@jokesterjulia

1 Our technological world is taking over

Technology is everywhere. From computers to tables to phones and so much more. It is vital that teachers and students understand how to use computers. Technology literacy has become a requirement in our world today. I strongly agree that teachers nowadays should be up to date on the new technologies and the NETS (National Educational Technology Standards) is a huge part of that learning process.

Today, we students are already submerged in the technological world. We use Microsoft PowerPoint for presentations, we email our teachers when we have questions, and we often go online to submit assignments. There are many other ways students use computers in the classroom, and I hope this class will help me achieve my goal of becoming more aware of all the things you can do with technology.

All the time my mom asks me “how do I make a word document?”, or says “I can’t seem to figure out how to work this thing”, well, something along those lines. She is a digital immigrant, and it’s blatantly obvious she didn’t grow up around technology. For me, I am a digital native. A digital native is those who grew up around technology; it’s usually used for teenagers, children and young adults in this generation. Digital immigrants are the older generation, where maybe technology was just beginning when they became teenagers or young adults. Technology comes easier to me than it does for my mother and my teachers, but in the future new technologies will develop that I will have a hard time with. Even now, younger kids (not teenagers like myself) are better with some technologies than I am! 7-year olds are easily able to work YouTube on their iPads while I’m still struggling with the new update. Times are changing and our technologies are developing at a rapid rate, eventually we “digital natives” will become “digital immigrants” to the new and unfamiliar discoveries in the technological world.

0 active learners, web codes and other impossible tasks

Technology has started to become an integral part our lives; whether or not we want it to. I have found myself constantly using Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Youtube, and Snapchat. I am always connected, always texting and communicating with others through various social medias, but even I find some aspects of technology difficult. It's easy to send a text, but writing web codes and diagnosing computers seems near impossible.

Now, I'm not asking to write web codes (or other impossible tasks), but there are a few things I hope this class will teach me. I hope to learn new ways of presenting projects and ideas, with software such as Powerpoint and Prezi. I want to be taught the types and uses of different media and how to apply it to student learning.

During class today, I took a survey that determines what my learning style is. As it turns out, I scored a 5 on the active learner versus reflective, meaning I moderately prefer being an active learner. Active learners, like myself, retain most of their information by doing. Unfortunately, they also find it harder to sit through lectures. As well as being an active learner I discovered I scored a 1 on intuitive learners. This means I'm pretty well balanced on the scale, that I slightly prefer innovation in contrast to methods and facts. I also scored a 7 on my visual versus verbal. This is pretty straightforward; it means I more likely will remember things I see instead of things I hear. Finally, the last part of the survey showed I was predisposed to global learning instead of sequential. Global learners often absorb material and then suddenly "get it." They solve complex problems quickly because they look at the big picture, but often they can't explain how they got to their conclusion.