Speech Blog

My Group's Topic

For this blog I am going to discuss the mash-up my Team will be exploring and define what that looks like.

First of all, my group is made up of five members, from the USA. One from Georgia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. We don't have any foreigners in our group so it might be a little easier when it comes to collaboration (due to the time differences).

Our group is working on Gesture-Based Learning, and the freedom aspect of it. I really can't tell you what that is going to look like but I think it's basically the freedom of gesture-based learning. Have you ever seen those crazy sci-fi films when the technology is so far advanced that the computers look like they're just floating pieces of glass in a large room and it's all touch screen and super fast? Well, this is part of the gesture-based learning. The Wii, touch screen things, and even the newer video games that use your body as a controller are all new technologies that help us learn through gesture-based learning. I think that things like this are pretty cool. Instead of drawing on paint with a mouse, we can draw on a huge canvas and maybe get better effects. Instead of using a controller to karate chop someone, we can actually do the motion and get the work out we need!

This will be a very interesting topic to research, I'm happy I'm in this group.

The ways teachers can embrace the 8 norms.

In this blog I will discuss how teachers could change their style of teaching using Tapscott's Norms to make lessons more appealing and easier to learn for today's learners. As I said in my previous blog, net generation learners have (according to Tapscott) eight norms for what we want to have happen and who we are. The first things that teachers must realize is that instead of being angry for our push for complete freedom in the classroom, teachers should embrace the fact that we enjoy taking charge of our own situations and put that into their classrooms. We also enjoy customizing our lives, so maybe in some private schools students should be allowed to wear whatever they want. Let's get rid of those dress codes. Collaboration is another factor that teachers can take into their classwork. Many teachers already allow students to work in groups, but I think that we should work on more things in group projects. It's good for us to learn from every perspective, including our peers. Another thing that will need to be put into some classrooms is entertaining education. Most of us net genner's are used to constant entertainment, constant focus, never a dull moment, you know? But I think that teachers are also going to have to start taking that into consideration when they are teaching their classes. It's going to be a tough thing to keep us concentrated on a overhead projection or a constant lecture before long. Also, instead of dragging on with certain topics, teachers should try and speed up their lessons. Students are used to everything being fast now and days.

Tapscott's Eight Norms

For this blog I am going to discuss Tapscott's eight Net Gen Norms (the traits that the Net Generation expect of technology) and how those Norms appear in my use of technology. The eight norms for the net generation are freedom, customization, scrutiny, integrity, collaboration, entertainment, speed, and innovation. Freedom to do what we want when we want. Customization lets us express ourselves. We need to be able to determine what is fact versus fiction. We like to be honest and fair, and we like to work together. We like life to be on the fun side. We like to work at a fast pace. We enjoy being creative. These descriptions of our generation fit me, as well as mostly every one of my classmates. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have the freedom to look up whatever information I wanted to know then I would be very frustrated. I like knowing every little whimsical question that passes through my brain. I also like people to know what kind of a person I am. Sites such as facebook allow me to project my "self" to my peers, and I make sure that the information that I put out there is truly customized to define me. It is obvious that not everything that is online is true. The old saying that people should believe anything that is in black in white no longer applies to everything that we read today. It is very easy to make up information and post it online. I also need my technology to work very quickly. Like I said before, if I don't have easy, unlimited access to information, I can become vary frustrated.