Blog #24

Technologies In The Classroom

Gigi Elshiekh

Kean University

Abstract

In the following paper I will be discussing and showing why technologies should no longer be

seen as having a negative impact in the classroom. There are many positives into incorporating

them into the classroom and they should be acknowledged and took into consideration for

both the present and future teachers. Throughout the paper the positives and negatives will be

discussed about regarding integrating technologies into the classroom.

Introduction

Technologies are increasing practically by the second; incorporating these new technologies in

the classroom would definitely benefit not only the students but the teachers as well. Although

new ways to discover technologies are being discovered everyday, teachers who begin to

incorporate these new technology findings are finding that the students are enjoying and learning

more with the technology uses. So many people, especially teachers, believe that techonology

use should not be present in the classroom at all and this opinion should be given a second look.

The real question is: should phone technologies be used in a classroom and if so when and how?

In this essay I will state the reasons why phone technologies should be incorporated into the

classrooms.

Literature Review (Article)

There are some valid points in regards to this topic in the article titled “Texting and Writing” by

Michaela Cullington. The article questions whether texting in is affecting student’s writing in a

negative way. Cullington mentions, “Teens enjoy texting, and if they frequently write through

texts, they will be more motivated to write formally. Texting also helps to sparks students’

creativity because they are always coming up with new ways to express their ideas (417).”

(Cullington, 2009) She is basically trying to say that letting teens use texting in the classrooms

can help with originality. If the students are working with something that interests them they are

obviously going to want to learn and succeed more than if they were not interested in the subject.

Cullington also states, “.. students so not believe text speak is appropriate in formal writing

assignments. They recognize the difference between texting friends and writing formally and

know what is appropriate in each situation.” Cullington further explains that all of the research

on the subject matter proves that the students do not take advantage and between being taught

and reminded they know how to write proper for a academic paper. If texting is effecting

students writings in any way it is positive. It allows the students to be creative and give them an

upper boost rather than negatively affecting them.

Another article that I came across thing in regards to incorporating technology in the classroom

was an article, “Study Finds Benefits in Use of iPad as an Educational Tool” by Kelly Walsh.

This article includes a study that took place at Longfield Academy in 2012, where a large-scale

1 to 1 ratio iPad program was implemented in 2011. At Longfield they try their best to provide

their students with the best education and learning experience they could offer by incorporating a

high level of technology integration into the curriculum.

After the study was conducted, which included over 800 students, the findings were as follows:

▪ 77% of faculty respondents felt that student achievement appeared to have risen since the

introduction of the iPad

▪ 73% of students and 67% of staff felt that the iPad helped students improve the quality of their

work

▪ 69% of students that completed the survey felt that using the iPad was motivating and that they

worked better with it than without it

▪ 60% of faculty thought that students were more motivated by lessons that incorporate the iPad

than those that did not (Walsh, 2012)

This study, along with many others, help to prove that iPads and tablets in the classroom can not

only help the students improve their work but also help them succeed while enjoying what they

are learning in the classrooms. Many teachers in todays society like to stick to their old ways of

teaching but integrating technologies can not only benefit the students but it can also benefit the

teachers such as helping with classroom management.

Whenever I substitute in a classroom that has iPads it always becomes apparent to me that I

could use them as a source of reinforcement and punishment. For example, if a student does well

and finishes his or her work on time then they could be rewarded with playing an educational

game on the iPad. Not only can the iPad be used for educational games but also there are many

apps that allow teachers to create and base whole lessons on them. Furthermore, an iPad is just

the beginning for technologies used in the classrooms. Other technologies such as Smart boards,

laptops, mp3’s etc. can also be used to help engage students into a lesson.

Methods

An audio-recorded interview was conducted to collect the data for this interview. The subject,

who will be referred to E throughout the paper, is a professor at Kean University. This professor

was chosen because she is all for incorporating technology in the classroom. She is E was very

appropriate to interview because of her obvious knowledge about the subject at hand. E is a

college professor for both undergraduate and graduate students. She teaches at Kean and Rutgers

University to both virtual and live students, all of these credentials made her an obvious fit for

the interviewee.

The interview was conducted in the contentment of E’s office at Kean University. She was very

open and cooperative to everything being asked. My cell phone was used for the recording of

the interview. The entire interview lasted a total of 22 minutes and helped me become a lot more

knowledgeable and set on the focus of the paper.

Data Analysis

E states that when students are being rude and using their phone for social media or

communicating with friends it is obvious that it is the wrong time to be on a cellphone, however

E also states that when using an iPad, phone or computer to take notes or look something up it

should be more than acceptable. Basically finding the middle/gray area and not taking advantage

is the main conflict. Throughout the next few pages, I will be including some excerpts from the

interview with E. I will explain each interpret and explain each excerpt in order of how it was

said in the interview.

In the first excerpt E is asked if the students in her classes ever used texting lingos in face to face

interaction or in their papers.

A.

G: well you can begin, do you think terms of texting are used in common speech or in your

students papers or anything

E: umm you know what, umm okay so I teach here at Kean and I have taught English 2020

which is writing, I am now teaching 3090 which is business and professional writing and I have

taught uhh writing for cyberspace which is 3080 and I have also for the past 8 semesters taught

graduate students online at Rutgers, um in a web base multi media for a design course and they

all have to uhh give me papers that are formatted appropriately depending you know if its APA

or MLA and in terms of things they are submitting, the kids that I see face to face are obviously

not having the same discussions that my online students are having, and my online students are

grad students but that does not necessarily mean that the content is any less you know. I mean

they can very easily you know start talking to each other the way that you know maybe my

undergrad students would

G: yeah that’s understandable

E: so you know ill say that probably, and I even have a habit of, ill throw in smiley faces at the

end of my emails, sometimes ill question whether or not its appropriate but I want to come off

as being nice or friendly so ill use them. That’s something that you know prior to texting I never

would have been doing. Um my students in papers and things like that I do see it, you know they

are not spelling later, l8r you know that’s not like, I don’t, I have not seen where its transcended

the boundary between the screen and you know papers that they submit to me in person. But I

hear it’s a problem but I’ve yet to see it. Maybe its because I don’t have comp and maybe you

know in comp they switch but I don’t know

G: yeah you didn’t experience it

E: yeah no, definitely not

Many of the critics believe that texting introduced students to be illiterate and use their

abbreviations in the classroom; E states that she never experienced such a thing. Most students

know that she should spell out “what” rather than write “wut” in their papers. E also states that

occasionally she will throw in a smiley face and question if that is appropriate which also made

me question it too. However, after I thought about it, if a professor or teacher wants to throw in a

smiley face to express her kindness in her pedagogy then what is the big deal? In today’s society

a smiley face could be looked at as unprofessional but it could also be looked at as just being

friendly too.

In excerpt “B” E states that all students will have access to technology and experience with

different software. Although it is positive it can result in being complicated. If the students have

a difficult time with finding access to things such as affording an iPad or tablet and not having

one provided by the school, this could be problematic for a teacher that is trying to incorporate

the use of technology into the classroom.

B.

G: so you would never want your students to use their phones for note taking or

E: see that’s an entirely different thing, im actually um cause I study, my big thing is uhh, my

dissertation is going to be on video games and learning in the classroom and I am very much into

technology and teaching teachers how to use technology effectively. Specifically um a big thing

that has come out now besides like ipad apps is such is like twitter and things like that which is

obviously ya know a prevalent phone usage and uh things things that you can do on the phone

and you know the whole BYOD or bring your own device movement would not be happening

if students didn’t have cell phones. Because they may not have Internet or word or access to

something in the classroom like one to one initiative or at home but a lot of them tend to have

top of the line smart phones. So, that said I am a huge advocate of using the cellphone in class

when appropriate, I have not used it as much because believe it or not I have gotten some push

back from my students. Um the first class that I taught um last spring with uh what’s it called,

cyberspace. They said to me that they hated Facebook, they hated twitter and the only thing that

they liked was Instagram and they.

Access and not liking it

In the above excerpt E mentions something about BYOD or bring your own device. Prior to

starting this study I had never even heard of such a thing, however, being introduced to it was

interesting. If more teachers started a BYOD movement for students this could definitely be

a positive thing to bring into the classroom. Many teachers find it hard to start something like

BYOD for a fear that the students may not have access to devices except these accusations are

being proved false.

In a study conducted my the Pew Research Center, it was found that 78% of Americans age 12 to

17 have cell phones and three fourths of teems have access to Internet using mobile devices such

as smart phones and tablets. (Hammond, 2013) As for college students it is said that the average

college student owns an average of 7 tech devices. Averaging from age 18 to 34 the percent are

as follows: laptops- 85%, smart phones- 70%, tablets- 36%, cell phones- 33%, the other devices

included but are not limited to video/voice recorders, e-readers, MP3/iPods, digital cameras, etc.

(MarketingCharts Staff, 2013)

Furthermore the students are keeping up and purchasing these devices so incorporating into the

classrooms and making them receive all the benefits of them would not be such a bad thing. As

for the students whom are in the percentage that do not have the devices, the school district and

universities should give them access to them by either renting or borrowing them.

In excerpt C E states that using devices for notetaking is completely acceptable in her eyes.

Using different devices such as a laptop, ipad/tablet, or even a phone can be helpful and useful

for students in this century. Although many teachers could believe the students are being

disrespectful, they could be quickly assured after seeing the little yellow notepad.

C.

G:laughs yes umm so for the future you would say that it is a good thing to start texting in the

classroom, like note taking wise using phones and everything….

…….

E: laughs yeah but I will say that as far as note taking goes, ive done it. When I was still taking

classes for um my phd like back in uh I started back in 2009 and I remembered thinking and

sitting in the classroom and now I have an ipad and we haven’t had stuff like that before and um

I would carry my laptop, most of the times I carry my laptop now. Now I have a mac so that’s

lighter than the laptop, the ipad is lighter than all of that but I had you know my 3g iphone and

I would take notes and I was always thinking to myself, the professors are going to think I’m

texting. And I would purposely put it down so they could see the little yellow notepad because I

did not want them to think I was being disrespectful. Because I know that if I was the professor,

and this is before I was even teaching face to face, I would not want them thinking that I was

being disrespectful basically. So if my students were texting, you know sometimes I will give

them looks and they will be like no its notes see, and they will show me and I’m like okay I

didn’t say anything but the fact that they are on top of that to me says okay I know that you are

not like texting under your desk or whatever, so I am not against it because I am a tech advocate

and that is not going to change I don’t think. Um I don’t know I just kind of found the fact that

you were talking specifically about note taking interesting. I’m like I’m wondering how did that

come about.

Above E refers to herself as a “tech advocate”; l if more teachers became tech advocates or

supporters of using technology in the classroom this could definitely have a good impact

on students. It is proven that students get more interested in class and the in turn are more

successful. In one of the articles mentioned above Doug Valentine says, “Technology does not

teach students, effective teachers do.” Which is correct. However, if students can get drawn into

a lesson by the teachers incorporating the use of an iPad or tablet into it, it will make it that much

better.

In the following excerpt E discusses her both her and her bosses’ view on technology in the

classroom. E expresses how they both feel very strongly about having teachers use technology in

the classrooms.

D.

G: do you think she(referring to her boss at Kean University) feels the same way about texting in

the classroom or like how students use their phones in the classrooms

E: M got really into electronic literature; she actually taught e lit like I think it was a year ago.

Um about the same time we started working together, she realized what um what I taught and

um how much I believe in the idea of um teachers using technology and using it in the classroom

and everything else and we sort of both got into it from you know at the same exact times. She’s

more of the humanities section cause she is the digital humanities because her background is

English, mines education but I was a dual English education here so its part of my background

and you know, English is just natural and I’m around it a lot. But basically so were both into

it but from slightly different aspects. That being said, she did electronic literature and she is

obsessed with using the phone in the classroom because she would have authors come in.. she

would have them tweet conversations and you know like put it up on the board and they would

all tweet about readings and then she would try and find the authors of the people that were um

writing some of the articles so the students could ask questions directly to them, which I thought

was really cool thing, so she is gong ho about it too.

In the above excerpt E explains how her boss, M, uses technology in the classroom. I never heard

of having students tweeting to authors and found that to be an amazing idea. Having the students

communicate to educational and academic people rather than just their favorite celebrity was an

interesting twist to be introduced to and learn about.

In excerpt “E” E continues to explain and discuss what back channeling is and how her boss, M,

uses it in a classroom.

E.

G: is that the back splash or is that something different

E: um I don’t know how she did it, I mean like I know there is like back channeling and there is

tweet chat and there are different ways of like maintaining a conversation using like a hashtag

that you know so that way you don’t have to disseminate like 50 thousand conversations for

you to follow but um I don’t know exactly what she used I just know that she jumped into it the

second she realized like just how cool technology was and I’m just like hey there is someone else

who likes this as much as I do, so her yes, I don’t know about other people in the department.

Looking back at this excerpt and remembering how excited E was to talk about technology in the

classroom got me excited to. It made me really want to get this information out to present and

future teachers. Incorporating technology not just for the sack of using an iPad or iPhone for note

taking but having the students make conversations through hash tagging topics on Twitter is an

awesome way to incorporate technology into the classroom.

 In excerpt “F” E is asked if texting is taking over today’s society and generation. Although she

does feel that it is somewhat taking over, she discusses bringing it into today’s society as a good

thing and sees the positives in technology rather than seeing it as a negative.

F.

G: laughs.. um basically, last question do you feel texting is taking over todays generation

E: um I definitely think that it is becoming like I don’t know, a lot of times people say social

networking and you know where is the social part, because we are all like these isolated beings

that are sitting in our houses talking to each other through texts and were meeting people online

and you know were not, are we going out together, are we doing things together, I think that its

definitely helping I would say people because I honestly am not one of those people, I may come

off as like really outgoing and stuff like that but the whole idea of meeting people and making

friendships and stuff, ill start talking to you if you know you talk to me first but I would say its

much easier for me to get to know someone through like reading them almost, and I would say

the more uhh high school students and the more that it is used at the earlier grades like the more

it is going to sort of take over but I know there is going to be a back lash by people who just

don’t understand and I think that is kind of the way everything goes in general and in history

and you know people who are just against certain things, and people having rights and things

like that, there is always going to be people who are old school about things and that’s going to

set into motion sort of things. I think that what it is is that we really need to teach media literacy

and being savvy and knowing when it is appropriate to use these things and you know sort of

setting these guidelines. Part of it is parents saying no phone usage or no whatever and part of it

is teachers saying it is okay to use it here and when/ if whatever.

G: so appropriate use basically

E: yes exactly, it needs to be, and it needs to be outlined and discussed more its never really

talked about and I don’t think it is. I think it is more like no phones are bad, texts are bad. Or

yeah I’m really into the idea of it. But you know that is not going to work, it needs to be more

gray

G: yes right now it is black or white.

E: yes exactly

As mentioned above, finding the appropriateness and the time and place for incorporating

technology into the classroom should be considered with teachers and professors. Being savvy

should be a necessity for present and future teachers. When teachers know how to incorporate

technology into a lesson not only to make it fun for the students but also to help them learn and

interpret knowledge more efficiently it can result in success all around.

Conclusion, Results, & Limitations

Overall integrating technology into the classroom would have huge benefits for the students

and teachers. Not only will it keep the students learning and wanting more but also it will allow

them to enjoy and have fun while learning which is very important for students. Throughout

the excerpts and the articles discussed in the Literature Review it is apparent that there are

many positive aspects when it comes to integrating technology into a classroom whether it be

kindergarten or college level. The teachers and professors should be equipped to help their

students by being tech savvy or “tech advocates” as E refers to it. The one major limitation is

teachers need to become more confident in teaching with incorporating technology. Below is a

graphic found about teachers and their confidence in teaching technology.

Throughout the excerpts and the articles discussed in the Literature Review it is apparent that

there are many positive aspects when it comes to integrating technology into a classroom

whether it be kindergarten or college level. The teachers and professors should be equipped to

help their students by being tech savvy or “tech advocates” as E refers to it. The one major

limitation is teachers need to become more confident in teaching with incorporating technology.

Below is a graphic found about teachers and their confidence in teaching technology.

**Image**

The figure above is so accurate when it comes to teaching technology in the classroom. Teachers

start off being timid and afraid to experiment. However, as they build their confidence and

practice more and more by incorporating it slowly into their lessons, it eventually becomes like

second nature to them.

Teachers and professors who are not confident in what they do will not succedd in doing

that task. If the schools and universities gave the teachers and professors unlimited access

to technology workshops and meetings, it could have a great impact for their students.

Incorporating technology into the classroom to a point where it becomes like second nature for

the teachers and students can tremendously benefit them.

In conclusion, in order to keep up with the rapid changes in technology, it is imperative for

teachers and students to start incorporating it into the classroom. Although some critics will say

that technology has no place in the classroom, they should be able to find an in between and

a middle to integrate it into the classrooms. When students are learning and having fun they

are taking in the information much better than if they are just sitting there bored; incorporating

technology will definitely bring joy to many students. Like Scott MeLeod says, “Places that

are really innovative have a spirit of play. Learning is supposed to be joyful.” And bringing in

technologies into the classroom can definitely bring joy to the students when learning.

References

"College Students Own an Average of 7 Tech Devices." MarketingCharts. N.p., n.d. Web. 28

Apr. 2014. <http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/online/college-students-own-an-average-of-7-

tech-devices-30430/>.

Cullington, Michaela . "Texting and Writing." Spotlight of First-Year Writing 1 (2009): 90-95.

Print.

Hammond, Betsy . "Nearly 80 percent of teens have cell phones; more likely than adults to use

mobile Internet." OregonLive.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. <http://www.oregonlive.com/

education/index.ssf/2013/03/nearly_80_percent_of_teens_hav.html>.

Walsh , Kelly . "Study Finds Benefits in Use of iPad as an Educational Tool." Emerging

Education Technology RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. <http://www.emergingedtech.com/

2012/07/study-finds-benefits-in-use-of-ipad-as-educational-tool/>.

Blog #23

Conclusion Draft:

In order to keep up with the rapid changes in technology, it is imperative for teachers and students to start incorporating it into the classroom. Although some critics will say that technology has no place in the classroom, they should be able to find an in between and a middle.


** I feel that it will be easier to get a conclusion done once my draft is complete. I have been working on it and finding more data about the benefits of technology in the classroom. I will be posting the draft by the end of the weekend.

I found this visual and just wanted to confirm I could use it. I think it goes amazing with my focus.

Blog #22

I've had the same progress but I will be working on it and finishing up my draft hopefully by Wedensday night so you can review it and give me feedback before I finalize my first rough draft.

Blog #21

Gigi Elshiekh

Rough Draft

Phone technologies in the classroom 

Introduction

Phone technologies are increasing practically by the second; incorporating these new technologies in the classroom would definitely benefit not only the students but the teachers as well. Although new ways to discover technologies are being discovered everyday, teachers who begin to incorporate these new technology findings are finding that the students are enjoying and learning more with the technology uses. So many people, especially teachers, believe that phone use should not be present in the classroom at all and this opinion should be given a second look. The real question is: should phone technologies be used in a classroom and if so when and how? In this essay I will state the reasons why phone technologies should be incorporated into the classrooms. 

Literature Review (Article)

Methods

The subject of my study is a professor at Kean University. This professor was chosen because she is all for incorporating technology in the classroom. 

Blog #20

Blog 20:  Post a statement of the focus for your essay (what you hope to show) followed by sections of your data + your analysis where you make a series of points related to that focus.  If you aren't sure what to post => just post a statement of what you want to show and sections of data which you think show or are related to your focus.  In class, we will help you strengthen and develop your "evidence" based on your data.

Focus: Can incorporating phone technologies in the classroom be beneficial to the students and teachers?

Sections/Outline for Draft:
1. Introduction 
2. State about E and why she was a perfect candidate 
3. Explain E's excerpts 
4. Discuss Article about texting and papers
5. Discuss ways and times teachers can appropriately incoporate phone technologies and why it is beneficial for the students and teachers 
6. Conclude with overview of facts mentioned throughout 

**I pretty much have it outlined as to what I want to discuss, please let me know if I am on the right track, thank you! 

Blog #19

Blog 19: post drafty writing for your introduction (the more writing you post, the more feedback I can offer)

Focus: How incorporating phone technologies into the classroom can benefit students and teachers

Draft Introduction:

Phone technologies are increasing practically by the second, incorporating these new technologies in the classroom would definitely benefit not only the students but the teachers as well. Although new ways to discover technologies are being discovered everyday, teachers who begin to incorporate are finding that the students are enjoying and learning more with the technology uses. So many people, especially teachers, believe that phone use should not be present in the classroom at all and this opinion should be given a second look. In this essay I will state the reasons why phone technologies should be incorporated into the classrooms. 

Blog #18

Establish E’s authority as an appropriate person to interview

State E’s positions regarding the appropriateness (or not) of phone technology in the classroom

Identify E’s reasons for the above positions

Give examples of what she sees as good use-“bad” use of phone technologies in the classroom

E was appropriate to interview because of her obvious knowledge about the subject at hand. Originally The subject had something to do with texting in the classroom and E is a college professor for both undergraduate and graduate students. She teaches at Kean and Rutgers University to both virtual and live students, all of these credentials made her an obvious fit for the interviewee. 

E seems like she is pretty set on incorporating phone technology (when appropriate) in the classroom. 

She discusses something called BYOD (bring your own device) and says how classrooms should be incorporating phone technology. 

Now a days everything is getting off the paper and right onto the computers, ipads and tablets, so why not do the same thing in the classrooms? Making students tech savy will definitely be benefiting, but finding the middle and not always allowing them to do everything on the tablets is also a big plus too! 

E states that when students are being rude and using their phone for social media or communicating with friends it is obvious that it is the wrong time to be on a cellphone, however E also states that when using an ipad, phone or computer to take notes or look something up it should be more than acceptable. Basically finding the middle/gray area and not taking advantage is the main conflict.  

A. 
G: so you would never want your students to use their phones for note taking or
E: see that’s an entirely different thing, im actually um cause I study, my big thing is uhh, my dissertation is going to be on video games and learning in the classroom and I am very much into technology and teaching teachers how to use technology effectively. Specifically um a big thing that has come out now besides like ipad apps is such is like twitter and things like that which is obviously ya know a prevalent phone usage and uh things things that you can do on the phone and you know the whole BYOD or bring your own device movement would not be happening if students didn’t have cell phones. Because they may not have internet or word or access to something in the classroom like one to one initiative  or at home but a lot of them tend to have top of the line smart phones. So, that said I am a huge advocate of using the cellphone in class when appropriate, I have not used it as much because believe it or not I have gotten some push back from my students. Um the first class that I taught um last spring with uh whats it called, cyberspace. They said to me that they hated facebook, they hated twitter and the only thing that they liked was instagram and they..

B.

G: um I don’t know im going off on a tangent and then going to do some analysis and then decide

E: yeah that’s okay that is usually how research starts I was thinking to myself on the way here im not really exactly sure what direction she is going in but I know ill give her enough to think about lots of different things

G: laughs

E: laughs yeah but I will say that as far as notetaking goes, ive done it. When I was still taking classes for um my phd like back in uh I started back in 2009 and I remembered thinking and sitting in the classroom and now I have an ipad and we haven’t had stuff like that before and um I would carry my laptop, most of the times I carry my laptop now. Now I have a mac so that’s lighter than the laptop, the ipad is lighter than all of that but I had you know my 3g iphone and I would take notes and I was always thinking to myself, the professors are going to think im texting. And I would purposely put it down so they could see the little yellow notepad because I did not want them to think I was being disrespectful. Because I know that if I was the professor, and this is before I was even teaching face to face, I would not them thinking that I was being disrespectful beasically. So if my students were taking, you know sometimes I will give them looks and they will be like no its notes see, and they will show me and im like okay I didn’t say anything but the fact that they are on top of that to me says okay I know that you are not like texting under your desk or whatever, so I am not against it because I am a tech advocate and that is not going to change I don’t think. Um I don’t know I just kind of found the fact that you were talking specifically about notetaking interesting. Im like im wondering how did that come about.

C.

E: see that’s an entirely different thing, im actually um cause I study, my big thing is uhh, my dissertation is going to be on video games and learning in the classroom and I am very much into technology and teaching teachers how to use technology effectively. Specifically um a big thing that has come out now besides like ipad apps is such is like twitter and things like that which is obviously ya know a prevalent phone usage and uh things things that you can do on the phone and you know the whole BYOD or bring your own device movement would not be happening if students didn’t have cell phones. Because they may not have internet or word or access to something in the classroom like one to one initiative  or at home but a lot of them tend to have top of the line smart phones. So, that said I am a huge advocate of using the cellphone in class when appropriate, I have not used it as much because believe it or not I have gotten some push back from my students. Um the first class that I taught um last spring with uh whats it called, cyberspace. They said to me that they hated facebook, they hated twitter and the only thing that they liked was instagram and they..

G: that is the new thing

E: yeah that is like the one thing that I don’t really get into, my sister is into it, I have friends that are really into it but that is the one thing that I just never got into. So basically the whole thing with like having um I was very surprised that my students were you know like anti social networking, using their phone, that sort of thing because they were more concerned with you know um maybe instagram or whatever else. When I tried to get them to use twitter in the classroom they were kind of like complaining to me about it and im like really like this is that horrible. Some of them understood but others were just like no. sorry I kinda went off

D.

E: laughs yeah but I will say that as far as notetaking goes, ive done it. When I was still taking classes for um my phd like back in uh I started back in 2009 and I remembered thinking and sitting in the classroom and now I have an ipad and we haven’t had stuff like that before and um I would carry my laptop, most of the times I carry my laptop now. Now I have a mac so that’s lighter than the laptop, the ipad is lighter than all of that but I had you know my 3g iphone and I would take notes and I was always thinking to myself, the professors are going to think im texting. And I would purposely put it down so they could see the little yellow notepad because I did not want them to think I was being disrespectful. Because I know that if I was the professor, and this is before I was even teaching face to face, I would not them thinking that I was being disrespectful beasically. So if my students were taking, you know sometimes I will give them looks and they will be like no its notes see, and they will show me and im like okay I didn’t say anything but the fact that they are on top of that to me says okay I know that you are not like texting under your desk or whatever, so I am not against it because I am a tech advocate and that is not going to change I don’t think. Um I don’t know I just kind of found the fact that you were talking specifically about notetaking interesting. Im like im wondering how did that come about.

E. 

G: do you think she feels the same way about texting in the classroom or like how students use their phones in the classrooms

E: mia got really into electronic literature, she actually taught e lit like I think it was a yar ago. Um about the same time we started working together, she realized what um what I taught and um how much I believe in the idea of um teachers using technology and using it in the classroom and everything else and we sort of both got into it from you know at the same exact times. She’s more of the humanities section cause she is the digital humanities because her background is English, mines education but I was a dual English education here so its part of my background and you know, English is just natural and im around it a lot. But basically so were both into it but from slightly different aspects. That being said, she did electronic literature and she is obsessed with using the phone in the classroom because she would have authors come in.. she would have them tweet conversations and you know like put it up on the board and they would all tweet about readings and then she would try and find the authors of the people that were um writing some of the articles so the students could ask questions directly to them, which I thought was really cool thing, so she is gong ho about it too.

F. 

G: is that the back splash or is that something different

E: um I don’t know how she did it, I mean like I know there is like back channeling and there is tweet chat and there are different ways of like maintaining a conversation using like a hashtag that you know so that way you don’t have to disseminate like 50 thousand conersations for you to follow but um I don’t know exactly what she used I just know that she jumped into it the second she realized like just how cool techonolgoy was and im just like hey there is someone else who likes this as much as I do, so her yes, I don’t know about other people in the department.

G.

G: laughs.. um basically, last question do you feel texting is taking over todays generation

E: um I definitely think that it is becoming like I don’t know, a lot of times people say social networking and you know where is the social part, because we are all like these isolated beings that are sitting in our houses talking to each other through texts and were meeting people online and you know were not, are we going out together, are we doing things together, I think that its definitely helping I would say people because I honestly am not one of those people, I may come off as like really outgoing and stuff like that but the whole idea of meeting people and making friendships and stuff, ill start talking to you if you know you talk to me first but I would say its much easier for me to get to know someone through like reading them almost, and I would say the more uhh high school students and the more that it is used at the earlier grades like the more it is going to sort of take over but I know there is going to be a back lash by people who just don’t understand and I think that is kind of the way everything goes in general and in history and you know people who are just against certain things, and people having rights and things like that, there is always going to be people who are old school about things and that’s going to set into motion sort of things. I think that what it is is that we really need to teach media literacy and being savvy  and knowing when it is appropriate to use these things and you know sort of setting these guidelines. Part of it is parents saying no phone usage or no whatever and part of it is teachers saying it is okay to use it here and when/ if whatever.

G: so appropriate use basically

E: yes exactly, it needs to be, and it needs to be outlined and discussed more its never really talked about and I don’t think it is. I think it is more like no phones are bad, texts are bad. Or yeah im really into the idea of it. But you know that is not going to work, it needs to be more gray

G: yes right now it is black or white.

E: yes exactly

Blog #17

A. 
G: so you would never want your students to use their phones for note taking or
E: see that’s an entirely different thing, im actually um cause I study, my big thing is uhh, my dissertation is going to be on video games and learning in the classroom and I am very much into technology and teaching teachers how to use technology effectively. Specifically um a big thing that has come out now besides like ipad apps is such is like twitter and things like that which is obviously ya know a prevalent phone usage and uh things things that you can do on the phone and you know the whole BYOD or bring your own device movement would not be happening if students didn’t have cell phones. Because they may not have internet or word or access to something in the classroom like one to one initiative  or at home but a lot of them tend to have top of the line smart phones. So, that said I am a huge advocate of using the cellphone in class when appropriate, I have not used it as much because believe it or not I have gotten some push back from my students. Um the first class that I taught um last spring with uh whats it called, cyberspace. They said to me that they hated facebook, they hated twitter and the only thing that they liked was instagram and they..

B.

G: um I don’t know im going off on a tangent and then going to do some analysis and then decide

E: yeah that’s okay that is usually how research starts I was thinking to myself on the way here im not really exactly sure what direction she is going in but I know ill give her enough to think about lots of different things

G: laughs

E: laughs yeah but I will say that as far as notetaking goes, ive done it. When I was still taking classes for um my phd like back in uh I started back in 2009 and I remembered thinking and sitting in the classroom and now I have an ipad and we haven’t had stuff like that before and um I would carry my laptop, most of the times I carry my laptop now. Now I have a mac so that’s lighter than the laptop, the ipad is lighter than all of that but I had you know my 3g iphone and I would take notes and I was always thinking to myself, the professors are going to think im texting. And I would purposely put it down so they could see the little yellow notepad because I did not want them to think I was being disrespectful. Because I know that if I was the professor, and this is before I was even teaching face to face, I would not them thinking that I was being disrespectful beasically. So if my students were taking, you know sometimes I will give them looks and they will be like no its notes see, and they will show me and im like okay I didn’t say anything but the fact that they are on top of that to me says okay I know that you are not like texting under your desk or whatever, so I am not against it because I am a tech advocate and that is not going to change I don’t think. Um I don’t know I just kind of found the fact that you were talking specifically about notetaking interesting. Im like im wondering how did that come about.

C.

E: see that’s an entirely different thing, im actually um cause I study, my big thing is uhh, my dissertation is going to be on video games and learning in the classroom and I am very much into technology and teaching teachers how to use technology effectively. Specifically um a big thing that has come out now besides like ipad apps is such is like twitter and things like that which is obviously ya know a prevalent phone usage and uh things things that you can do on the phone and you know the whole BYOD or bring your own device movement would not be happening if students didn’t have cell phones. Because they may not have internet or word or access to something in the classroom like one to one initiative  or at home but a lot of them tend to have top of the line smart phones. So, that said I am a huge advocate of using the cellphone in class when appropriate, I have not used it as much because believe it or not I have gotten some push back from my students. Um the first class that I taught um last spring with uh whats it called, cyberspace. They said to me that they hated facebook, they hated twitter and the only thing that they liked was instagram and they..

G: that is the new thing

E: yeah that is like the one thing that I don’t really get into, my sister is into it, I have friends that are really into it but that is the one thing that I just never got into. So basically the whole thing with like having um I was very surprised that my students were you know like anti social networking, using their phone, that sort of thing because they were more concerned with you know um maybe instagram or whatever else. When I tried to get them to use twitter in the classroom they were kind of like complaining to me about it and im like really like this is that horrible. Some of them understood but others were just like no. sorry I kinda went off

D.

E: laughs yeah but I will say that as far as notetaking goes, ive done it. When I was still taking classes for um my phd like back in uh I started back in 2009 and I remembered thinking and sitting in the classroom and now I have an ipad and we haven’t had stuff like that before and um I would carry my laptop, most of the times I carry my laptop now. Now I have a mac so that’s lighter than the laptop, the ipad is lighter than all of that but I had you know my 3g iphone and I would take notes and I was always thinking to myself, the professors are going to think im texting. And I would purposely put it down so they could see the little yellow notepad because I did not want them to think I was being disrespectful. Because I know that if I was the professor, and this is before I was even teaching face to face, I would not them thinking that I was being disrespectful beasically. So if my students were taking, you know sometimes I will give them looks and they will be like no its notes see, and they will show me and im like okay I didn’t say anything but the fact that they are on top of that to me says okay I know that you are not like texting under your desk or whatever, so I am not against it because I am a tech advocate and that is not going to change I don’t think. Um I don’t know I just kind of found the fact that you were talking specifically about notetaking interesting. Im like im wondering how did that come about.

E. 

G: do you think she feels the same way about texting in the classroom or like how students use their phones in the classrooms

E: mia got really into electronic literature, she actually taught e lit like I think it was a yar ago. Um about the same time we started working together, she realized what um what I taught and um how much I believe in the idea of um teachers using technology and using it in the classroom and everything else and we sort of both got into it from you know at the same exact times. She’s more of the humanities section cause she is the digital humanities because her background is English, mines education but I was a dual English education here so its part of my background and you know, English is just natural and im around it a lot. But basically so were both into it but from slightly different aspects. That being said, she did electronic literature and she is obsessed with using the phone in the classroom because she would have authors come in.. she would have them tweet conversations and you know like put it up on the board and they would all tweet about readings and then she would try and find the authors of the people that were um writing some of the articles so the students could ask questions directly to them, which I thought was really cool thing, so she is gong ho about it too.

F. 

G: is that the back splash or is that something different

E: um I don’t know how she did it, I mean like I know there is like back channeling and there is tweet chat and there are different ways of like maintaining a conversation using like a hashtag that you know so that way you don’t have to disseminate like 50 thousand conersations for you to follow but um I don’t know exactly what she used I just know that she jumped into it the second she realized like just how cool techonolgoy was and im just like hey there is someone else who likes this as much as I do, so her yes, I don’t know about other people in the department.

G.

G: laughs.. um basically, last question do you feel texting is taking over todays generation

E: um I definitely think that it is becoming like I don’t know, a lot of times people say social networking and you know where is the social part, because we are all like these isolated beings that are sitting in our houses talking to each other through texts and were meeting people online and you know were not, are we going out together, are we doing things together, I think that its definitely helping I would say people because I honestly am not one of those people, I may come off as like really outgoing and stuff like that but the whole idea of meeting people and making friendships and stuff, ill start talking to you if you know you talk to me first but I would say its much easier for me to get to know someone through like reading them almost, and I would say the more uhh high school students and the more that it is used at the earlier grades like the more it is going to sort of take over but I know there is going to be a back lash by people who just don’t understand and I think that is kind of the way everything goes in general and in history and you know people who are just against certain things, and people having rights and things like that, there is always going to be people who are old school about things and that’s going to set into motion sort of things. I think that what it is is that we really need to teach media literacy and being savvy  and knowing when it is appropriate to use these things and you know sort of setting these guidelines. Part of it is parents saying no phone usage or no whatever and part of it is teachers saying it is okay to use it here and when/ if whatever.

G: so appropriate use basically

E: yes exactly, it needs to be, and it needs to be outlined and discussed more its never really talked about and I don’t think it is. I think it is more like no phones are bad, texts are bad. Or yeah im really into the idea of it. But you know that is not going to work, it needs to be more gray

G: yes right now it is black or white.

E: yes exactly

Blog #16

Statement of purpose (what you hope to show/discover): devlop this in terms of your data.  Make sure you develop a purpose that your data can actually accomplish.  Whose perspective are you exploring?  What will your participants' perspectives contribute to research on your topic?  Why is that perspective important? 

Detailed statement of your research question(s): you should write questions that you can "ask" of your data.  What does the data show about. . .?  How does my participant describe. . .?  What language patterns occur when my participant talks about. . .?  What connections do I see between the way my participant talks about. . . and cultural stories/assumptions about. . .?  Where does my participant directly state here ideas about. . . ?  Where does s/he imply her ideas about . . .?  What does it mean that she is direct sometimes and indirect other times when she talks about. . .? And so on.

List of the information you need to gather: list any additional "data" you will need to complete your project (do you need to: do follow up interviews?  an observation?  look at some writing samples?  etc?)

A preliminary list of sources (if you need a research essay => let me know.  Send what you have found so far and give me a detailed idea of what you are looking for)

Discussion of any additional data you will need to collect + how you will collect it

Make people aware hat thers hould be a futre with texting in the classroom
Focus: Present and Future of texting in the classroom 

Questions: Is texting effecting the way students write papers?
Is texting in the classroom completley distracting or is it a good thing?
The process of back channeling, when it is used?
The process of having a blog or benefits of having the class to have access to online.
When and how should teachers icorporate texting and back channeling into the classroom?

I need to obtain articles about : texting in the classroom, effects of texting ( in general), benefits of blogs,  back channeling. 

* I am still honestly a little but confused and stressing over this but I will be talking to you to clear things up in class. I'm sorry about all the confusion Ive been having with this. 

Blog #15

Gigi Elshiekh

April 1, 2014

Short Analysis Draft

Texting evolving over time, should it be used in classrooms, will there be a future of texting?

            When beginning to think about how much phones have evolved it is truly amazing. Starting off with the basic flip phone that had a screen and an antenna and transforming to an iPhone and android that come standard with a 10-megapixel camera, makes one realize how far technology has come beyond the years. Back in the day, one did not dream about texting, facebooking, tweeting, or instagramming from their cellphone, let alone use it in a classroom setting. They used it for one thing and one thing only: a phone.

            From the antenna cell phones to iPhones there was instant message and emails evolved in between and many things came as a result of that. So the real question could be, does texting have or should have a place in classrooms today? Although one should not be texting a friend, writing on someone’s Facebook wall, or uploading a picture on instagram in the middle of a lesson, using their phone or iPad for other reasons should not be seen as a bad thing.

            With the way that technology keeps increasing in the real world, it only makes sense to start incorporating technology in the classroom. Now a days students will attempt to text in the classroom even though they know it is wrong and rude. One wise professor had her husband purposely call her on the first day of class and she answered the phone while writing on the board. All of the students looked around confused and annoyed with the professor, but when she got off the phone she explained it was planned and used to make the students realize how rude it is to be on the phone either texting or talking when the professor is lecturing.

            Although students should know not to text in the classroom while the teacher is lecturing, should the students be allowed to use their phones and tablets to take notes and record? Technology today allows for so many advances and those advances should be used in the classrooms as well.  There are so many apps and technology advances in the present day that if they were incorporated and brought into the classrooms they could and would really do students a lot of advantages.

            Teachers now a days see the white and black part of the texting in the classroom, meaning they are really for it or really against it. The important thing is to find the middle and in between. Some teachers would take advantage and have the students use their iPads and phones for everything while some teachers would rather not incorporate any technology in the classroom at all. Seeing the middle area and incorporating technology into lessons should be imperative. The students should not feel as if they can not take full advantage of the technology that is out there for them to use.

            Teachers should be taking workshops, collaborating, and learning how to incorporate texting in the classrooms. Overall it will greatly benefit the students and help them keep up with present day challenges. Studies have shown that students who have teachers that incorporate technology into their lessons have students succeed more in the classroom.