Blog Post Assignment 4

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff Please

I thought the way Dr. McLeod presented his argument in such a sarcastic way was very effective. In my opinion, many adults tend to focus on negative aspects of technology to keep their children away from it. For example, a parent may fear her child having a Facebook page because of the potential of meeting a sexual predator or a parent may not want their child to freely use the internet because they could be exposed to pornography. It’s only natural for parents to be protective of their children but there must be balance. In today’s world, the internet is at the center of everything. People shop, pay bills, take classes, and communicate through the internet every day. If a child is not exposed to the internet or not taught basic internet skills, that child will be severely behind in society. So then, when Dr. McLeod wrote “don't do teach them any of it 'cause I'm doing all of it with my kids, can't wait to see who has a leg up in a decade or two.” That is to say, the parents who lag behind in teaching their kids internet skills will only hurt their child in the long run.

The iSchool Initiative

The iSchool Initiative is a very interesting concept although I think it will not work. First, I think it will be too costly to get it started. The school district would have to purchase enough devices for all students in the districts and may have to replace devices almost every year. Many students can’t properly take care of their textbooks; similarly, I don’t see that changing with an itouch device. Secondly, technology is great but replacing the physical textbook with an ebook would not be a good idea for students. Students would easily be distracted by other things on the device rather than actually reading the eBook. Finally, lack of software updates, program crashes, and other unforeseen things could once again put the education process behind if the devices were the only options. All in all, iSchool is a good concept but I think the concept overlooks many possible issues.

The Lost Generation

I am very confident that I will not live up to those statistics but the way our society is, it feels like my generation is really lost. In America, we spend more time trying to make a living than actually living. Personally, my life is going so fast because I am always so busy. Sometimes life feels like it’s only about making money and staying afloat. The truth is that without money, one could not have the best life or even live longer than someone who has money. Because of this, we tend to place more infancy on making money which creates many other problems. Overall I thought the presentation was very well crafted. I liked the dark background the text scrolling up versus scrolling down.

Eric's Whitacre's Virtual Choir

This performance of Lux Aurumque by a virtual choir of 185 people was completely amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it before and it was surely a fascinating way to use the internet. I think the way they used the internet to create this production speaks volumes to what one could do with the internet. The possibilities are truly endless.