You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Tabitha’ tag.
Well it has been quite an exciting 6 weeks hasn’t it? Playing, singing, debating, exploring and learning. Can you believe how fast it has gone by?
In this, the final and last blog I want to touch on a few of the aspects of this class that I am going to take away with me.
1. Technology is going to come and get us no matter what. Its going to swallow us up and change our lives, however if we embrace this we can keep up. We can continue to learn and invent and experiment with all the cools things out there. If we become well informed and start to use the vast technological advances to not only better our own live but our practice then we can only better our clients, kids and their understanding.
2. Encouraging our youth to explore ideas and notions that is out or our realm is good for them, and if we want it to be, good for us. They come with the experience of being a technological native. Next time you need to program your DVD or computer ask a kid, listen to their knowledge.
3. Old problems are not going away because of technology, they are just presenting themselves in different ways, therefore we need to find different ways to problem solve.
4. If technology doesn’t work, its because you cant use it, not because it is broken.
5. Kids are smarter then what we give them credit for.
I went to visit my sister the other day after work. She had been bugging me to come see my nieces and nephew for a while (it had been 9 months), so I obliged. I walked into the house to find Nadia (the oldest) sitting on the floor of the living room with two boys working on a school project. Being curious (and wanting to know who the boys where) I asked her what they were doing and took a seat near by. They were given a small motorized part which osculated from left to right and back again. They were also given some wire, a battery pack some directions and told by their technology teacher, go build something. They had made a goalie that attached to this motor and would swing left and right deflecting goals on a miniature hockey rink.
I swelled with pride to see that my little niece (who is not so little any more) was the leader of this project, AND was directing two male classmates. I watched them struggle as they didn’t quite know how to hook up the wires to the battery pack. They read the directions however didn’t understand the wiring chart. They asked me if I knew about wiring, I said I only knew house hold wires. I suggested that they learn to read the chart by looking up the information on Google. And they did.
They were baking without a recipe. They were given something in which they had a little knowledge on and told, do something with it. The knowledge they didn’t know they learned in other ways. Nadia said this is her favourite class because they get to explore and learn in different ways. Perhaps not everyone will learn the same thing from this project, however by the end after they all share their experiences they will have learned more than just being taught by a teacher. Isn’t this what school should be?
June 3, 2009
Neopets, seriously I am in a class where we are talking, learning and playing with Neopets? I have died and gone to class heaven! I am writing this after a serious session of Hasee Bounce and can still see the little purple and orange furry blobs bouncing up and down. Ok so to the people not familiar with Neopets I will give you a brief overview on what I do on a weekly basis…..
Log on. OK so my pet is dying again…oh well. I throw it some smoothies, a new food items and off I go. I check the till of my store which is at about 20,000 NP, so I cash it out and RUN to the back where I collect my interest and deposit my points. From there I am off to collect my free omelette of the day and try and find some good things to sell. I have been on Neopets for a while so I have lots of rare stuff to get rid of. I think its junk, lots of people die for it.
After looking around I play a few games, Hasee bounce, fearie bubbles, and potato counter (I love the classic games!). Then I send off a few mails to some friends saying HI and seeing how business goes. By this time little buddy is hungry again (he’s a pig) and it’s off to find food he will eat. Yes there is food such as broccoli and some chocolate he will turn his nose up at. It like trying to force feed a 5 year old peas, it just not going to happen without someone loosing an eye and since my pet is electronic, I know it’s going to be me.
I look around some more and notice that there is a weight watchers advertisement on the site. Why in the world would they put a weight watchers ad on Neopets? Now an ad for wedding sites and vacation getaways. Hmmm, had neopets become an adult site (not porn, get your mind out of the gutter) a site that adults use to come and escape their lives of bills and work and come to be a kid again? Well I do.
June 1, 2009
I was reading this article that looked into whether or not teens using the internet interfered with their moral development. It cited the Piaget and Kohlberg theories of moral development however determined that when it comes to internet use, adolescents have created their own morals, rules and code of social conduct. I found it fascinating that the researchers underestimated the youth so much that they believed that morals would disappear or diminish because of the use of IM, blogs and social networks. It was alluded to as if the internet would be chaos for youth, social anarchy online, however surprisingly it was discovered not to be this way at all. It appears that these teens have created their own social code of ethics and self govern their peer circles. Examples such as break ups through text, IM and email were discouraged and if it took place, peers would comment negatively about it either on a blog or social network, this being the outcome many teens would refrain from doing it. Another example was if any of the youth gave out personal information to people they did not know including friends of friends. Almost all of the youth said no, stating that it was dangerous and that they rarely had desire to talk to people outside of their social group. Perhaps we are being too hard on our teens. Perhaps we could learn something from them.
Post 5
I am officially struggling with what to write for this post. Adventures in Second Life were fun. Seeing the recreation of historical sites, learning how people make money, exploring a land/world that although is “real” isn’t. But is it a “game”?
It has no rule or purpose accept what you make of it. It has no defined outcome or levels of achievement. It’s simply a different world, one that intersects with this one. But is it a game?
I suppose that Second life is what you make of it. You could make it into a game, creating for yourself rules, objective and ways to measure success. You could create a start, finish and in between. What is stopping you? It could also be a place to be creative, socialize, make money, find love, discover information, or pretend. It’s a versatile program that let’s you do what you have always wanted to do, and do it easily. But is it fair to call it a “life”?
Post 4
The generational gap I can see growing even between myself and the teens I work with. Although I am a “native” to technology, the adolescents and children around me are even further advanced. One area in which I think this is very apparent was in the language used for text messaging, MSN, facebook ect. So I thought it would be fun to write this blog in what I will call “internet script”.
Wen we tlk bout technology we c that evn the ppl tat r born w/in the native category r havn probs keeping up wit how fst things r movin. I lokk ovr how the grls tlk to each other an im baffled @ how easily the new language flows frm ther brains 2 the page. Informally they can typ an speek lik its natrl. Wat im noticing is tat tis new language is effecting ther school wrk, tey are havin trbl typin in proper wrds, an thr spellin is bin affected. Bc tis is not natural 2 me, it has takin ovr 5 min to typ tis sml msg. makes me tink how exactly wat a typ of technological native I am. It shws tat the gap is bcomin wider wit evry pasin yr. is tis the new eng? Did u get it?
(I had a teen look it over to ensure I was using the correct words. She says I got an A+) Ok, enough with that. It hurts my brain. Here is also a list of the acronyms that some teens use. See how many you know!!
For the “test” http://www.sporcle.com/games/chatacronymsa-d.php
For the LIST http://www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php
***DISCLAIMER*** Please be advised that many of these acronyms are region based. Meaning that not all the acronyms listed are used, OR have the same meaning in all areas. Please, DO NOT freak out on your teens because you think they are going to a nude party. It may mean something else.
OK I have some catching up to do so I am going to post them all at once…
Taking a step back I have just come to realize how much we use technology every day to live, work, and entertain. When technology was first spoken of my mind raced to the newest video games, digital camera, online chatting and social networks. It didn’t touch any type of technology that I have grown up with such as IMAX films, television, toys that lit up (lite-brtie for example). This is all technology that produced play and continues to produce play. I remember being a part of chat rooms with strangers all over the world in the mid 90s before the Internet became a dangerous place. I was a teenager and the chat rooms was my playground. I remember my brother (11 years my junior) using the computer at 3 and 4, playing children’s games, manipulating the mouse with his small hands. Looking back it makes me wonder how different my play and development (and his) would have been without that used of technology. I guess we will never know.
post 2
I am starting to wonder if all of these years of learning about psycho babble is going to lead us down a path where we can no longer get away from the constant physiological, analytical and oppression centered ideals. Do we as developing professionals have the ability to let loose our one track mind of clinical ways and look into how other “things” effect the way we live and learn. As hard as we may try, it is not easy to let go of the repetitive lesions we have been taught. This can be seen in the first weeks presentations. They were fantastic. Kudos to the first presenters! However I am left with the many questions such as if it touched on the “technology” piece enough. If we as a group are going to be able to get away from the clinical perspective and embrace new outlooks. I am worried that all of our higher learning is going to fail us in this area.
I asked a high school student what Alice was – they knew. They also knew was Second Life was and had an account. They use open office. They are the new generation, the hippies of free technology and new play. Am I going to be asking them to cut their hair and stop listening to that Rock and Roll? Have all these books, theories and articles failed me in preparing for working with the new generation?
Post 3
The biggest thing I took from last class was the question when is technology too much, more importantly will we know? Just looking around my house I find things that are obvious luxuries, flat screen TV, digital stove, Ipod player, PS3, cordless phone, cell phone, ect. There are so many things that are slowing going beyond luxuries. We access news and important information all through ways of technology, we receive entertainment, communication, food, and education through technology. How would we live without these “simple” objects? I look that the kids and I wonder if they will become even more dependent on emerging technological trends. Will they be able to live without facebook, cell phones and lap tops? We are already in a world where you can be bullied without being in the same room, intimidated though the internet and reputation ruined through cell phones. These devices are quickly becoming the things that teenage social development are revolving around. No longer is it note passing and bathroom wall writing. Without their cell phones will they know how to communicate, use a pay phone, and speak to strangers for directions? Most importantly if they lose the remote, will they know how to change the channel on the TV?
