Research Projects

The next project we are working on in exploring digital media is an annotated bibliography and a research project. We are to choose a topic within our future career field and explore an issue or question pertaining to that topic. I chose to research how technology affects students with special needs. I plan to accomplish this project by using my university's library page to find good sources for a start. We are also using the website Refworks to help us in creating our bibliography. I have decided I am going to take each source at a time. Now that I have completed my annotated bibliography it is going to be easier to make my concept map and begin writing from there. I am actually very excited about this project. It is going to be a lot of work, but I have picked a topic I am very interested in learning about.

There are a few different ideas I want to explore within this topic. I want to focus on a certain disability, such as autism to see the effects that technology has on it. I also want to examine how much technology is being incorporated into special education classrooms. Lastly I would like to find out the ways in which it is helping special needs students learn in the classroom. Overall I am excited to see what I learn from this project and see if it will give me ideas in my future career.

Professional Twitter Take 2

The second project, which I have continued to work on for my digital media course is learning and using twitter professionally. For this assignment we had to follow five professional organizations and five people who are working in our future career field. We also have to continue tweet professionally throughout this semester.

Being my major is either going to be being elementary or special education the professional organizations I decided to follow are within the field of education. I decided to follow, The National Education Association, National Association for Gifted Children, Council of Administrators of Special Education, The National Associate for the Education of Young Children, and the American Library Association.

I hope to gain many things from following these organizations. I believe that each organization will be a great resource on keeping me current and up to date on news and things occurring in education. I also believe that it will be an excellent resource on ideas to use in my future classroom. They will help me gain knowledge to better teach my students as well as get me connected with other people in my field. One of the number one resources in education is colleagues and others within your field. It will not only benefit me, but my future students for me to follow and stay current with these organizations.

Digital Media and Society

For my next assignment I viewed a powerpoint called Data, Information, Wisdom, and Google. I was asked for this assignment to answer two questions. Question number one being, “What is Google?” Before viewing the powerpoint I would have just described it as a search engine that can find you the answer or site to just about anything you want. However the powerpoint used a good image that portrayed an analogy of what Google is. It said that it is similar to a paper with many sources. It is very true, because Google can give you a lot of information and it is filled with different sources to do so. I thought that was a very good way of understanding it. Google has multiple types of searches as well, such as images, videos, news, maps, blogs, scholarly material, and books. Google's search capabilities are very broad. The image posted below is of the analogy the powerpoint provided.

The second question I was asked to answer is, “How has internet searching changed our lives over the past 20 years?” The Internet has changed so many aspects of our lives in the past 20 years. Search engines have allowed answers to, what feels like infinite questions, just a click away. We no longer use items such as the dictionary or encyclopedias to find answers to our questions. Even many textbooks have been eliminated due to the ease of searching online for answers. Searching on the internet has eliminated many things for us. We use it to find answers, telephone numbers, maps, and many more things. In the past 20 years we have grown more efficient with our use of the internet. As positive of an effect it has had, we have become very dependent on searching the internet for answers. I think over the next couple of decades we will see significant changes, just as we have the past 20 years as well.

Using Twitter Professionally

My second project we are working on in class is learning to use Twitter professionally. This project includes following professional organizations and people who work in your future career field. As well as tweeting professionally throughout the semester. This also includes using professional images and a professional twitter handle. My initial idea of this project was very positive. I already use twitter for personal reasons and was intrigued by the idea of using it to build a professional profile. I’ve already learned a lot about twitter and how to use it to stay informed and build connections in the world of education.

For this project we have to tweet professionally at least 30 times. I have already followed organizations and people who work in education and have begun tweeting. I plan to continue to accomplish this project by tweeting at least once or twice a week. I have wrote reminders for myself on my calendar so that I do not forget. If you want to see what my professional twitter profile looks like, I have posted an image of my professional twitter profile below. So far I am feeling really good about this project and am excited to continue using twitter to build a professional profile, learn more about the world of education, and possibly even make professional connections.

Technology Disconnect

For the past few weeks I have been working on our first project in my digital media course. The assignment is to disconnect from technology for 24 hours. In today’s society we don’t realize how much we rely upon technology. We use technology for class, homework, work, and most frequently for entertainment. I find myself checking my phone in between classes and checking social media just to pass time each day. You wouldn't think disconnecting from technology for only 24 hours would be so difficult until you begin to think about how much technology is in our day to day lives.

I have been working on preparing to disconnect from technology for about a week now. To prepare for the disconnect I have made a list of homework I will need to make sure that I complete prior to the disconnect. These assignments are ones that require the use of the internet to complete. I have also made a list of devices or items I can’t use during the disconnect. This includes things such as my cell phone, laptop, radio, car radio, and TV. I even had to borrow my mom’s alarm clock for this project, because I use my cell phone as an alarm each day. I have also warned my roommates and my family that I will be away from my phone for 24 hours as well. I told them if an emergency were to happen to call my roommate's phone to get in touch with me. My parent’s are even less thrilled than me about this assignment. They are not fond of the idea of not being able to reach me in a split second.

I think the most challenging part of this assignment will be having to stay away from technology when I live with roommates. It will be tempting to want to join my roommates while they watch a movie and many other things. Oddly enough I think the easiest will be not communicating with people through text and social media. I am slightly looking forward to not having to keep up with communication for a day. I think it will be slightly peaceful. I think the most difficult will be giving up my cell phone. I am periodically checking it throughout the day. It is used for music, my alarm, email, social media and communication. I think it will feel very odd to not have it with me for an entire day. I wasn’t very excited for this assignment at first, but as I have prepared I am dreading it less and less. Overall I am slightly excited to see how difficult or easy I find this assignment to be.

Introduction

Hello,

My name is Emily and I am currently in my second year of college and I am planning on majoring in either elementary or special education. I have had many experiences where I have been involved with working with children. I have loved every second of my time with those students and I am excited to have the opportunity to make that into a career.

I am currently taking a course about exploring digital media, which is the reason for me starting this blog. Throughout this course I will be learning how to relate technology to my future career field. In the world of education we must rely on our resources whether they be our colleagues or the internet.  I believe this course will show me how to use technology not only in my classroom, but also to network with fellow teachers as well. I have already learned many things and I look forward to sharing further and more detailed posts on what exactly I have been learning about.