diigo and Twitter, I had never used them but I had heard of Twitter.  I didn’t get on Twitter because it really wasn’t that enticing to me to see what everyone was thinking all the time.  Looking at it now though, I can see what it is so huge because it gives updates to inside information and other exciting things.  After learning about Diigo, I think it is a great tool to use to keep everyone with the same interests updated on information and to provide new articles or anything else new. 

            Looking at Diigo, I think it’s a great resource when you are in a job and want to keep learning new things in your field. It makes it easy to see what the most important part of the article because of the ability to highlight certain sentences.  Looking at working in the admissions office, there are many articles out there that you could bookmark to show the other counselors.  Bookmarking sites of other institutions where they have some new tactic to bring in students or anything that could help make the admission process easier would be beneficial. 

            As for Twitter and Facebook, I think they can be a great tool to use.  When looking at Facebook, it is a great way to market the university you work at it by making a page for the school.  There could be a school page and also another one where it is the admissions office Facebook page.  Making this page gives you the ability to provide updates about the admission process like important deadlines and information that students can easily see.  Creating a page for the university is also very beneficial because then prospective students can look at this page and see what the school is doing during the academic year.  There could be events posted, information on what alumni are doing which shows the students that the school is a great education and many alumni are having success after graduating.  Another great thing about making a page is that students can post messages on the wall with questions or any other insight.  When me and my friends were going to be sophomores, we created a page where incoming freshmen could all go to and post their dorm rooms and to start creating friends.  The reason we did it was because we had a joined a page when we were freshmen and it made us feel much better going into our first year.  The group had 481 members so not a large amount but still was beneficial to those who joined. 

            Twitter also is a great tool to use because it is so easy to use and to post “tweets.”  Again like Facebook, it is beneficial to those who follow the university because they can see all the updates and information regarding the school.  It is easier and more convenient though with Twitter since it is just information instead of a whole page.   Not only can the university being using it to “tweet” information, but other people could tag them in post where they could say something about how much fun they are having being a student there or anything in general.  Having others say something like that makes other students who might be considering what college to go to really think about attending that university.  If a lot of people are having a great time, then it shows that it’s a great place to go and others would want to go attend as well. 

Reflection 2: Google Docs and Sites

            During our class, I was at first overwhelmed with learning about all the different sections of Google sites and what they all have to offer. It was a lot to take in but once I started to learn about them and how to use them, I found it very easy to use and can see how great of a tool it is.  There are so many different ways to use it that can benefit anyone in any profession.  Now that I know about this tool, I will definitely be using again in the near future.  Using this not only benefits everyone in the organization to communicate together which leads to everyone working together for one thing, but also to make it easy for students to learn about what’s going on in class. 

            When looking at how I will use it in my job right now, I really have no use for it because I am just working at Pepsi.  Looking forward to what I want to do once I get my degree, I can see many ways that it would be beneficial to me and the staff I will be working along.  Wanting to work in college admissions would make it helpful for certain areas.  The main reason to have a site like this would be to show prospective students about our university and to make it easy for them to find information. 

            One of the good tools would be to use the web page template.  I would be able to put all of my contact information up for students to see in one easy site.  A Q&A is also something that would definitely be put on there because there are always questions about the admission process and if I have their question online would make it much easier and quicker for the students.  The student’s not only wouldn’t have to call to find out the answer, but they could also look it up anytime, on any day.  Being able to personalize it with putting up videos and photos makes it more relaxing for the students again because they can see what type of person I am as an admissions counselor.  I think it just makes it seem like we aren’t all about just getting them to come to school, but actually can be people they can talk to if they have questions.  Putting up a poll would also be very beneficial to the organization.  I could put up a question about the admission process and see how the students feel to see if we as an admissions team are doing a good enough job or need to change it to make it better. 

            For the announcements template, I could post many important deadlines coming up such as when material needs to be submitted for acceptance or consideration.  This way the students don’t have to go looking all over the school website to find this information when I will have it on my site in one easy location.  It will make it much easier for students and will also make them feel like we care as a school since we make it easy for them.  Now only could I put up deadlines, but also put up information regarding what our school is doing in athletics, academics and all other areas that would show how our school is as an overall institution. 

              Using the list template would be beneficial when working with other employees.  This way all the information could be posted about meetings or agendas discussed so it is all online instead of everyone individually keeping their own information.  Also the other employees could use all the other tools to work together to make sure everyone is on the same page to make the organization the best that it can be.  The more we work together makes it better for the university to get more students and just become a better overall university. 

            Overall, Google sites have many different purposes and they all can help your organization.  It makes everything easier with working with each other as employees and being able to put information for students or whoever will look at it.  With this site, all the information is on the same site and there is no need to go searching all over a website.