Interview questions for TItcha, Yi, and Raymond group

Could you introduce yourself? What do you do for a living? 

How much writing do you do each day? 

What is your first memory about technology? 

How does technology influence your reading and writing?

Did you attitude toward reading and writing changed over time from childhood to your current stage? 

If I tell you that you can only have access to three kinds of technology today, what  will you choose? Will you give some reasons?

Technology Narrative -- Keyboard Story

     Task: Technology Narrative

• Write Technology Narrative in Word
• Tell the story of your becoming a technology user
• Tell key moments and why they matter
• Post Technology Narrative and link to your Teacher Web Page

Photo Credit

Keyboard Story

I grew up during the period that you would have to learn how to type first before starting using a computer. I honestly don't know whether this pedagogy comes from the fact that I went to an all girls school and that the curriculum might train us to be a future secretary. This means that I started learning how to touch type first before I was even allowed to learn how to use computer, which was not until I was in 8th grade. We also had to learn how to type in Thai first and then in English. For those of you who know Thai,  you will see that Thai keyboard is much different than English keyboard. 

 Learning how to touch type in Thai and English took about a year before I started learning word processing programs and Lotus. Remember, Lotus? 

This touch typing skill has become extremely handy later on in dealing with computer. My sister who is 12 years younger than me cannot touch type and it takes her a bit longer than me to complete homework assignments. 

Nevertheless, I ponder what it would be like for my child. I suspect that with the increasing development in speech recognition program, it might come the time where keyboard will be obsolete. At this point, I still enjoy scaring my coworkers when I type at lightening speed. I guess the sound of click-clacking of keyboard might be intimidating to some. 

To look at typing in another way, as others have addressed, I find myself more comfortable with typing than using a pen. It is hard to fathom this preference, since I only learned how to type afterwards. Studies have shown that using a pencil or a pen to write does help one's cognitive development. I remember how my students would complain endlessly when I ask them to write their essays by hands. I have seen stationery stores closed down. Perhaps, in a near future, pen will have to displayed in a museum next to that ancient artifact called keyboard. 

Photo Credit: UK Airport Services 

                                                                       Photo credit

 

Tech Life

Blog Subject: Tech Life
Make a blog entry focusing on these questions:

• This course is pro technology. What do you feel about you relationship with technology at this point in the course?

My students say that I won't be able to teach without my iPad or they would say, "You really love your iPad, don't you?" I think that capture how much I rely on technology. 

• This course is also pushing you to life a Tech Life. Perhaps you were already living that sort of life. This life choice has a range of political, social, and economic implications. Discuss how your use of technology is impacting your life in these areas.

I use technology to simplify my lifestyle. I remember that whenever I go back to Thailand and sometime I don't have a data plan set up, I would go through state of withdrawal. As a teacher, I preach simplicity and accessibility when it comes to teaching freshman composition. What I mean here is instead of asking my students to buy the MLA Handbook, I will teach them how to differentiate between different types of sources and teach them how to use a website like KnightCite to generate a work cited entry. In this way, students are not forced to buy a book that might be outdated by the time they leave college or might not find it useful outside of class. 

• How long could you go technology free? How hard would it be for you to give up technology for a week, a day, or even 2 hours?

5 minutes max. 

• What possibilities for teaching with technology most excite you? Why? 

First of all, I think it is crucial for students to learn how to use technology. It is important for teachers to not only preach technology, but live technology. I think it is just something that is required especially for composition teachers when multimodal composition has now become the norm in the field. 

• What things most worry you about using technology as a teaching tool?

I am afraid that students will not think. What I mean here is that we're so distracted by technology. I can feel the pull from every direction to interact with technology to the point that often all you might need is a book and some interrupted time to think.  

Time Travel and Technology

• Primary Blog Question
• When compared, the two film clips help illuminate a key question for this course: How has our relationship to technology changed over time? 

I think we have become more visual. The concept of season changing in first version is portrayed by using flower petals to symbolize spring or snow to symbolize winter. 

In the second version however, the use of visual is used to explain the season change. For example, we see the spider creating its web or flowers growing. Moreover, in the older version, we don't get to see the time machine itself, while in the newer version, the time machine will have to be portrayed. 

 

F

• 
  
• Secondary Blog Questions
• How has film technology changed?

Images are sharper. In the original version, the movie was shot in a studio, while the newer version, the images were created by computer. 

• How have we changed as film viewers?

I think we are becoming more demanding as a viewer. While it was sufficient to leave the idea of the fourth space as explanation in the older version, we now demand that we will have to see the images to believe/comprehend it. 

• How has our understanding of time evolved?

I am not sure whether our understanding of time has evolved, but we certainly have different ways to portray time. As the older version of the file points out, we are still trapped in the present. 

• How does fiction/science fiction impact our relationship to technology?

Science fiction extends our understanding of the world. As a child, I grew up watching Doraemon, a Japanese science fiction manga. The concepts that are "played" with in the manga have materialized today. Without imagination, I don't think we can extend our current understanding/knowledge.