Hi folks -
FOUR times during the semester, at any point you wish, you will be responsible for contributing your thoughts, reflections, and responses to readings, class discussions, and/or films viewed in class or on this blog. Each week, I will post the reading/viewing assignments and expect you to incorporate 75% of the readings for the week into your journal response AND bring in at least one outside reading, news report, video, etc. (by providing a link and accompanying discussion) that elaborates on the theme for the week or offers an example that you can discuss in relation to the readings.
In order to respond to that week’s assignments, you must click on “comments” for that weeks post. I highly recommend that you first write out your response on a word document, then cut and paste into the comments section (if you were to lose internet connection in the middle of the response, for example, you could lose all that you wrote).
To write a response, click on the “comments” link at the top of each post (for each week’s reading/response assignment) and put your first name and last initial, email address to which you want your grade sent, and write your comment. These regular responses will help you further develop your own insights about internet / digital literacy, interact and exchange ideas with your student colleagues, and hone your critical thinking and writing skills.
The first few times you respond to a blog entry (as well as whenever you post several links into your comments), your comments will be sent for “moderation,” which means I’ll receive an email asking me if I approve your comment to be posted/published (this is to avoid the blog from being spammed). You will see a little box that tells you this after you post. Please don’t continue to try posting after that or email me right away. Wait at least 48 hours (for me to receive moderated comment and approve for it to be posted) before emailing me with your concern that you can’t see your post.
Whichever weeks you choose to respond, you MUST post a comment on that week’s blog BEFORE the start of class. So, for instance, if you decide to comment on the readings for February 8th, then you must do so before the start of class that day. If, for any reason, you are unable to get online to the blog to post your response by the date/time it is due, you must still turn in your response via email or in class on the morning it is due. Late responses will NOT be accepted. Blog responses are worth 25% of the total grade; therefore, missing more than one blog response could affect your final grade, while missing two or more will lower your final grade.
Your discussion must incorporate over 75% of the readings (so if you have four articles to read, for instance, you must respond to three). Be sure that you thoughtfully discuss what you’ve read and provide an analysis of the main points being discussed. What is the main issue, problem, or topic being addressed and why? What do you think of what the authors are saying? How do they “speak” to one another? (Compare and contrast). DO NOT simply provide a summary of what you read; rather, explain what you understand the main issues being discussed, its importance to this course, and what your critical response is to these issues being raised.
There is no length limit, but most students will need 3-5 paragraphs, at least, to discuss the readings thoughtfully.
A lot of information and opinions were given in this week’s reading, but what I have found most interesting from the readings are the articles, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?,” by Nicholas Carr, “How the brain hard-wires us to love Google, Twitter, and texting. And why that’s dangerous.” by Emily Yoffe and the two videos “A Vision of Students Today” and “Information R/evolution.” These pieces of work stood out to me the most because I could relate to them in a way that some of the other articles weren’t so easy to relate to.
In “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” I tended to agree with a lot of what Nicholas Carr was arguing. For example, that we as humans have over time adapted so much to the internet that it has basically taken away some of our ability to actually sit down and read a book or magazine, or basically anything that isn’t on the Internet. If an article in a newspaper or book I am reading has a lot of information, I tend to find myself paying attention towards the beginning of the reading and soon find myself wanting to check my facebook status, see if I have a new email, or wind up on stumbleupon.com. And it’s not even just my generation. One quote that stood out to me and I felt like I related to was Carr’s proposed idea that “what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.”
The ideas proposed in “How the brain hard-wires us to love Google, Twitter, and texting. And why that’s dangerous.” by Emily Yoffe, are some very interesting suggestions to how our mind works. The “brain’s pleasure center” is an idea that I have never heard of but it would make sense to me how that is caused by dopamine, which the brain can obtain by viewing pages on the internet. I know this because I sense more dopamine in my system while looking at an interesting webpage then I ever would reading a book.
The two videos both had great introductions about technology and understanding youth today. The first video, “A Vision of Students Today” was the most interesting to me because I could truly relate with what most of those students were saying. I spend copious amounts of time online, I buy very expensive textbooks that I never open, I feel like most teachers don’t know my name and more. All of these were things that would actually have more of an increased interest by now since the video was made 5 years ago back in 2007. The amount of time students spend of facebook, or the students who bring laptops to class and spend hardly any amount of time doing classwork have probably all increased because everyday the world seems to be more dependent on technology.