Online Learning

This week of online classes or learning has been an interesting one. It was a lot easier than I thought. At first I was very skeptical to the idea. I did not really understand all the requirements. As dumb as this may seem, I actually had to read the directions several times before getting started. After I got the hang of it though, it wasn’t too bad. I found it interesting to see how everyone in the class interprets flaming and wiki’s. One thing that I particularly like about online learning is that I am able to take the time to read everyone’s thoughts and responses. In a classroom I am usually only able to hear a few people’s responses. It is also nice to receive feedback from other classmates on the responses that I give. I also enjoyed this week’s online experience because I learned about what a wiki is and became more aware of what flaming is and how other’s may interpret flaming. Lastly, the online group discussion is a new experience for me as well. I like being able to communicate with my group without actually having to meet them somewhere or through phone. One downfall of online group discussing is that sometimes not all members respond or touch base as often as others which makes it difficult to get the project rolling. For example, as of right now everyone in my group has responded with their list of which topic they like best except for one person. Therefore, one downside to online group discussions is that group members can be MIA for some time making it difficult for the others to continue. In all, I think this has been an interesting and valuable learning experience because with the growth of technology, I’m sure in the future I will continue to take part in activities similar to the ones in this class. I’m interested to see how the rest of this week pans out and how our group project comes together.

presentations

After listening to Jill’s presentation on Wednesday, I now have a much more positive outlook on the idea of online dating. Last week I responded to Katie’s blog saying I agreed with her thoughts of online dating. Most of these thoughts were negative ones. I realized that before I talk down on something I must first be educated on the subject, or have experienced or tried it myself. Although, I don’t think that I will ever use online dating, but who knows.
I liked listening to the presentations because I learned a lot. I think that it is a lot more beneficial and to gain information through a face to face presentation rather than just reading the articles myself. Reading can get boring, but listening to the presentations kept my interest and it made a lot more sense to me. Jamie helped me to understand her presentation by using visual aids, and the others used ‘real life’ scenarios to show examples of what they were talking about it. I believe that with learning, face to face communication is a lot more interesting and understandable. I don’t think that I would be a good candidate for online education. Although I find online education useful and interesting, I prefer to have face to face interaction with my professors and fellow classmates. It is just the way I prefer to learn.

Anonymity

The last unit we did really caught my attention with the idea of anonymity. I think it is an interesting topic to explore. Anonymity is the idea that people mask their identities through the internet. I know that I have used anonymity to my advantage in certain situations. If someone I do not know tries to communicate with me through the internet I will act like I’m someone else or just block them. Also I think the idea of anonymity can apply even if the person you are talking to knows who you are. It’s the idea that they can not see you through the computer so in a sense you feel invisible or anonymous. I tend to say things I wouldn’t usually say nor have the guts to say within an internet conversation than a FTF conversation. This happens especially when I’m arguing or fighting with someone over the internet. I feel a lot more comfortable saying my feelings because I am only typing them into the computer I am not actually FTF with someone. It also makes it easier not seeing how someone reacts or their facial expressions. I feel that anonymity gives me a sense of power and invisibility. In another sense, the use of anonymity can be dangerous. Popular sites such as MySpace, and Facebook, make it a lot easier for sexual preditors, or crazy people to harm others. We hear about this behavior just about everyday through the media. To conclude, in my opinion, anonymity can be a good or bad thing, depending on who and how it is being used.

Today Technology surrounds our world in so many ways. It seems as if its proficiency and population develops more and more each day. To many people, technology is efficient and highly useful to their everyday lives. I tend to find myself being sucked into buying or wanting newer versions of various technological items quite often. I feel that this technological boom has made me take several aspects of my life for granted. I also feel that I have become extremely dependent of many technological items that I own. I recently realized that I take for granted FTF communication. When I am at home I don’t talk to my family that often because I am either working, in my room watching TV or out with my friends. But it is nice to know that when I am home I can communicate FTF with my family anytime I want because we live in the same house. When I’m at school the only way I can communicate is through a computer or phone. It doesn’t hit me until I am away from home that I take being able to have FTF communication with my family while I am home for granted. This is something that I hope to work on in the future. Lastly, I believe that I am sometimes too dependent on technology. Some examples are:
If I lose or break my phone I feel completely distraught, lost, and just basically feel like I don’t know how to function. (ok that is a little extreme but I think you get the idea)
My I-Pod: If the battery is dead when I go to workout I get angry and blame the I-Pod battery for not lasting long enough, when in reality its my fault because I should have just taken the time to charge it.
Using different internet connections- I’m so used to the speed of the internet at school that when I go home to my dial-up internet I don’t even like to use it all that much because it annoys me since it’s so slow.
Thinking the internet will ALWAYS work- this has caused me problems before because there have been times when I hold off on doing HW that I need internet use for and then when I go to do it I am unable to connect to the internet.
To conclude, I think I need to work on not taking so many things for granted and not relying on so much technology so that I am able to make do if it is unavailable to me.