Hi, my name is Yaeji. This is my second semester as a M.A. student majoring in Instructional technology. I grew up in Korea, and I was an elementary school teacher for 4 years in Korea before I came to TC. I'm interested in Technology in school, such as how can technology change school environment and teaching.
Q1. What made you interested in this course?
Online schools and online schooling is one of the notable changes in the school settings, recently. Every school and education company tries to provide online courses to meet customers (students and parents) need- anytime, anywhere learning. However, sometimes they just provide courses without deep understanding about what virtual schooling is. It makes students fail to learn something from the course. So I decided to take this course to understand the online schooling, especially, how to design courses to motivate students, what kinds of instructional theories can be adapted to the virtual learning, and how to maximize the interaction between students in the online course. I hope I could research those more throughout the course. :)
Q2. What experience do you have with online learning? Was it positive or negative and why?
I have several experiences with online learning. However, most of them ended in failure. My first experience was taking the course “virtual communication” when I was in college. At first, I was interested in the course because I could pace myself with learning. I could only take the module which I decided to do. It felt like I took an active part in learning which was different from other traditional courses that I just sit in the classroom and learned what the teacher taught, passively. However, as time passed, I failed to manage myself, and finally fell behind the course. After that, I had tried several times to take online courses-at school, at work- due to its convenience, but most of them were ended negatively like this experience.
I decided to take this course in spite of those failures, and I hope I can finish the course successfully. :)
Monday, January 24, 2011
Thursday, November 18, 2010
The social implications of information and communication technologies
What are the implications, according to Castells. Do you agree or have other perspectives?
* The implications of information technology for economy
- Fundamental transformation in the labour market- emergence of flexible forms of work and employment. (stable, long-term employment-> diverse employment status across the whole spectrum of occupational structure)
Firms have to manage the contradiction between labour involvement and temporary connection of labour with firm.
Workers’ value depends on the capacity to store specialized knowledge, reprogramming skills according to the change.
The relation between firms and workers is becoming increasingly loose.
- Massive entry of women and new rural migrants
* The implications of information technology for education
- Contextual factors (pedagogic quality of the school, family background, and teacher are powerful factors that condition the potential benefits of information technology
- Teachers can share knowledge and skill so that they deepen their specific knowledge.
- Students may rely on a much broader field of expertise than the one physically available to them
- Distance learning : open university and adult learning with lower cost, and much quality can be possible
* The implications of the pervasiveness of the internet as a communication medium
- Internet cannot be controlled, technically or politically, except by disconnecting a communication system from the global network
- There is no virtual world independent from the physical/ social world.
* Inequality in the information age
- ICTs are not related to inequality and social exclusion. It helps to alleviate poverty and inequality on the contrary. However, the context of global, informational, and deregulated capitalism can be a major factor of social exclusion.
I agree with the overall opinion about implication of information and communication technologies which Castells presents, especially for the education part. Through the development of information society, teachers and students could share their information with each other, so they can make community. It makes students play roles as an active learner, organizer, and knowledge creator. Also it makes teachers play roles as a supporter, and peer-learner. Yet, the fundamental reform should be preceded, such as better working/ studying conditions, the reduction of class size, and building infrastructure of technology in education.
However, I disagree with the implication that Internet cannot be controlled, technically or politically, except by disconnecting a communication system from the global network. I think it can be controlled by government; also it is possibly controlled by the public. For example, in South Korea, the members of the internet community insisted that Tablo (famous singer of South Korea) fabricated Stanford diploma, and it lasted about 6 months and most of the people believed that Tablo told a lie before it turned out to be true that he graduated Stanford, finally. Like this, the internet can be controlled by various factors rather than before, so people need an ability to judge and select “right” information.
* The implications of information technology for economy
- Fundamental transformation in the labour market- emergence of flexible forms of work and employment. (stable, long-term employment-> diverse employment status across the whole spectrum of occupational structure)
Firms have to manage the contradiction between labour involvement and temporary connection of labour with firm.
Workers’ value depends on the capacity to store specialized knowledge, reprogramming skills according to the change.
The relation between firms and workers is becoming increasingly loose.
- Massive entry of women and new rural migrants
* The implications of information technology for education
- Contextual factors (pedagogic quality of the school, family background, and teacher are powerful factors that condition the potential benefits of information technology
- Teachers can share knowledge and skill so that they deepen their specific knowledge.
- Students may rely on a much broader field of expertise than the one physically available to them
- Distance learning : open university and adult learning with lower cost, and much quality can be possible
* The implications of the pervasiveness of the internet as a communication medium
- Internet cannot be controlled, technically or politically, except by disconnecting a communication system from the global network
- There is no virtual world independent from the physical/ social world.
* Inequality in the information age
- ICTs are not related to inequality and social exclusion. It helps to alleviate poverty and inequality on the contrary. However, the context of global, informational, and deregulated capitalism can be a major factor of social exclusion.
I agree with the overall opinion about implication of information and communication technologies which Castells presents, especially for the education part. Through the development of information society, teachers and students could share their information with each other, so they can make community. It makes students play roles as an active learner, organizer, and knowledge creator. Also it makes teachers play roles as a supporter, and peer-learner. Yet, the fundamental reform should be preceded, such as better working/ studying conditions, the reduction of class size, and building infrastructure of technology in education.
However, I disagree with the implication that Internet cannot be controlled, technically or politically, except by disconnecting a communication system from the global network. I think it can be controlled by government; also it is possibly controlled by the public. For example, in South Korea, the members of the internet community insisted that Tablo (famous singer of South Korea) fabricated Stanford diploma, and it lasted about 6 months and most of the people believed that Tablo told a lie before it turned out to be true that he graduated Stanford, finally. Like this, the internet can be controlled by various factors rather than before, so people need an ability to judge and select “right” information.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Final project
Write 1-2 paragraphs on what you plan to do for your final project. Your final paper topic needs to be approved by me and this is a good vehicle to let me know what you're thinking about doing. It should include the following: whether you plan to do a literature review or mini-study, what broad question you'll be exploring, what resources you plan to use (this can be broad—what literature or area of a literature, doesn't have to be a complete list of references), and how it relates to class.
I plan to do a literature review for final project, the resources can be articles about e-learning, m-learning, teens and cellphone use.
and my question is like this:
-what are the major features (including benefits and downside) of the mobile communication among teens?
-How can we use mobile phone in a classroom? (cases)
According to the survey conducted by Pew Internet & American Life Project, 45% teens had a cell phone in 2004, but the rate had climbed steadily, and it reached 71% in 2008.
When we look at the users, nearly 2 in 5 teens sending text messages everyday, more than half of them talk to their friends on the phone everyday. It means they communicate through mobile phone almost everyday, and it is inevitable to think about mobile communication aspects among teens.
Especially, mobile phone has multiplied possibilities such as texting, web browsing, and game playing, so it can be a "mini-laptop," and it makes "anytime, anywhere learning" possible.
I will first explore the features of mobile communication among teenagers, functions of mobile phone such as enhancing intimacy, making community, information sharing. Especially, I will more focus on the use of mobile phone in a classroom, the aspects of online-research, using references(dictionaries), social networking(teamwork) and so on. In this part, I would like include examples or experiments of phone use in a classroom.
Also, it is important to recognize the concerns of the mobile phone can cause. As we know from the fact that most schools ban smartphones, sometimes it distracts student from learning. or it can be a powerful tool of cyber-bullying. Also, we face some interface issues when use it in a classroom, such as small screen, limitation of message length and non-verbal cues.
After looking through those aspects, I will conclude with suggestions for future research.
I plan to do a literature review for final project, the resources can be articles about e-learning, m-learning, teens and cellphone use.
and my question is like this:
-what are the major features (including benefits and downside) of the mobile communication among teens?
-How can we use mobile phone in a classroom? (cases)
According to the survey conducted by Pew Internet & American Life Project, 45% teens had a cell phone in 2004, but the rate had climbed steadily, and it reached 71% in 2008.
When we look at the users, nearly 2 in 5 teens sending text messages everyday, more than half of them talk to their friends on the phone everyday. It means they communicate through mobile phone almost everyday, and it is inevitable to think about mobile communication aspects among teens.
Especially, mobile phone has multiplied possibilities such as texting, web browsing, and game playing, so it can be a "mini-laptop," and it makes "anytime, anywhere learning" possible.
I will first explore the features of mobile communication among teenagers, functions of mobile phone such as enhancing intimacy, making community, information sharing. Especially, I will more focus on the use of mobile phone in a classroom, the aspects of online-research, using references(dictionaries), social networking(teamwork) and so on. In this part, I would like include examples or experiments of phone use in a classroom.
Also, it is important to recognize the concerns of the mobile phone can cause. As we know from the fact that most schools ban smartphones, sometimes it distracts student from learning. or it can be a powerful tool of cyber-bullying. Also, we face some interface issues when use it in a classroom, such as small screen, limitation of message length and non-verbal cues.
After looking through those aspects, I will conclude with suggestions for future research.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Online Dating- Can I Trust It??
About ten years ago, when I was a high school student, I signed up for on-line dating site for fun. I uploaded the flattering picture of me, and waited for boys and after about 2~3minutes, someone talked to me. We chatted for a while and it seemed like we understood each other well. Most of all, he had a good looking appearance, so we decided to meet up offline. I expected a lot for dating. However, when I went to see him, I couldn't find him at first, and when he talked to me, I was upset, because he was totally different from what I've thought. The picture was just a picture, and I couldn't feel the same way about him from on-line setting, and I'm sure that he felt the same way inside, because that was the last time I saw of him. After that experience, I don't believe on-line dating anymore.
However, according to the article, "The Truth about Lying in Online Dating Profiles," Although the deception in online dating was frequently observed, the magnitude of the deceptions was not that big. The participant of the experiment lied on at least one of the fields in their profile, but the author said that "many of these deceptions would be difficult to detect face-to-face." The interesting thing is the deception fields of males and females are different. Men usually lie on their height, and women usually lie on their weight.
Back to my own experience, I wondered that my experience was “a few extreme lies” that the author mentioned, but I concluded the extreme deception was possible about ten years ago. However, recently, there are many other supporting devices such as webcam, face-time video phone except photos, so it is hard to deceive others, and also if the purpose of the online-dating is meeting face-to-face, people don’t think that it is necessary to lie on their profile.
Truth behind Internet dating - funny animation
However, according to the article, "The Truth about Lying in Online Dating Profiles," Although the deception in online dating was frequently observed, the magnitude of the deceptions was not that big. The participant of the experiment lied on at least one of the fields in their profile, but the author said that "many of these deceptions would be difficult to detect face-to-face." The interesting thing is the deception fields of males and females are different. Men usually lie on their height, and women usually lie on their weight.
Back to my own experience, I wondered that my experience was “a few extreme lies” that the author mentioned, but I concluded the extreme deception was possible about ten years ago. However, recently, there are many other supporting devices such as webcam, face-time video phone except photos, so it is hard to deceive others, and also if the purpose of the online-dating is meeting face-to-face, people don’t think that it is necessary to lie on their profile.
Truth behind Internet dating - funny animation
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Iphone consumes me??
In this week, I was intrigued by two articles. One is about YouTube, and the other is about the relationship between technology and human brain from the NYTimes.
Lange analyzed the YouTube (video-sharing website) as a tool of maintaining social network. For people who use YouTube, the quality or contents of the video are not the problem. They do video sharing to create, maintain, and negotiate social network, to establish "affinity" The interesting idea is "Publicly Private" and "Privately Public" the term the author used. "Publicly Private" is to share private experience in a public way. In this case, people can view the personal information or the face of the owner, and anyone can access the video. However, there are several factors hinder the spread of video such as cryptic tagging, technical problems, or including private contents. In contrast, "Privately Public" is to share public things in a private way. The video contains widely accessible contents, and it makes connection with many people without sharing id identity of owner. For example, MadV invokes the global awareness by sharing video "One World", but he avoids to connect with his fan, and to show his real identity. The division of the owner's characteristic is interesting, because the author doesn’t use the dichotomy between private and public video sharing, instead, he narrows down the degrees of "publicness."
The Message by MadV
According to the article, "Attached to Technology and Paying a Price," people get more stress, when they juggle e-mail, phone calls, and other information simultaneously. There is an interesting story of Mr. Campbell's family. The story was like a sitcom for me. Mr. Campbell, goes online when he wakes up everyday, using his laptop and IPhone. When he works, on his left monitor, tweet appears constantly, the middle monitor displays computer code which he uses for work, and Skype, also on the right side of monitor, and he has e-mail, calendar, web browser, and a music player. He is a kind of a heavy technology user, and he sometimes misses the informant massage, because he has to manage bunch of information everyday. His wife, Mrs. Campbell also has an experience of getting lost in Facebook and phone. His daughter can't hear when she spends her time with devices such as laptop, iPod Touch, and DVD player. Also, his son is obsessed about Facebook and iPhone, so he can't focus on his study. I think I was interested in this family, because I feel like I DO those similar things everyday. After I've been using the IPhone, I usually check e-mail for 10 times at least, go to Facebook, and chat with friends. I feel nervous when I don't have the phone. I usually communicate with people through IPhone. Recently, I start wondering that how could I live without Iphone before. However, it is true that it disturbs my life. I'm doing several things together(multi-tasking), sometimes I don't feel I concentrate even for one thing, but when I'm trying to concentrate one work, I feel bored because I'm accustomed to "nonstop interactivity." Am I addicted to IPhone? It feels my life is subordinate to Iphone. =(
Therefore, I'm thinking that trying to live without Iphone for a week at least. Will it be possible? =)
Lange analyzed the YouTube (video-sharing website) as a tool of maintaining social network. For people who use YouTube, the quality or contents of the video are not the problem. They do video sharing to create, maintain, and negotiate social network, to establish "affinity" The interesting idea is "Publicly Private" and "Privately Public" the term the author used. "Publicly Private" is to share private experience in a public way. In this case, people can view the personal information or the face of the owner, and anyone can access the video. However, there are several factors hinder the spread of video such as cryptic tagging, technical problems, or including private contents. In contrast, "Privately Public" is to share public things in a private way. The video contains widely accessible contents, and it makes connection with many people without sharing id identity of owner. For example, MadV invokes the global awareness by sharing video "One World", but he avoids to connect with his fan, and to show his real identity. The division of the owner's characteristic is interesting, because the author doesn’t use the dichotomy between private and public video sharing, instead, he narrows down the degrees of "publicness."
The Message by MadV
According to the article, "Attached to Technology and Paying a Price," people get more stress, when they juggle e-mail, phone calls, and other information simultaneously. There is an interesting story of Mr. Campbell's family. The story was like a sitcom for me. Mr. Campbell, goes online when he wakes up everyday, using his laptop and IPhone. When he works, on his left monitor, tweet appears constantly, the middle monitor displays computer code which he uses for work, and Skype, also on the right side of monitor, and he has e-mail, calendar, web browser, and a music player. He is a kind of a heavy technology user, and he sometimes misses the informant massage, because he has to manage bunch of information everyday. His wife, Mrs. Campbell also has an experience of getting lost in Facebook and phone. His daughter can't hear when she spends her time with devices such as laptop, iPod Touch, and DVD player. Also, his son is obsessed about Facebook and iPhone, so he can't focus on his study. I think I was interested in this family, because I feel like I DO those similar things everyday. After I've been using the IPhone, I usually check e-mail for 10 times at least, go to Facebook, and chat with friends. I feel nervous when I don't have the phone. I usually communicate with people through IPhone. Recently, I start wondering that how could I live without Iphone before. However, it is true that it disturbs my life. I'm doing several things together(multi-tasking), sometimes I don't feel I concentrate even for one thing, but when I'm trying to concentrate one work, I feel bored because I'm accustomed to "nonstop interactivity." Am I addicted to IPhone? It feels my life is subordinate to Iphone. =(
Therefore, I'm thinking that trying to live without Iphone for a week at least. Will it be possible? =)
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Session 8
Now that you've identified some themes and begun to refine your questions, reflect on (1) what do you think you need in order to move forward on your final project? (more concrete questions, more reading in a particular area, etc. etc.) and (2) How can you get what you need?
After last week's critics, I've identified a few themes which I want to research more.
First, I'd like to concentrate on the identity of the cyber world. Some people express his/her hidden selves when they communicate with people on virtual world. That is more obvious in anonymous settings, however sometime it appears in nonymous settings such as Facebook or YouTube. Why people show their unseen characteristics to the public? What do they want by showing their personality to the people?
Another thing which is related to the identity is preteens' identity on cyber world. As my article of last week was about meaning, identity in children's virtual worlds, I really want to more focus on this area like whether virtual interactions, such as Participating on virtual community, making avatar and creating personal blog, are helpful to construct children's identity. I'd like to find the cases of the virtual worlds' negative effects if any, for example, identity disorder caused by over-immersion to the virtual environment.
Another theme I'd like to research for the final project is technology in classroom, especially the features of new technologies such as cell phone, Facebook, second life in classroom settings. I want to focus on what advantages and disadvantages of using these social network environments are.
I found an article about benefits of cellphone use in classroom from the New York Times. According to this article, student can use mobile application for an air test device by using Bluetooth, identification of the exact type of bugs or trees by taking picture, or creation of community among isolated schoolteachers. so, “Anytime-anywhere-anyhow learning” could be achieved by using mobile devices.
Click the link below to read whole article.
Dial-a-Class By ELIZABETH GREEN
After last week's critics, I've identified a few themes which I want to research more.
First, I'd like to concentrate on the identity of the cyber world. Some people express his/her hidden selves when they communicate with people on virtual world. That is more obvious in anonymous settings, however sometime it appears in nonymous settings such as Facebook or YouTube. Why people show their unseen characteristics to the public? What do they want by showing their personality to the people?
Another thing which is related to the identity is preteens' identity on cyber world. As my article of last week was about meaning, identity in children's virtual worlds, I really want to more focus on this area like whether virtual interactions, such as Participating on virtual community, making avatar and creating personal blog, are helpful to construct children's identity. I'd like to find the cases of the virtual worlds' negative effects if any, for example, identity disorder caused by over-immersion to the virtual environment.
Another theme I'd like to research for the final project is technology in classroom, especially the features of new technologies such as cell phone, Facebook, second life in classroom settings. I want to focus on what advantages and disadvantages of using these social network environments are.
I found an article about benefits of cellphone use in classroom from the New York Times. According to this article, student can use mobile application for an air test device by using Bluetooth, identification of the exact type of bugs or trees by taking picture, or creation of community among isolated schoolteachers. so, “Anytime-anywhere-anyhow learning” could be achieved by using mobile devices.
Click the link below to read whole article.
Dial-a-Class By ELIZABETH GREEN
Thursday, October 7, 2010
looking back the posts
1) What are some of the themes that seem to be emerging from your thoughts? Are there any topics/ ideas that keep poping up in what you're writing?
Last 5 weeks, we covered many themes such as information society, computer-mediated communication, second life, Facebook. As I looked back my blog post, I found that I usually focused on identity in cyberspace. I’ve questioned about identity of on-line and off-line communication and how it different, and how people cope with those two identities.
For me, my identity in both real and cyber space are quite similar; rather I’m more careful when I communicate through on-line than off-line. I don’t know why but I think the dialogue and information, pictures, videos which exchange each other on cyberspace can last long or forever inside the database or internet server, so others who are not directly related to that communication could easily see it and it can spread with the meaning being twisted. So even though it is anonymous setting, I always hesitate to write and submit something, and it is hard to express my opinion easily. I think, in this case, I have somewhat different personality on-line space from off-line space. Also, as we looked up in the Facebook article, it was really interesting theme to research that self-concept founded on Facebook. It is nonymous setting unlike real life and cyberspace like MUD, so the self identity can be found on Facebook is ‘hoped-for possible identity’ which is self-images people want to be, but not yet now. Like this, I’ve been thinking about on-line/ off-line self-identity through these six weeks.
Also, I've tried to think the relationship between education and social communication on cyberspace. Especially I focused on the interaction between learners which takes place in cyberspace, and the role of the media (communication tools such as video, internet, Facebook, second life). However I actually thought about the positive influence of the social communication of the ICT to students like dynamic interaction can be possible; leaner can create, add, and expand information. So I need to focus more on the negative aspects of the internet so that I can have a balanced opinion about that.
2) Based on this, have your questions changed at all from the ones you listed in the first blog post?
My question was this in the first blog post.
a.Anonymity brings disconnection with people around them? and it brings new relationship with people they don't know? Can we call that as "relationship?"
b.According to the reading, development of technology and society are related to each other. As industrialism brings emergence of capitalism, technology sometimes lead the change of society. Then, what is next stage? What other new technologies will emerge and how can it affect our life? Technology develop gradually to artificial intelligence, and relationship between people moves from face-to-face to on-line environment, can it be a reality that machine really "using" people?
I can answer the question ‘a’ now. I think anonymity doesn’t bring disconnection with people around them. Sometimes it is possible that people can simulate their real life on cyberspace, and it can be a chance to improve the relationship and communication with others in real life. As I read the article, ‘Aspects of the self’ I realized that MUD can be used as psychotherapy. Until now, I doubt that it is a good way to treat people perfectly, but for some, that environment can be a kind of experiment setting for those who need to have confidence in relationship. So, sometimes anonymity relationship can be called ‘relationship,’ and it can be used to help enhance the relationship in real life.
Last 5 weeks, we covered many themes such as information society, computer-mediated communication, second life, Facebook. As I looked back my blog post, I found that I usually focused on identity in cyberspace. I’ve questioned about identity of on-line and off-line communication and how it different, and how people cope with those two identities.
For me, my identity in both real and cyber space are quite similar; rather I’m more careful when I communicate through on-line than off-line. I don’t know why but I think the dialogue and information, pictures, videos which exchange each other on cyberspace can last long or forever inside the database or internet server, so others who are not directly related to that communication could easily see it and it can spread with the meaning being twisted. So even though it is anonymous setting, I always hesitate to write and submit something, and it is hard to express my opinion easily. I think, in this case, I have somewhat different personality on-line space from off-line space. Also, as we looked up in the Facebook article, it was really interesting theme to research that self-concept founded on Facebook. It is nonymous setting unlike real life and cyberspace like MUD, so the self identity can be found on Facebook is ‘hoped-for possible identity’ which is self-images people want to be, but not yet now. Like this, I’ve been thinking about on-line/ off-line self-identity through these six weeks.
Also, I've tried to think the relationship between education and social communication on cyberspace. Especially I focused on the interaction between learners which takes place in cyberspace, and the role of the media (communication tools such as video, internet, Facebook, second life). However I actually thought about the positive influence of the social communication of the ICT to students like dynamic interaction can be possible; leaner can create, add, and expand information. So I need to focus more on the negative aspects of the internet so that I can have a balanced opinion about that.
2) Based on this, have your questions changed at all from the ones you listed in the first blog post?
My question was this in the first blog post.
a.Anonymity brings disconnection with people around them? and it brings new relationship with people they don't know? Can we call that as "relationship?"
b.According to the reading, development of technology and society are related to each other. As industrialism brings emergence of capitalism, technology sometimes lead the change of society. Then, what is next stage? What other new technologies will emerge and how can it affect our life? Technology develop gradually to artificial intelligence, and relationship between people moves from face-to-face to on-line environment, can it be a reality that machine really "using" people?
I can answer the question ‘a’ now. I think anonymity doesn’t bring disconnection with people around them. Sometimes it is possible that people can simulate their real life on cyberspace, and it can be a chance to improve the relationship and communication with others in real life. As I read the article, ‘Aspects of the self’ I realized that MUD can be used as psychotherapy. Until now, I doubt that it is a good way to treat people perfectly, but for some, that environment can be a kind of experiment setting for those who need to have confidence in relationship. So, sometimes anonymity relationship can be called ‘relationship,’ and it can be used to help enhance the relationship in real life.
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