R.W

As I have said before and I will say it again, social media is one of the most influential things in our lives especially in our generation. It is where we learn almost everything. But, to my knowledge, there really is not anything that combines social media and education.

If there was a decent platform that could connect students all around the world and still focus on education it could be really effective. I have been trying to think about how it would work though. It would have to be almost like a social camino. Where everything you need to do is available and also you can communicate with other students and it is fun.

There was an app that I saw advertising all around school that sort of did this called sesh. They marketed the shit out of their app. There were shirt, backpacks, shot glasses, bottle openers and a lot of other free stuff. But the idea of the app was for students to be able to share and collaborate on homework/test/anything in the class. It was kinda an easy way for students to cheat and share assignments. But I really liked the idea of it. It claimed it was a peer to peer way of setting up tutors instantly, which is honestly a really good idea.

But what I imagine is something a little different. Not focused on tutoring, but rather some way for students to share what they are learning and discuss it with other students. Personally, this is the best way I learn. When I talk to my friends about what we are covering in class I solidify what I am learning and find it easier to comprehend. If I could create a platform for students to do this with each other it could be very helpful for those students who do not necessarily learn in typical environments well and also it would allow me to make $$ which im definitely trying to do.

Technology in Education 

This video linked above shows a world where technology has full integration with education. It is a futuristic world where all the devices are connected and technology is used for ease of life. This video is effective first off because it is well made. It looks like it is a professionally made video and the futuristic technology looks real. This video creates a world where technology and education are linked. It does not just discuss it, it shows it, which is incredibly effective, especially for students in our generation.

As I discussed in my other blogs, our generation needs to see things to get a good idea of what is happening or what is being argued. It is much more effective for us because of the amount of screens we use. But this video is effective because 1) Videos are just effective in themselves and 2) it shows us a world where there is a combination of technology and education.

This image shows the connection between technology and education and how they work off of eachother. The more people that get educated, the more they can create new technology and then the more people can get educated. It is a beneficial cycle to all parties.

This image is effective because flowcharts are easy to follow and it provides good insight on the relationship present. This image makes it much easier for students and really everyone to see the relationship instead of just reading about it. For me, seeing things is much easier to understand them than reading them. It gives me hard evidence to look at rather that just trying to understand it conceptually.

This is the strength behind multimodal composition, in my opinion. I think it can be incredibly effective for some students, those who are visual learners. I guess it is not for everybody, Im sure some people prefer learning out of books. But for me, looking at something is way better than reading it.

Finishing my research paper has honestly been one of the best feelings this quarter. The amount of time I put into it overall was the most by far I have done this year. The whole process of formulating an argument, researching it, surveying, analyzing the data, and then filling a niche took up a lot of time. But it was satisfying when I finished and I learned a lot from the whole experience.

This whole process taught me how to read academic articles and analyse their ideas and create my own ideas based off of the articles. This skill that I have learned through this process will definitely pay off in the future. I am sure that I will be using all of these skills that I have obtained here at Santa Clara again.

Overall I found the process quite interesting. It was actually kinda enjoyable to research a topic so much and think about it so much where I am incredibly comfortable making an argument about the topic. I have never really researched and worked with a topic so much where I was like that. I enjoyed it. But at the same time it was a lot of work and a lot of time was spent in the library. Hopefully it will pay off with a good grade. But only time will tell.

The amount of time where I was focused on my topic was not like anything I have had in school. I am used to researching a topic and then being done with it within a week. But having to return to the same topic at hand for multiple times really makes you go to a deeper level of research. This deeper level of research is how I formulated my own argument on the subject.

Multimodal content is that which comes in different mediums, for example images, videos, websites, blogs, etc. These different forms of content are generally used through technology, and in our generation we thrive with technology. This is the idea that I covered in my research paper. How effective can technology be to our generation in the classroom.

Personally, I find these types of visuals incredibly effective. I find it much easier to listen to a video than a powerpoint and I really enjoy looking at arguments that are made on images rather than in text. Maybe it is just the little kid in me that just likes looking at pictures, but it is much easier to get a point across in my opinion.

Multimodal content is the best way for someone to make an argument for our generation. We are kinda lazy as a generation and multimodal platforms are much easier to deal with and easier on the eye. It is an effective way to reach out to students today.

Most multimodal composition now a days is online or made through technology. This is exactly why I researched the question of whether or not technology is effective in the classroom. Us students can really thrive with some sort of technological learning system, and as I have discussed, both students and teachers enjoy using it in the class. The only problem is the distractions that may come with it. But nonetheless, multimodal composition through technology can be a very effective way to reach out to student.s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vbIcbblDLA&feature=youtu.be

Enjoy

My blog this year has affected my writing throughout my entire CTW class. Even though I was not on top of the blogs this year I still noticed that I changed my writing style. I feel as though my writing has more of my own word and voice in it. I really like this change because it makes it easier to write and honestly more fun.

The reason for this shift in my writing is likely because of this blog and the research paper that I wrote this quarter. In both of these I was encouraged to voice my own opinion, which is something I am not generally used to in academic writing. I like it. It makes me more comfortable with my writing and it seems more personal, even if it is not about something that really interests me.

Obviously my blog writing and my academic writing are different, but I have seen some aspects that are shared in both of them. As I said my writing has had more of a personal touch this year. But also I feel like I am more able to take my writing and ideas to a deeper level. I believe I learned that from all the long papers that we have had this year. As my professor generally says, I do not actually care about word count I just put a page limit to create a deeper level of analytics out of you and your writing. And this has worked well. But unfortunately I have to write 8 pages in order to do so. I have yet to master the deep 2-3 page essay.

Through my research I found a “conversation” about what is happening with technology in the classroom and how people feel about it. I found some interesting articles that were for and also against it. These studies were discussing how effective it can be and whether or not teachers liked implementing it in the classroom. Through all of my research and looking at this academic discussion, I found one piece missing from all of the articles and studies; the student’s opinions.

This is what I have decided to focus on for my research paper. How do the students feel about integrating technology in the classroom and do they think it is helpful or hurtful. I have explored what students use technology most for in their lives; social media. Even in the classrooms students are using social media which distracts them from their studies. This is why having technology in the classroom can be harmful, because it can cause too big of a distraction. I figure that students do not really see this though, or maybe they do but do not really care because social media is a lot of fun.

What I want to explore and research is how the students really feel about technology in the classroom. Do they feel like it is helping or hurting their education and why?

For our research project we have to gather data about our research question. What I have chosen to explore, and what has been a common theme in my writing this year (mostly because it interests me), is the role of technology in education. I plan on asking students what their opinions are on technology in the classroom. I also want to find out how much these students use their phones and laptops inside and outside the classroom. I will probably ask how much these students use their devices for educational purposes and also other uses like social media, then compare these numbers.

I figure that most students waste the most amount of time on social media, because I know I do and that is what I see most often. Things like snapchat and facebook and Instagram are really big at this school and I often find myself scrolling through meaningless data on the reg. I kind of want to explore this relationship between social media and education, but I am not too sure how to incorporate that into a survey. I will probably come back to that idea later in my essay or analysis.

What I will be focusing on in my survey for now is just the basics. I want to get some data from students to back up any claims that I will make in the future. It will be mostly questions of how many hours people spend on certain devices and for what reasons and how often they are distracted by devices in class.

The problem that I have faced though is distributing my survey. I do not know how I am going to get a decent amount of students to take my survey and get enough data where I can make claims based off of it. I do not want to post it on facebook because I always see other students doing that and it always kind of bothers me a little bit. What will likely end up happening is me just sharing it with the group messages that I am in and asking friends to take it.

So far this blog experience has affected my writing overall in all categories. I think about my writing much differently. I also read things differently. I feel like through these posts and other essays I have noticed that writing can be more like a conversation rather than purely academic. I like it.

My professor has taught me that it is more important to get your point across well than to camouflage your argument with fancy words. So that is what I have started to do, write to an audience like I am talking to my peers. It is a simple form of communication and I feel  like I can get my point across better because it is how I normally talk. But it is a comfortable way of communication.

Creating this blog has allowed me to express what I want to say, how I want to say it. It means I do not have to carry an academic filter in my writing and that is something that I really enjoy. It is more organic writing and has allowed me to see the enjoyable side of writing more. I have never been much of a writer, probably because I always do it in school and I have never been much of a student. But this blog is a little different because it does not feel like writing. It feels like a conversation. It is a one sided conversation, but a conversation nonetheless.

So I wrote this post awhile back, but was not sure this was going to be my topic, and then forgot to post it when I actually decided.

The Vietnam War(1955-75) affected the american homefront a lot. It was probably one of the most involved, but it was not in a positive way. WWII affected USA a lot, but in a different way. What I am exploring in my research paper is the difference that these wars caused on the home front.

For WWII, america came together. They all participated and did their part to help out. Bonds were sold and people reduced their metal intake. They also made gardens at home to leave more food for the soldiers. During WWII, USA thrived. Americans came together and all helped to defeat the axis.

It was a much different story for the Vietnam War. People did not agree with the Vietnam War. They thought it was not a just war, and many people protested it. It was not the most welcome war, and it was not at the best time. At Santa Clara, people were not open the to war. They did not want it to happen. I found an interesting article where it said that the Santa Clara staff came out and addressed a letter to the president saying withdraw the troops from south east asia. I also found a lot of interesting political cartoons discussing the war and their negative opinions of it.

The picture that I have here shows the marches against the Vietnam war, mostly led by students. They were the thinkers of the time and realized that this war was unjust and did not need to be fought. This also in the time of a lot of drug culture, which makes people want to be more peaceful. “Peace man” with the peace hand symbol was popular at the time.

For class today we were asked to read BEAM: A Rhetorical Vocabulary for Teaching Research-Based Writing. It covers the ideas of research papers and how he has taught it over the years. He uses a method called BEAM, which stands for Background, Exhibit, Argument, and Method. Through these 4 strategies, any student would be able to quote anything with different approaches.

The B, Background, is for straight up facts. Hard evidence that goes with your argument and that can support it or give background. This adds the meat to the bones of your paper. Background is useful to research papers because, as you may guess, it provides a way for the reader to understand what the writer wants them too. This is what I used most of in my paper. Hard facts that support my thesis that I got from the newspapers.

The E, Exhibit, refers to the analysis of certain things. Exhibit goes to the next level of thinking about the research topic. They further the conversation and make people think of the next level. They bring something new to the table. In my paper,  I used exhibits to further the idea of students not wanting to go into war. I made assumption, which I don’t know was good or bad. But I explored how students were affected by the wars.

The A, Argument, is what your research paper is trying to achieve. What you want your reader to believe. This is like the thesis statement of your research paper. It is the bread and the butter. It is what your entire paper relies on. My argument for my research paper was that student life was affected by WWII and the vietnam war.

The last point, M, is Method. This is the route taken to obtain the information. Method sources are similar to background sources, but they do not always need to be sourced. They are like things that could be previous knowledge. For my research paper the Method sources was the information I already knew about WWII and the Vietnam War. I already knew there was going to be something about peace riots on campus.