Re-write the blog to include the rhetorical analysis of the Davidson essay (which we will go over in class); initial posts due asap, and responses to your classmates due by Friday midnight. Read Ch. 5 127 (The claim)-129 to help guide your blog response.
I'm keeping the original assignment below. Listen to the song and come to class prepared to discuss.
41)View the words as a whole; note phrases you like, and think about why you like them.
2) Circle and look up any unknown words; define the words in the margin.
3) As always: explain what argument this song is trying to make, and explain what methods (logos, pathos and ethos) they use.
4) Write a paragraph explaining your experience with the first three steps, and work in the information you gained from each step, as well as the information in number four.
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this article and found the information presented in it very fascinating. I felt like Davidson had a view of both sides of the spectrum, the student side (feedback from her class, actually teaching the class) and from the conventional teacher side (her peers, etc). This allowed her to see this new idea of teaching and learning from every angle, and made her essay very credible. I agree with her assessment that the new digital generation can multitask and learn in different ways. I could also relate somewhat when the author mentions her students blogging seemed better than their research papers. Sometimes I feel my topic papers are clunky or just poorly written, and I don't tend to get the same feeling with my blogs. I feel like her essay is not only geared towards educators, but also anyone who is interested in the study of how the brain handles attention and task delegation. I really think the idea of having students grade other students is great. I felt like the author was presenting her ideas on a different way of teaching and learning, not necessarily saying it was better or trying to persuade you of anything.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the points you've made, but have a different view on the idea of multitasking. I didn't see her as saying that the current college generation can multitask and still succeed, but that it can actually strengthen learning. Even the article title, "Let Me Have Your Divided Attention," seems to get at this.
DeleteI fail to find studies, however, I've seen them before, regarding the dividing of attention. Our brains are not merely machines. A short bit on computers. A computer must deal with one function at a time. That is its ability. These functions are dealt with in such a quick way that often times you may not even notice this. You can get into quad core, 8 core, dual core, so on and so forth, but in each instance, a single core can process one function at a time. Computers are very cognitive, meaning that they are constantly aware of what they are doing. Our brains, however, process information, and everything, really, in a much different way.
Our brains are very capable of doing multiple tasks at once. Cognitively, we can struggle, as it pushes things to the forefront, making it difficult to also have that focus on other tasks. Take a moment and notice yourself driving a car. How much of that is instinctual to you? Passively, your mind is doing most of the work for you. You know to look before you merge into a lane, you know when to stop, but how much of this is active thought? Our brains are passively instilling this information in us, using what we know without drawing away from our focus.
A fun book to read would be "The Invisible Gorilla" by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons. It really gives insight into how much of your daily actions are active thought and passive thought. The only point I'd argue with the authors of the book is in the cognitive and passive fields. While it does primarily focus on memory, if you know what you're looking at, you can see the many other factors that come in. However, I will say that I have a severe and long standing bias when it comes to psychology, and how our brains operate, built from old and new thought.
I agree that the author is not trying to persuade anyone that her teachings are better, but i feel that this is more informative than anything. she was trying to inform her readers on what happened when she tried the whole teaching method and what to expect if others want to follow in her footsteps. by the way, welcome to the class
DeleteDefinitley see your point about blogs being easier to write than research papers ext. Not only do I find that my own blogs always seem to look and sound better than my research papers, they also flow easier and come more natural to me. Nice point of view.
DeleteI found this essay to be pretty enjoyable, as well as educational. What makes this essay credible is the research and some of the experiments that were conducted with the students at Duke. I agree that now-a-days people have many different ways of learning, especially with the use of technology, not only for their own personal use, but also as an educational tool. I believe that the purpose of the author is to show how versatile our brains can be when it comes to learning, either with old school methods or modernized ones. I don't think that there is a specific audience that this essay is ment for. I believe it can be ment for anyone wanting to gain knowledge on the different styles of learning, as well as how technology can be useful in education. I was not really persuaded into anything because I belive the author was just explaining and giving examples, not so much trying to persuade me.
ReplyDeleteJessica,
DeleteI liked your take on the essay. I didn't see it the same way as you until I read your interpretation of it. I agreed with everything you said except the audience section. I do believe she aimed at those who may have reservations about how you can use technology to get further in school. Good job!
Jessica I found very similar ideas about the essay as you did, (scary lol)although I did feel the audience was towards educators and new future technologies.
DeleteI thought your assessment of the essay was right on point. I like the point you made about our brains being versatile and finding multiple different ways to harness that versatility. Like you said, I felt that the author was just trying to get his point across and not necessarily persuade the audience of anything.
DeleteThe Davidson Essay was very interesting. I feel that the experiment was approached in a scientific way. We all learn differently. I find that I can take in a lot of information while doing other things. I agree that over-concentrating often causes us to lose a lot of the content. I'm not quite ready to throw out the baby with the bathwater, however. I noticed that the one that caught the gorilla missed the count. I suppose we need to adjust our method depending on the purpose of the lesson as well as our own learning style. I do think that today's generation is much better at taking in information from a lot of different sources at once. Teaching the old way only would probably not prepare students for the type of environments they will be likely to work in.
ReplyDeleteMerri, I agree with you, however, the entire purpose of the gorilla experiment is to see how many people see or don't see the gorilla. You couldn't have gotten that from this article though. With the insane number of times, across many different people, that this experiment has been done, bastardizations are likely to appear.
DeleteBut, to get back on topic, I do agree that concentrating too hard on one thing can draw from other aspects. Throwing out the baby with the bathwater was a spectacular example. Where was their focus? Obviously it was not on the baby or the bathwater, it was on something else. The brain was performing these menial tasks for the person, resulting in the baby being a non-thought. Simply, the bathwater is to be thrown out, and the additional variable of the baby did not enter the process.
Yet, at the same time, applying the more passive side of your brain can allow focus. The issue most educators likely have with technology is that it can be distracting. I'm listening now to a cd I've had for 5 years or so, consisting of songs from a game I enjoy the music from. By allowing my more passive thoughts to be controlled by this, I am able to type far more eloquently, as a natural need for me is being met at a passive level. Yet, at times I find my focus being divided, seeing the vivid pictures my mind has tied to these songs. A picture of a big daddy/big sister, a splicer grinding their hook on a wall, a destroyed utopian underwater city.
I think we, as humans, are too narrow in our thoughts of our own mind. I myself fall prey to this far too often, as do many others. We rarely see the complexity that is our own minds.
When i saw the video, I counted 13 and i saw the gorilla. the person next to me did not see the gorilla and her count was all wrong. I agree with you that some people learn more when they are doing something, like chewing gum. And concentrating too hard on one thing causes us to miss others, this we call tunnel vision, it's hard not to have that when someone is concentrating really hard on one thing.
DeleteI think the point that she made about the counting and the gorilla was that to catch everything we need more than one person watching video. Almost like a collaborative effort. That was the correlation I believe she was making about the I-Pods being used in class. Like the students who used it to video tape or just record the classes, it allowed them to go back later and find things they missed the first time around.
DeleteThat is a great point, Holly. Having more eyes on something will bring different perspective. We will all pick up on different pieces of information. I have also learned to read, listen and view things several times. Each time, I try to approach it differently. I start with a quick skim for an overview, then I concentrate on a specific idea. After doing both of these things, I will go over the information again.
DeleteThe Davidson essay was interesting and educational all in one. The research and scientific approach to the way we learn, makes the essay seem credible to me. I agree that putting too much attention into seeing or learning one specific thing can bring blinders up to everything else. Balancing your attention span evenly is the challenging part. As education grows and progresses, the ability to process more information from multiple sources grows as well. The authors point was to show how we all have different learning styles and also have different comforts in how we learn. The appeal was aimed at teachers and students alike. I was not really persuaded of any certain thing so to speak, but feel I have a better understanding of how learning and teaching are looked at.
ReplyDeleteI like the point you made about balancing your attention span. I think that most people think a short attention span is a bad thing, but I feel like the author is trying to say that that's not always the case. I feel like that was a very good point.
DeleteI agree that Davidson is speaking to both educators and students. You don't have to be an official students. We are always students. This article opened me up to looking at different approaches to learning.
DeleteThe Davidson essay touched on a great many subjects, bringing their commonalities together to further them all. Significant use of credibility was used, especially in the pieces chosen to build upon and use, which made the reading much more interesting. I can't necessarily say the writing invoked any thoughts of logic, nor feelings of emotion, however, with my own experience and readings on The Invisible Gorilla experiment, it could be argued that it did in fact use logic, though in a roundabout way. It grew beyond that, however. I believe the target audience was educators, those currently in some sort of education, though primarily those at the level of higher education. In trying to reach these people, it built upon the younger generation, those more likely to use technology in a way that may otherwise be seen as atypical, and how that itself can facilitate learning. I consider my youth, where I put myself into a modding community. My drive lead to many early learnings within the field for the game of my choice, many of which became ingrained within the community, and were built upon.
ReplyDeleteWhat this piece really showed me, was, that I've been doing this for far too long. Well before I even knew what I was doing. I can't say that I was persuaded by the arguments given, however that is simply because I've done it, and know it works. If anything, I'd say the piece showed me that I am not alone in the style, of developing new and innovative ways to do things that otherwise might not have been seen prior. It did, in that respect, persuade me to the idea that I'm not alone in this, and that it's actually a valid style. Even if it's a decade or more behind, and still largely unaccepted.
I disagree with you that this learning method is only for higher education. there are elementary and high school out there that are getting into these new learning methods. I think schools and people in general has to change with the times. this is the time of computers and technology.
DeleteChei I totally agree with you. My youngest son attends online school where computers are obviously used all day everyday. They are used from seeing the assignments to watching the lesson plans and even interacting with the teacher in live chat streams to receive help on an assignment. My oldest son is in middle school as was assigned his own individual laptop to do his power points and take notes in class. My oldest uses an online portal just like we do to access class assignments and lesson plans. So I am positively sure that this is being used in more than just higher learning environments.
DeleteI'll respect your opinion, Chei, even if we do have the disagreement. Early education is still a highly contentious area, with many experts weighing in on their own ideas on how the process can be done as well as should be done. When it comes to early education, elementary up through high school, I believe that over indulgence of technology can draw kids away from learning what they need to be learning at that time. Give kids ipads, and they may have a new and innovative way to do their homework, participate in class, and the school may feel better overall, but that same technology could be used for everything but those things. Until we see the results of the various trial runs going on across the country, I'm apt to stick to my opinion on this one, if only due to my personal experiences with technology.
DeleteI thought the essay was interesting. The author to me is credible due to the fact that she seems to know a lot about computer learning and she was involved in many introductions of these technology use in classroom. I think that the author is not talking about multitasking but her main point is the use of technology like the Ipod in a classroom. She got her point across through the use of logic, explanation and information on how learning or teaching over the internet is different from the traditional teaching or learning methods. The author's audiences are "new time" teachers and students. The essay ultimately persuaded me in terms of learning over the internet is easier and we learn more. Information that use to take us days to find, or effort to find, like going to the library, only takes a few clicks of a button on the internet. The essay was a fun read, but i believe that the author was just trying to share her experience in teaching a class on the internet.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the author got her valid points across the table and her purpose for this essay was not about multitasking but about learning methods. I can also say this was an easy read and enjoyed the point of view you had with this essay.
DeleteI agree with your comment earlier Chai. I think this type of learning is even more important in early education. Children seem to take in more information when they are not concentrating on just one objective. I think the earlier they start using the newest technology, the more they will benefit from it.
DeleteChei,
DeleteI agree that this essay was a fun read and I also agree with you about her just wanting to share her experience in teaching a class with internet and more technology. Students today are so advanced in the digital age that it is second nature. I was not raised with this much technology. My families first computer came along in 1979 with a TSR-80 from Radio Shack. I remember when we unpacked it and we thought we were just the coolest. Back then we were the coolest, no one else we knew had one yet. It was all still knew not only for us as a family, but also for the creators of the "home" computer. What an interesting time we live in where technology is advancing so fast.
I like your point about learning by way of the internet. The web is resourceful, informational, and very much accessible. The internet gives us the capability to have a mass amounts of information and knowledge at the simple push of a button. Using these technologies to our advantage seems to be the logical thing to do.
DeleteThis eassay was very well written and easy to follow. I agreed with the part when the author was talking about multitasking and how only one task gets your full attention. The untraditional way of teaching is exciting and new, and no, I don't mean like the Love Boat. I do not agree fully with the peer review as far as grading. I am opposite of what the author says about letting students determine what student grades should be on blogs. We are all learning. I know myself that I do not have the knowledge or the education degree to decide on a professional level if something is worthy of a certain grade. I do know what I think is good, but I would not feel comfortable grading another students paper. I was really impressed with the new way of teaching and enjoyed the article, but was not persuaded completely that is the right direction to go. Exploring new worlds of teaching is great and I appreciate the authors efforts and insight.
ReplyDeleteI do kind of agree with your point about letting the students grade each other. It would really depend on the course and what that class is about. I feel like in this situation the peer review would work, but say your in a history class which grading papers would require more expertise it might not work so well. I just don't feel like peer review would work in every situation.
DeleteI agree 100 percent with your views on letting peers grade blogs and papers. I think the biggest challenge would be to actually get classmates to give each other a bad grade when it is deserved. You make a valid point about the educational factor of peer grading, and I also can see classmates giving a constant break to other classmates, because they see them as friends or equals in the class room. I also enjoyed the ideas of new ways to teach, but I say leave the actual grading to the insructors.
DeleteNickie, I completly agree about the peer riview and the students giving out the grades. Although it is helpful, I don't agree that we, as students, have enough knowledge to be able to give another person a grade.
DeleteI really liked the essay. Coming from a generation that was immersed in the digital age, it was very easy to connect with this essay. I enjoyed how they gave the I-Pods to only some of the students at first and then added the other the students after they complained. It made me think of my kids. It was interesting to see how she started to integrate blogging into the class. I also found it impressive that the blogging was written better than the term papers. It really showed when students were just conversing with each other there wasn't so much fluff being added to their writing. I completely agreed with this. Since this was a professor at a very prestigious University it was very easy to see the credibility she had. It also helped that she was the professor of the class. I believe that the purpose not only to inform about her way of teaching an internet based class but also to show people who still have quite joined the internet age that technology isn't to be feared or looked down upon. As you can see I believe her audience was meant to be both those looking for this type of class and people who need convincing about this topic. I felt that this essay just persuaded me further to believe in the use of technology in today's school environment.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Holly that is interesting to kind of picture the learning techniques that may be in the future.
DeleteHolly,
DeleteI liked as well, how the students blogging was better writen than structured style papers. I think this is because blogging has more freedom where structured papers have certain things needing to be addressed and discussed. There is less room for freedom writing.
Holly, I agree that it was surprising the students did a better job at blogging than with the structured papers. Like Nickie said, it might have been because there is more freedom in blogging.
DeleteThe essay was appealing to me because it involves a study for education. This essay is credible due to the experiment conducted by Duke University. This day in age everything revolves around technology and the explanations given about different learning methods using technology for education is what made this more interesting because a lot of people can relate to educating using technology. One specific audience I felt was addressed was for educators. I didn’t feel the author persuaded her experiment to convince her audience that technology and education is the next big thing, but I did think she had valid information.
ReplyDeleteI agree that her persuasion was not overly strong. It's a new thought, and one that is often fought against by those that have been in the field for some time, as she states in her article. However, with enough time, I believe numbers will be the persuading factor, not words.
DeleteCrystal,
DeleteI agree that the author did not persuaded her audience, becuase I was not throughly convinced either. I do think that outside the box type of education keeps students interested and excited about school and learning, but the use of an electronic device that is not a computer is a bit of a stretch.
Crystal, I agree with you that the explenations given about using technology as various new methods of learning made the essay very interesting. I also belive that the author didn't really try to persuade us, as the readers, at all.
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