PLN 7 Redo

In his video “Web 2.0 … The Machine is Using Us”, Michael Wesch introduces the idea that society will have to rethink many controversial areas such as ethics, authorship, and love. Wesch says that the way society currently uses the Web and the development there of will shape the way we think of many key points of our society. What is a good deed on the Web? Who gets credit for publishing? Are people on the Web really who they say they are? These are all things that Michael Wesch claims will need to be changed in his video “Web 2.0 … The Machine is Using Us”.

In his video “Web 2.0 … The Machine is Using Us”, Michael Wesch correctly portrays the idea of rethinking controversial points like ethics, authorship, and love because of the ever changing Web-scape. On the Web many things go out the window. Societies view of ethics, authorship, love and family all have to change. And fast. If one meets someone else online, can they fall in love? Do they even know each other? There is more moldability. Common views on authorship and simply signing one’s name at the end of the page aren’t going to cut it anymore. The things that are ethically correct or seen as “right” have to be different on the web, because frankly, the web is different than reality. Take this for example, a recent PopSci article talking about Google’s purchase of an Artificial Intelligence lab says that “Google create an ‘ethics board’ for the project”(Lecher). Google and the AI startup called DeepMind are both making good decisions on taking care of the ethics section and putting someone who knows what they’re talking about ahead of the project. But, it is it really that big of a problem? People have had free speech orally for hundreds of years. There have been minor problems, but nothing revolutionary to change it forever. The same thing can happen online. A quick Google search on Web ethics will reveal a term called “Netiquette”(Webroot.com), which is a set of rules to follow online. But, the Web is different. Everything is permanent on the Web. Everything is moldable. Therefore, some major changes need to be made. It is now evident, years after the creation of this video, that Wesch was right. Controversies in society today like privacy and Web ethics like cyber-bullying and spying have their roots online. Authorship issues online have repercussions in classrooms all around the world. But these issues are just the tip of the iceberg. Wesch says that basically every part of our society needs to change when it reaches the Web. In his video “Web 2.0 … The Machine is Using Us”, Dr. Michael Wesch entertains the thought that several major societal changes will need to be made to contain Web issues such as ethics, authorship, and love.

PLN 6 Redo

In her article, “The Case Against High-School Sports”, Amanda Ripley examines the pros and cons of high schools dropping sports. Ripley says that dropping sports will significantly improve students focus in and around school. Ripley bases her argument off of the situation in other countries like Korea as well as some exclusive schools here in the U.S. School’s without athletics score higher on international tests. Ripley argues that American schools should drop athletics to make up for sub-par academics.

In Amanda Ripley’s “The Case Against High-School Sports”, Ripley correctly portrays the idea of American schools dropping athletics to pursue better academics because in other more progressive countries, where athletics are held outside of the school, test scores and student participation are skyrocketing. There are many benefits to this plan. Safety concerns would go down. Less students would be injured. Schools can save hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding and spending. Gear would not need to be purchased, fields would not need to be constructed, referees and coaches would not need to be hired, “$27,000 for athletic supplies, $15,000 for insurance, $13,000 for referees, $12,000 for bus drivers”(Ripley). The money spent on football alone could pay for countless other things in the school to boost academic prowess. However, sports have been a major part of American culture for over 100 years. The removal of these sports from schools would become an uproar. Sports are rooted in tradition,"In life, as in a football game," Theodore Roosevelt wrote in an essay on "The American Boy" in 1900"(Ripley). If Teddy Roosevelt, the 26th president, who was in office over 100 years ago writes about sports effect on American society then sports has to have left a lasting effect in the last 115 years. But America needs to make room for change. As a nation, society need to stand up for academic shortfalls and drop athletics to focus on academics. America ranks 31st in the world on international tests on youth. If this trend of focus on athletics gains more of a following, then this country will have another lost generation, but this time lost in the dream of playing professional sports. That dream has clouded their eyes during school and now leaves them with a poor, if existent, high school education. In Amanda Ripley's article "The Case Against High-School Sports", Ripley demonstrates the idea of booting out American athletics in schools to help with bad academic performances.

PLN 5 Redo

In “Footprints in a Digital Age”, Will Richardson discusses the necessity to be “Googled” well in this technological age. Everybody can see everything one posts, blogs, tweets, snapchats. To be googled well is to have a good digital footprint. Everybody, from employers, universities, family, and friends. Will Richardson reviews the need to be googled well in his blog “Footprints in a Digital Age”.

In “Footprints in a Digital Age”, Will Richardson correctly portrays the idea of being googled well in a technological time because the information about a person is available to anyone that wishes to see it. So, what exactly does it mean to leave a good "digital footprint"? It is what people will see when they look up ones name on the internet. To feel like one is justified with what he or she sees on that webpage, “Your digital footprint… is most likely being written without you, thanks to the billions of Web users worldwide”(Richardson). Richardson is explaining that these footprints are out of one's control, that one's reputations impact what others will say, which then affect people. However, there are many bad and untrustworthy things on the internet anyways. Why would somebody listen to the internet about another person? On open web forums and pages, anybody can edit the content. Think of it as a giant game of telephone, or gossip in middle school. In Dr. Michael Wesch's "Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Using Us", Wesch claims that society will have to "rethink authorship" (Wesch). After a few years, weeks, or even hours on the web, stories can be distorted much like phrases in the childish game. Society has to ask: is this true? Who should society trust on the internet? But the internet is not the Wild West, with outlaws and desperadoes. It has regulations, rules. People aren't necessarily out to get one another. If one puts a little work into online community service, and doesn’t make stupid decisions, then he or she should be alright. In his blog, “Footprints in a Digital Age”, Will Richardson correctly portrays the idea of being googled well in today’s technological time.

PLN 4 Redo

In his Ignite presentation, named “What could you do with $20,000?”, Blake Boles reveals what students really could be doing with the money it takes for just one year of college. Boles describes an idea he calls self-directed learning. In this idea, a student would, instead of going to college, direct his or her self. The student would learn about what they want to, not what the university requires. They would have complete control of their own future. In his Ignite presentation, Boles depicts an alternative to a college education called self directed learning.

  In his Ignite presentation called “What could you do with $20,000?”, Blake Boles accurately portrays the college frontier today because he shows that a lot of college graduates with a crippling debt and no idea of where to start with a career. Boles reveals the reasoning of Self-directed learning, which is that college degrees have lost their bling because everybody has one nowadays. Students can shape their own higher education, they can focus on what they want, they can study what they are interested in, “For everybody else in the world that doesn't know what they want to do… Wait!” (Boles). Boles is saying that if one doesn't know what he or she want to do with college, to wait and figure it out before he or she makes the commitment. Not everybody is like Steve Jobs. Not just anybody can drop out of college and suddenly become the CEO of one of the most successful companies ever. Some people lack an individual flare, and need the university name on their resume, “But you may say, How will employers find me without the brand?”(Boles). Boles is saying that it may be difficult to find a job without a college degree. And he is right, a lot of people need that on their resume to get a job at all. But, self directed learners can find other things to fill their resume up with, like community service or experience in one's own business ventures, if they even intend to get hired. If one is just going to be an entrepreneur, it doesn't matter what employers think. In his Ignite presentation “What could you do with $20,000?”, Blake Boles correctly portrays the idea of self directed learning.

PLN 2

In Alison Gopnik’s essay, “What’s Wrong With the Teenage Mind”, she describes how adolescents are starting to hit puberty earlier and reaching adulthood later. Teenagers in today’s society are not exposed fully to the outside world until their early to mid-twenties. In earlier and more primitive times, children took the roles of adults around the pubescent years of their life, as they were physically and mentally capable. Gopnik supports this idea of earlier puberty and later roles of adulthood in her essay titled “What’s Wrong With the Teenage Mind?”.

Alison Gopnik displays her view on early puberty and later adulthood in her essay titled “What’s Wrong With the Teenage Mind?”. Children are hitting puberty earlier and reaching adulthood later. This is because of our school system. Children have begun to start school earlier, and finish school later. When students stay in school for a longer amount of time, their IQs become higher. Adolescents are also more well prepared for the real world and higher education. But delayed introduction to the real world can be a bad thing as well. They are placed into the real world at a time in their lives were the motivational drive of puberty has already washed over. Instead of underestimating risks adolescents tend to overestimate rewards. Teens strive for rewards in school that really are real rewards until they enter the real world much later in life.

PLN 1

In his short documentary video, “A Student's Vision”, Michael Wesch of Kansas State University portrays the technological handicaps of today's classroom. Student’s days broken down by the activities they perform puts them at 26.5 hours in a day. Classrooms have an average of 115 kids, making it nearly impossible for students to receive guidance on what they specifically need to improve on. In conclusion, Michael Wesch clearly shows his depiction of the technological handicaps of today's learners.

In the documentary video, “A Student’s Vision”, Michael Wesch correctly portrays the ideals of today's classroom. Wesch states that students have a 26.5 hour day on average when you balance together school work, sleep, and other daily activities. He also implies that classrooms today are too crowded for students to get the personalized learning they need to succeed.

Although students spend multiple hours of the day on their phones and watching TV, they do need time to relax. If students spent their whole day doing school work, and not having time to relax, they would be extremely tired in class and would be less likely to succeed. Therefore, teachers need to give students less school work, so that they have time in the day to relax. Teachers might think that the more school work students do, the smarter they get, but that is untrue. If students get tired from all of this school work, they will struggle to focus in class, and not be able to learn as much as they could.

On the other side of the spectrum, all students need to do is shave off a couple of hours of TV, cellphone relaxation time to fit into the 24 hour schedule. Students spend too much time doing things that don’t affect their schoolwork, or affect it in a negative way. This is a fixable problem however. Universities could institute specialized times for these such things, like unscheduled periods in high-school, where the student could relax, study, or seek help on work.

To me reading is a device of learning. If you like to read, essentially you like to learn. I imagine it would be hard to read a book without learning something. Even if an author’s intention is not to teach, something will be learned. Such as characters, plots, settings, and other pieces of a book. People read for various reasons. Some read because they enjoy it, some read because they have too. Some read as an escape from the world around them. When I read, I zone out the things around me. I can read anywhere through anything. I am able to read while listening to music or having a conversation. When I get confused reading I try to read back over more specifically what I am confused about. If that doesn’t work I backtrack to somewhere I understand and re-read that section. it is sometimes hard to stay focused. I’ll zone out and my mind will wander to things I have connected to the reading. You know you are successful when the goal you have set is reached. As a reader, I have to think critically about what I am reading and connect it to other texts, ideas, myself, and the world.

To me writing is a way to share ideas. People use it to communicate their opinion on ideas, make their own ideas, or disprove ideas. We write in order to convey our ideas and feelings, as well as argue and support. When I write, I try to connect what I am writing about to something, whether that is me, other texts, or the world. When I get confused with writing I take a step back and see what I can add. When it comes to writing, I find it hard to get started with the piece. I would know I was successful if I feel like I correctly portrayed what I was trying to say. My role as a writer is to say what I feel like needs to be said. Writing is more than just putting down words. I need to be able to connect to what I'm writing. I need to ask questions about how I write and why I write that way.

To me thinking is a critical function of the human mind. The more you think, the more stimulation you give your brain, the better. We think because it is entirely necessary to think for you to live. We need an active brain. When I think I tend to zone out and focus on the subject at hand. When I get confused thinking I try to backtrack to what sparked the idea. Not much is hard when you really think about it. There really isn't a way to know that you are thinking successfully. My role as a thinker is to come up with new ideas and theories that would help me and the world. Without thinking, obviously we wouldn't get very far. It is our voice of reason, what separates us (or so we think) from animals.