Double entry Journal #10

1. What is the fundamental problem with the discourses around children's use of technology?
   They fundamentally fail to reflect the diversity and complexity to be found in real lives. This weakens in the discourses can have real impacts on the way these views are taken up and embedded in policy.
2. What is meant by the term “moral panic?”
   Moral panic is a term that has arisen to describe conditions in which an identified group in society is portrayed as a threat to social values and norms.
3. How do you feel in engaging in more “collaborative learning” during your education at Fairmont State?
   This is a good idea in a sense but I personally enjoy the more personal feel of the classroom.
4. Do you think Universities should move to a more free-market based privatization business model? Why?
   No. I too feel that it would harm the most basic and functionality of most universities. I feel that technology is a wonderful start for any university but it still needs to be kept at a more personal level with human interaction.
5. According to the author, what is wrong with Prenskey's revised position on his definition of “digital native?” Do you agree with this authors ciriticism of Prenskey's view of the role technology plays in the education of young people?
   Prenskey's revision is deterministic; it suggests that digital enhancement is essential, and even though it moves beyond a straightforward divide between immigrants and natives, the argument retains a simple moral imperative: digital enhancement has to be accepted in order for it to succeed.
   I do agree that digital enhancement in necessary and it needs to be accepted but not everybody is going to want to be digitized. I don't want to have every aspect of my education controlled by a computer.
6. What are the characteristics of Mellennial? Are you a Mellennial?
   Millennials are a recent outcrop of a long historical process and the fusion of the idea of the Net Generation with the idea of Mellennials in the work of cementing this cyclical generational view into the idea of a Net Generation in education.
   I am not sure if I am a Mellennial or not. I believe that technology is a necessary evil that now will not go away and therefore we must use it or be outsourced. But on the other hand I feel that this advancement in education will be extremely helpful for our future generations.
7. Do you think there is such a thing as the Net Generation? Why or Why not?
   No. I feel that there is going to be more children and adults using the new technology but to say that this is all this generation will do and to label them as the Net Generation is wrong. They will be growing up with the technology and will have a better understanding then the generations before them but I would not refer to them as such.
8. What is meant by the term “networked individualism?”
   Wellman has characterized this kind of relationship in relation to community, stressing that community can be found in the networks rather than groups.
9. How would you feel about Fairmont State discontinuing the use of Blackboard and Webmail to using Gmail and Google Tools?
   This is an easy question for me. I like my Blackboard and Webmail. It took me a very long time in trying to figure it out and pride myself in knowing how it works. As for Gmail and Google tools I am still trying to figure out.
10. Why does the term “Digital Native” persist despite lack of empirical evidence of age related difference due to rapid increase of digital technologies?
    There is a general need to stereotype in order to reduce the complexity and to apply simplified rules of thumb.
11. Who societal sector seems to be benefiting the most from the social construction of a “Digital Native” generation?
    Commercial and market interests play a part in this persistence.
12. Which argument about “Digital Natives” needs to be discarded and which one needs to be explored? Why?
    The ones to be discarded are 1) the ubiquitous nature of certain technologies, specifically gaming and the Web, has affected the outlook of an entire age cohort in advanced economies. 2) the new technologies emerging with this generation have particular characteristics that afford certain types of social engagement. Reason being 1) these arguments need to be abandoned in the face of the empirical evidence and 2) like the idea of localized functions of the brain in phrenology, is the rational kernel at the heart of the argument.
    The one that needs exploring is the idea that the area of choice in educations has been expanded by new technologies.