While watching Olivia’s Story I saw a normal teenage girl and her love for technology. As a future teacher I think it is important for me to know Olivia’s relationship with technology and her use of it. She did not always have access to a computer and the one she used was a community computer in her building. Although we may assume that everyone has a laptop these days, it is simply not true and the fact is that many of our students will not have access to a computer at all, unless they use a friends or go to their town library. As an art teacher many of my assignments given will be handmade and not computer based, but if I do give my students a written assignment that needs to be typed I feel that it is important to give them time in a computer lab at school, or make sure to discuss with them alternatives to getting the work done. I also think it is important as teachers to talk to our students about abbreviations in texting and in e-mails. Replacing you with U becomes a very bad habit and some students may start writing this in homework assignments or on essays for class.
My three most influential communications technologies are my iPhone, Internet, and Skype. My iPhone is a great way to stay connected to my professors and classmates with e-mailing. It also gives me Montclair weather updates, which is so convenient since I am a commuter and need to know when classes are cancelled. I do not text often because I feel that hearing someone’s voice is much more personable. I feel that the Internet has impacted the way I learn new information. The Internet impacts my learning every day because it is so easy to go online and Google something that I want to know more information about. As an example one of my professors assigned a reading that I struggled with, so I went online to look up the author’s background. This gave the reading context, and when I re-read the article I understood more of it. I feel that this is a great tool for students when not understanding a word or wanting to know a definition. I recently started using Skype, and it has become such a useful communication technology! My brother, sister-in-law and niece moved to Colorado this summer and I use this to speak with them. It feels like they are right there in person, and I get to watch my niece grow instead of seeing her in a few months and not even recognizing her.
After viewing both videos I realize that I use technology similarly and differently than the people on them. Olivia seems to use the computer and phone for personal reasons, where as I think that I use the computer mostly for schoolwork. I think that has a lot to do with that she is still in high school. She did say that she also used it to stay connected to others and that is similar to why I use social networks at all. The other students seemed to use technology in many different ways that I also use technology for. E-mail, and taking pictures on their phones were ones that stood out to me as being similar. I also agreed with the one girls thought about texting and how annoying it gets when people abbreviate words. Texting does not translate feelings as well as talking in person does, and many sentences get taken out of context.
