H1N1, A Virus Effecting Our Learning

After searching through Karl Fisch's blog, The Fischbowl, I found a post that raised many questions and made me think about my education and America's education. "H1N1, Skype, and A Possible Tipping Point" is a blog post about Anne Smith's class and how the H1N1 virus has changed their classroom environment in a technological way. In this classroom, many of the kids have been affected by the H1N1 virus leaving them out for days or even weeks. Since so many of the kids in her class are gone, they have decided that instead of falling behind in work they will actually be in the classroom and learn with the rest of the class. No, they won't actually be in class spreading this virus, but they will be able to see and hear everything using Skype which allows people to communicate through a camera. This is helpful because the students can learn along with everyone else, they won't get behind on work once they get back, and the other healthy students don't have to re-learn the same things over and over again once the sick kids get better. As a high school student, I think this is a great idea because if you're sick for several days you have to catch up on what you've missed and keep up with what the class is learning at the moment which can add more stress than necessary. Also, being stuck at home not doing anything is not fun at all. As much as everyone says that they hate school, it does give us something to do during the day and provides us with something to keep our brains functioning on an intellectual level. I also have noticed when the students that have gotten better come back to class, all of us have to re-learn things. This can be frustrating because we have already learned it and need something new. I also have several questions from reading this blog post. Will this change our learning? Will more classes use Skype as a tool for absent students? Will this help us launch into an even more technological learning environment then we are already in? If not all schools can use Skype, will they miss out on careers and future learning? If another serious illness or virus comes along, will more technological efforts be made to help students? I have thought about these questions and about my thoughts on them. I think this will change our learning if more schools do this because it will help improve grades. I know that when I am sick for more than a week I get behind on my work and it shows in my grades, but with Skype, all students can still be in class even when they can't physically. I think that the schools that can afford computers and cameras will use Skype as a tool to help improve their student's learning. It is unfair to the schools that can't afford this technology because they don't even have the opportunity or access to this, meaning that they will have to suffer for getting behind in school for something that was beyond their control. Also, this may affect their futures too. Even though it could just be a short amount of time, it can affect their learning and grades for life because they are missing out on important skills and learning that can help when it comes time for college and a career. Those who did not miss out on these lessons might beat out the kids who never learned it all because they were sick and didn't have access to computers or Skype. This also could help us launch into a more technological learning environment because it is introducing new and helpful technology for students. Who knows what could be used in the classrooms next? Also, if another illness or virus comes into our school systems that is more serious then H1N1, the students would have access to Skype so they won't get behind. This could also lead to more technological advances in schools because if students are gone for a certain amount of time, they need to catch up somehow. All I know is that the H1N1 virus and any other illnesses that come along can and will affect our learning.

Women Are Taking U.S. Jobs By Storm

As I looked through the blog posts under David Warlick's blog, 2 cents Worth, I came across a post that really got my attention. The blog titled, "This Would Be Really Weird" shows statistics that women represent 49.83% of the workforce in the U.S., and it has been said that by October, women could represent 50% of the workforce! Through the last year, men have lost 4.75 million jobs whereas the women have lost 1.66 million jobs. Most adult citizens of the nation have been fighting for a job and it looks like the women are getting jobs just as much as the men have. In his post, David Warlick tells us his opinion about why women are representing almost half of the workforce, because they try hard. I must say, I couldn't agree more. Going through school, most girls try to excel, get good grades, do all their work, and try to get into colleges. Boys do the same thing but some don't have the same drive and enthusiasm. Warlick even said himself that some boys don't even try to get into college or when they do, they have a lot of trouble or end up not finishing. Now these are just stereotypes and not all males and females act like this.

It does make me happy to see that men and women will soon be equal in the workforce. For decades women have been told that they should stay at home and do the "womenly" duties for their families, well not anymore. I think all of the U.S. is realizing that women can do anything that men can do and can be just as good if not better at it. As I thought about this, I came up with several questions too. Since women are becoming equal to men in the workforce, will other countries look at this and support their women to do the same? Will women soon take over the workforce, creating less jobs for men? Will men try harder when it comes to their education? If they don't, will colleges have more women then men? Will this change or education at all? Will it inspire other women to receive the education they deserve? The answers to these questions may not come for awhile or not at all, but this blog post has opened my mind to all the possibilities that women have and how it could change my own future.

Possible Missing Yale Student's Body Found

After reading all the headlines of the possible articles I could choose to write about, I decided to discuss an article from The New York Times titled, "Police Find Body Believed to be Missing Yale Student." Although this is a gruesome article, I have watched and heard this story unfold from the news and I was of course hoping for a happier end to the story but after reading this article, I think the opposite happened. On Tuesday, September 8th, a Yale student named Annie Le was reported missing several hours after she was seen walking into her lab class on a surveilance camera. It was said that she was supposed to wed on Sunday, September 13th, but many say this wasn't another case of a runaway bride. Also, the police found bloody clothes above ceiling tiles in the lab building but they did not match the clothing she was seen in that day, which does not sound like a good sign. After six days of searching, and on the exact day of her wedding, a body was found behind a basement wall of the lab building at Yale. Police are not don't know if this is the body of Annie Le, but they are fairly certain it is. This case is said to be a similar to one in December of 1998, where yet another female Yale student was found stabbed to death in a nearby neighborhood. The murderer was never found and the case is still unsolved today. Once I finished reading this article, I had many questions including, was the body found in the wall actually Annie Le, or someone else? Is there any connection to the date of her wedding day and when she went missing? How did no one see her leave the lab building? What happened between the time of entering the lab and when she was reported missing? Were the bloody clothes found in the ceiling tiles in any way linked to her disapperence and possible murder? Is the case from 1998 and this case at all tied together? Is it possibly the same person who killed the young women in 1998? Are our school's safe even with all the security advancements?

On September 16th, another article on the subject of Annie Le's death was released and answered many of my questions, however, some of the answers were ones I did not want to hear. The article titled, "Arrest in Yale Killing is Imminent, Police Say" shared the unfortunate news that the body found behind the basement walls of the lab building was Annie Le. The article also stated that a possible murder suspect was found, Raymond Clark III. It was said that Clark worked in the same lab building as a technician where he cleaned up after the animals there and any other messes made. This is the same place where Le did her animal research but other than that, Le and Clark never had any other interaction. The police have taken more than 200 DNA samples from the lab trying to discover any clues leading to the discovery of Le's killer. Clark is the main suspect because Le had been strangled to death and Clark had scratches and bruises all over his hands, arms, and chest. He was taken in for questioning and then released later on because he was being very cooperative. Even after reading this article too, I still have many questions. Is Raymond Clark the killer? Will the DNA samples reveal another suspect? Why would Clark kill her if he didn't know her? If he is the killer, why was he so cooperative at the questioning? Wouldn't he have something to hide? How long had he been planning this if he was the killer? Does the case from 1998 have any connection to this one? Although I'm left with many questions, I'm more aware of what is going on in this case and am now very concerned on what could have happened. This news story may be sad, but I hope that this case gets solved soon so that Annie Le's murderer is brought to justice.

New Technology, New Future, New World

The computer. Something all of the world has either used, seen, or heard of. This every day machine is deciding the world's future and societies future. In Michael Wesch's video, "The Machine is Us/ing Us" he brings up the idea of the computer changing our world. I believe that technology is changing our world and there have been drastic changes to prove it. About 20 years ago, most people didn't even have computers or cell phones or any of the common technology we have today. Now, just about every person with enough money owns a computer or cell phone. That right there is a huge change! Michael Wesch brought this up in his video by showing how much documents and internet has changed just from 1996. Also, he brought up the fact that we are teaching the computers what we know by posting links or typing documents. This means that the computer is not using us, we are using the computer. After all, humans did design and create the computer therefore we are teaching it how to have more programs and how they should function. Technology is becoming such a big part of society now that there isn't any way you can get by in school or a job or in life for that matter with out a little knowledge about it. That was the main idea of Michael Wesch's video from my point of view.

The article "The New Literacy" by Clive Thompson shares similarities with Michael Wesch's video but on a school level. A lot of teenagers and college students own their own computers or cell phones if they have the money for it. Being a young adult means that most of them text or instant message each other. Some believe that this effects our learning because can alter our language, but in Clive Thompson's opinion, it's the opposite. The author believes that our exposure to technology encourages us to write more, think about our writing and reading, and practice writing techniques and skills. I mostly agree with this article, however, when I read it, I did come across some possible flaws in the authors main ideas. The author says by texting and instant messaging we write more. This for the most part is true but the writing is always the strongest it could be. For me I know that I do shorten, abbreviate, or spell words while texting and it affects my writing because I'm used to using those words so often. Also, the author says that having access to technology is helping improve our research and word usage. This is very true because I am becoming more intelligent with technology and when I have a question I can look it up online quickly and can continue with an assignment. However, I do see some issues that could arise from this. Students can use the internet with bad intent and plagiarize someones work or copy it from an article online so they really aren't doing learning for themselves. Many students also don't have access to technology at all so they don't have it in classrooms, libraries, or homes. If the ability to use a computer is a necessary skill for a job, then they are automatically cut because of a flaw in a school career that they couldn't control. I do believe technology is affecting the world's learning in positive and negative ways.