Some Things

Ok... So what do you put on your blog? is this personal or is it just a pro place? some days I think that the best o can is be personal and forget the pro stuff. Use this place like i use facebook and have a little fun. Is this the difference between being a native and and immigrant? i was born to soon... when i was a kid I would talk photo tech with my friends and we dream of a day that we could send a thought over the air ways to let the world and our friends know what was a happening!

Now I do not have any "goat joints" and could use some! The Internet is want deamed about andIi cant find any of the old gang using the technology the way do ... I want a phone with a key pad but none of my friends text... What is the point?
Later..

I am off to work on some text poems and have some fun... Translate Whitman into IM?

The Students In My Study?

Student 1: Midge. Sophomore, Business Student GPA 3.95.

Midge is like many other students in her dorm and in the business school. All her life her parents have planed that she would attend University and get a Business degree. She is the first generation in her family and in society that has no real memory of life without computers, cell phones, and digital music, and laughs at people who don’t have these technologies. Walk around any college campus between classes, and you might see her or other like her talking on their phones or listening to their iPods. In class she can be found doing the same listening to her iPod and text messaging her friends. When asked why she is taking an online course Midge will tell you.

I knew I would be very busy in the beginning of the quarter so the online class would help my schedule. … so because other students barely go to class, it just made sense for me to take it online Online Focus Group: 470, 732

When presented with problem Midge will often pass on to the next question or problem without attempting to apply pervious Information she has always gotten bored easily, but like her fellow students the attention span of this group is especially low. Midge has approached all classes through high school and now at the university with the belief that she can reduce the content down to the essentials and reproduce them through rote learning. Midge is part of a generation of remote controls, hyperlinks, and MTV.

Yeah. [Yawning] and to see if I can find any that pops up. Where is the other open workbook? I’m gonna skip this question too. Ok. Student 2. Think Talk Observation: 3617, 3846

Student 2: Alex, Junior, Arts and Science (Combined Business and English) GPA 4.0

Alex looks like the “Model Student” he is organized with is time has well as his working space. He reads and follows up all suggested readings, schedules time; behaving as a “model student.” In his free time he listens to music and reads modern fiction. Alex has always read books and likes to imagine that he is the hero of the books he is reading. He is a Business and English combined major even though he wants to be just an English major he also wants to make money, hence the business major. Like Midge he has no real memory of life without computers, cell phones, and digital music. He does not laugh at those that do not have these theologies he just has never given them any thought. Alex and his friends often start partying on Thursday after class and do not stop until Monday. Most of his classes are selected because they fall on a Tuesday Thursday schedule and that is convenient for his lifestyle and work. Being a junior business student he is required to have an internship and the three extra days without school allow him to get a paid internship with enough income to cover his car and insurance with enough left over for entertainment. When asked why he is taking an online class Alex answers:

Because the online version gives me more flexibility of when I want to do my work, when I want to turn it in, and since there’s no set class meeting time, I don’t have to worry about being in a classroom when I might want to be studying for another course. Student 3. Interview: 636, 900

When presented with a problem Alex looks for the solution in problems in the process and formulas. He is not an innovator and feels uncomfortable when creativity is required. He likes clear and concise instructions. Alex wants to know everything up front as far as what is expected and what criteria will be used to evaluate his performance. He is are the most likely to want to ask questions like, "Will this be on the test?” Certainty and security is key for him. Tying leaning outcomes to economic objectives is important if an instructor want to keep him engaged. Alex and his friends are motivated to learn in order to reduce stress and increase their marketability. They place high value on developing good interpersonal skills and in "getting along."(Coates, 2007)

I also think that it will be valuable to have experience doing a project completely through online communication. Especially in this increasingly global world, employers will be impressed to see that we are able to communicate well and work effectively with possibly no physical contact. Student ENGL183-07. Online Discussion Taken Class Before 10849, 11136

Student 3: Simone. Senior, Business and Environmental Sciences Student GPA 4.0

Simone enjoys discovering meaning by reading widely. She enjoys inner-relating new ideas and concepts with previous relevant knowledge. Simone is not the traditional student, she has returned to school after years in the “real world”. Having worked in both for profit investment companies and non-profit arts and educational jobs she has returned to the university to further her opportunities. Education it is not just financial to her when asked what learning is:

It takes a place where you can, while you’re in that mode and you’re thinking about the subject and you actually get an answer from somebody or you have a discussion or somebody disagrees with you. Student 11: Interview, 15864,16059

I guess discussing with the other students is helping me see how other people interpret the instruction, and that’s kind of refreshing. Because instead of being told exactly what to do, we have to interpret it, which in that sense is helpful. Because later on that would be more useful. Student 6: Interview, 11026,11311

Simone is not new to technology yet she remembers a world without computers, cell phones, and digital music. She has worked in and lived in countries with extreme poverty and would never laugh or ignore someone that is doing without the things she enjoys. When she talks about using technology online she can be excited and animated has she is when describing a recent assignment online:

So what we did was we all had PowerPoint presentations. There were three or four of us that were actually presenting, so we had done a PowerPoint presentation, put it up, loaded it up onto the thing, and everybody could see our presentations, and then people were responding to questions or things about, like I did mine on capital punishment, somebody else did theirs on the environment. We did it on a lot of different things. Student 11, Student Interview 7558,7998

When asked about her learning and what she desires in the online environment Simone talks about the work and the problem that she is presented with. Simone will look for meaning and application out side of the standard formulas and attempt to apply concepts and knowledge to new learning. She like problems that require her to incorporate new knowledge with old:

Anything that requires you to either sort of go beyond or to be at least synthesizing information from various sources, so oh, this is like that other thing we read, or this sort of goes along with this whole idea that so and so proposed, whatever. Anything like that that requires something is very useful. And again I think that’s stuff that people will do, but it just, there has to be that standard there… Student 8, Interview 21181,21589

Updates?

Hi All,

Even if I am the only one reading this blog! I still want to do updates and all that goes with it... So I have been writing away like a mad man trying to get the Dis done, now on track to finish the witting by mid May... I will be posting draft sections of CH 4 (Data Analysis) over the next few days. Keep you eyes open.. and your tweets a tweeting!