A video was made by Michael Wesh and his students presenting how this new age is set up with the way we run our everyday lives and how technology is corresponding with it. The video shows and tells how little percent of people complete their assignments or read their expensive purchased text books. One example is when a student holds up a sign that says 49% of the assignments given to her are completed and only and only 26% are relevant to life. One of the main messages that go along with this is how students are hardly ever using books and olden day recourses because of how new technology has advanced and has much more to offer. A sign is held up saying that she will read a total of eight books this year, two thousand three hundred web pages and one thousand two hundred and eighty one facebook profiles. Numerous signs are held up given the same information on how the students will be using more expensive electronics such as television, computers, cell phones and music devices to either complete their assignments or use them in their own spare time. One message is presented on how the laptop that was purchased is more money than some people make in a year in other areas around the world. Other messages are included that portray the way that culture is now moving so fast that every job or technology invented today will no longer exist. And how will this be affecting the economy or world situations surrounding us? More signs are held up saying “I did not create the problems but they are my problems”, problems meaning war or ethnic conflict or hunger problems and all of the above. Aside the fact, another issue is brought up that may tell how irrelevant our learning curriculum might be, maybe because of how much we use technology. Students are being distracted in class because of social networks or pictures and videos that are issued through phones and computers. Could this new aged technology really be helping the world?
After seeing this video I thought how true every issue brought up is, and I think that technology truly is being misused. I think that electronics are being a distraction in class and prevent students from completing their assignments and learning; however, I don’t think technology is to blame for a decrease in learning ability. All students have the capability to learn and I do think that technology has a great source of valuable information that is quick and easy to use making it so that students can learn a lot faster than they were able to years ago with tools such as books that may be a much more slow way of learning. The fact that learners are not using computers in a way that would be helpful is a problem. Technology’s cost may be to blame for impoverished communities and countries. When the sign in the movie was held up saying that the laptop that the kid was using cost more than some people make in a year is when I thought about how much money is being spent on technology that could be spent on important issues such as world hunger and war. These problems around the world are problems that we did not cause or start but our generation is going to have to pay off all the mistakes of the previous generation. If technology was to be used differently and had less of a valued price on it, then there may be a chance for it to be helping the world.
Welcome!
Welcome to our Eng 100 Blog “Conversations Beyond the Classroom”! The title of this blog refers to the community of active readers & collaborative learners we are creating by sharing our academic writing for Eng 100 with each other + a larger group of students, instructors, academics, and just about anybody who chooses to follow our blog! When you write and post your reader responses here (and, later, as you write your essays for the course), I encourage you to use this audience to conceptualize who you are writing for and, most important, how to communicate your ideas so that this group of academic readers and writers can easily follow your line of thinking. Think about it this way: What do you need to explain and articulate in order for the other bloggers to understand your response to the essays we’ve read in class? What does your audience need to know about those essays and the authors who wrote them? And how can you show your readers, in writing, which ideas you add to these “conversations” that take place in the texts we study?
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
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