Finding a Happy Medium

          Using technology too often has the same effects as eating too much cake, it can make you tired, lazy, lethargic, sick, etc. And that is why technology, like any good thing, must always be used in moderation.

          Facebook can be a fantastic way to get students to connect and easily complete group assignments. On top of that, its group feature can be a good way to start up a class page where students can easily discuss questions on assignments and post pictures of notes for classmates that may have been absent that day. Chat and online functions can also allow students to easily see who is online at any given point and have a one on one chat session on specific questions they may have. On the other hand, Facebook is also open to many other functions that may distract students and prevent them from completing work on time and may aid students who wish to cheat of each other’s homework or on tests and quizzes.

          Tumblr is a great site for quickly and easily sharing images. In an art class you can set up a Tumblr and use it to link students to artists that are relevant to the current class. Students can, then, compare and contrast styles and also have a reference at any time. Students can also make their own Tumblrs to get their work into the public space and keep track of artists they like through their likes and favorites. On the other hand, with Tumblr’s endless scroll functionality, students can waste hours and hours scrolling through picture after picture with no end.

          Twitter and a class blog work in similar ways. Using Twitter students can get reminders, via text message, about homework problems, tests and quizzes, and important class updates through twitter. While a class blog will always give them a reference in case anything was forgotten. But Twitter is also distracting and with its endless scroll functionality students can also scroll through tweet after tweet for hours on end. Also, students may no longer see the need in writing down homework in class and if there are any problems with the service than they may simply not do the homework since they do not know what was assigned.

          Youtube can be used to show instructional videos, upload demonstrations, and give step by step instructions to students who may not have paid attention in class. And through Youtube’s comment section students can post specific questions that can be addressed in another video. But this too can be easily distracting and on top of that students may use the videos as an excuse to not pay attention in class.

          These are just a few examples of websites, but the same methods can be applied to phones, cameras, projectors, etc and it always boils down to the fact that technology can help us, but it can also hurt us. We cannot be afraid of using technology, but we also should not be afraid to not use it. Sometimes an extravagant website may help, and sometimes a white board and a marker may get the same job done. It is our responsibility as teachers to determine what technology is truly necessary and to what degree we should apply it.

Technology Autobiography

                For me, the three most influential technologies of this day and age are the internet, phones, both mobile and household, and television. The reason these technologies are so influential is because, first and foremost, they all promote the spread and growth of information and knowledge. This reason alone is why I rank the internet as the most influential. The internet allows for peoples across the world to share and relate information quickly and at any hour. Because of this, it is possible for ideas to be worked on day after day without the need for breaks. Important problems can be worked on for 8 hours, their results emailed across the world, and then picked up and worked on by someone across the world. In mathematics, my field of study, new research is posted daily on forums and archives, readily available for any mathematician to look at expand upon and there are databases one can use to search for any sequences of numbers one might come across. In these ways the internet has played a fundamental part in the shaping of our world and the information we have available to us.

            In this same way, phones have perpetuated this constant growth of information. Through emailing, text messaging, and wireless browsing, your phone is a constant medium through which you can access information. If you ever need something explained to you, a colleague is only a phone call away; if you ever forgot an assignment at home, someone may be available to email it to your phone; or if you forgot how to spell a word, your phone may have a dictionary application that you can use to look it up. On top of that, with the recent addition of camera phones, front facing cameras, and an open source marketplace for applications, it is possible for anyone to do anything they put their minds too.

            Finally, television also plays an important role in the dissemination of information in our world. News companies, MTV, local broadcasting, etc. all have a means to convey information to the public in a quick and easy way. Using audio as well a visual means to convey this information puts television ahead of radio, but slightly behind the internet. Nonetheless, television and the internet often work together to bring the public information quickly and easily. It brings information of far away countries as well as local events into our homes and makes us constantly aware of the world around us.

            Watching the video "Learning to Change, Changing to Learn", was a lot like watching a video of myself and my friends testimonials about technology. The points brought up by the students were all points that I would make and have heard made in the past. Specifically the way in which homemade websites, or blogs, can help define you as a person, how the knowledge of technology helps you think about problems in a different way, and how technology has become such an integral part of our identities that without it we may not have anything to define ourselves by. In this way, technology can be a bad thing. Without a constant outlet to communicate by, we may feel lost or unfulfilled, and sometimes if we are unhappy with the attention we are getting online we may feel sad. These things however are just a side effect of our world adapting to technology. If you think about it 20 years ago the internet was barely even an idea and now it is something that we take for granted. With new technologies and new information we need time to adapt, to bring it into our society and understand it, and our own, place in the world.

            However, technology, for better or for worse, is a part of our society and so it is always important to look on how drastically it has helped our society. Parents are now able to work from home and share more time with their children, cures for diseases are worked out every day, while clusters of computer processors work out mathematics problems we could never possibly count. Sure, we may all use technology to varying degrees, with varying intensities, and with varying intents, as explained by the video, but technology has changed and shaped our world for the better and by using it, I believe it can truly help the way we think.