GED 512 - Hill - Reflection on Textbook Chapters 1-3
After reading the first three chapters in the Learning Web Design textbook for GED 512, I am still trying to sort out all the new terms I've learned. I think as I start to actually build websites or ??? that it will all make more sense. Actually a graphic organizer of how all these entities are linked might also help so maybe I'll do that later.
Chapter 3 talked a lot about how dynamically the different elements are changing, particularly since the inclusion of mobile devices. It makes it difficult to design products that change so quickly. This is a problem in almost all aspects of computer electronics as we studied last quarter. I did like some of the adaptations that were made to small units like the iPhone, but it isn't really a complete fix yet. Plus, what happens with the next big change?
But enough pessimism, I am happy that I will finally understand things like FTP and IP, etc. I've never known what to do when a device/application asks for that information. I'm also very pleased to see that one can become a part of a larger team and specialize in some part(s) of the process. I'm not sure what part will fit my skills but it will be interesting to find out.
Two questions:
1. What does a "markup language" do?
"HTML is not a programming language; it is a markup language, which means it is a system for identifying and describing the various components of a document such as headings, paragraphs, and lists. The markup indicates the document’s underlying structure (you can think of it as a detailed, machine-readable outline)." This quote is from the book. It indicates that HTML is used to format the structure of the document.
Journal #3: The Case for Social Media in Schools
ReplyDeleteThis is really tough because I do understand that students are all plugged into social media. They know how to use it, they like using it, in fact, it is very important to them to be connected via it. But there are down sides to social media. During research for a debate I had to do in an earlier Multimedia class, some very dark consequences to the use of social media were uncovered. A study done with 1,000 college students around the world revealed some of the following issues:
1) Media was addictive, 2) Contact made through media was shallower than personal conversation, 3) The more people communicate through social media, the less practice they have in reading body language which another study claims is 93% of our communication, 4) Students seem to stop ranking information by it's importance correctly, placing world wide news on an even level as someone's daily events, 5) Students tend to believe the information sent via social media without checking it out, and 6) students in the study found that social media contact seemed to hide the depression/isolation they were feeling but not acknowledging.
With the negative side delineated, let's go back to the article. I do agree with the topic lines for #'s 1 and 2: "Social media is not going away" and "When kids are engaged they learn better". Just because people like to drink and it will not be prohibited again, doesn't mean people should drink and drive for example. So just because social media is not going away, doesn't mean that we shouldn't build other interpersonal ways of communicating and interacting into our society.
Sure, students learn better when they're engaged but are they only engaged via social media? Point 3: "Safe social media tools are available--and they're free". Ok this is good. But once students learn the social media tools do they stick to only safe tools? Point 4: "Replace online procrastination with Social Education". I'm a little confused by this point. I think it says that extra assignments (that were interesting) were posted on a social media forum and the students became so involved with these assignments that they spent less time on other social media. (??) I think the main idea here is to have interesting assignments. If posting them on a safe social media forum makes them more interesting, ok. Point 5: "Social Media encourages collaboration instead of cliques". The article says that a Rochester Institute of Technology study didn't agree with her on this point. I don't either. Students are still going to clique, just on line. I have no comment on point 6.
I do understand that instantaneous communications via social media is now part of our society. I think we have to get students to think deeper and spend more time communicating person to person to balance this part of society out.