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An Announcement from Supreme Leader and Dictator for the Day, Oliver Daniel

My fellow Canadians,

In recent months, the integrity of the democratic election process has come into question. It seems that with every passing day, a new allegation of interference, whether interior or foreign, surfaces regarding the recent United States federal election. For those who are not aware, this includes allegations that Russian operatives interfered with the election in order to ensure the election of President Donald Trump. It is currently unknown at this time whether or not these allegations are true, and if they are, the extent of their involvement.

In a representative government such as ours, voting is among the most powerful sources of political agency available to the average Canadian. We can vote for people who represent our communities; our values; our hopes for the future. Furthermore, we can refuse to re-elect incumbents who have failed to follow through on their promises. These elected officials also vote: on bills, plans, and new legislations that affect each and every one of us. We trust these people to represent us on a municipal, provincial, and federal scale. We must also, then, trust the centuries-old process that we use to elevate them into office.

It is deeply troubling that there is even the slightest reason to suspect the election process itself. By definition, ballots require secrecy and anonymity. This is a bedrock of democracy and therefore cannot, and will not, be changed. However, if there is some external interference, there is therefore no way of identifying a culprit. In light of recent events, it is clear that the current system's technology has been outstripped by those with malicious intent. We must consider another way of maintaining the security and integrity of our ballots.

However, there is a gleam of light in the most unlikely of places: Bitcoin and other so-called 'cryptocurrencies'. Transactions made with these currencies are recorded in what is known as the 'blockchain'. By the power vested in me as Dictator for the Day, I hereby decree that henceforth, all Canadian elections will be powered by the blockchain. I will now discuss the reasoning behind this decision, and how it will benefit all of us.

For this address, I will digress on the majority of the details of the blockchain; rest assured that they will be described in full in the coming legislation. However, there are a few things you should know. A blockchain is a publicly-available ledger of information, which proves integrity using complex mathematical techniques. As long as they have a computer or smartphone of some kind, anybody can keep and maintain their own copy of the blockchain.

In order to rewrite history and falsify this record, a malicious party would need to employ more than half of all the computing power used to maintain the blockchain. Fortunately, as I mentioned earlier, anybody – from any city, any province, even any country – can contribute their computing power to combat this. The more power involved in this process, the greater the integrity becomes. In a way, anyone can become a scrutineer of our elections, and an upholder of our democracy.

How will the new process work? Firstly, Canadians will be able to download a mobile application, currently in development, during election periods. Those who do not have mobile phones will, of course, have access to voting stations as before. Using information that is already unique to each citizen, every citizen will recieve a completely unique, randomized numerical identity, called a 'hash', to represent their vote on the blockchain. Do note that the identification does not work in the inverse: given a hash, neither the government nor the most malicious hacker can determine the citizen associated with it without thousands of years' worth of computation. Then, during elections, Canadians can log into their accounts – or visit the polls – and cast their ballot. Additionally, they can change their ballot any time up until election day.

The advantages of this are threefold. First, it will maximize convenience for Canadians who are unable to access voting stations during election day, increasing voter representation. Second, it will allow voters to change their vote after casting in response to extenuating circumstances. Third, it will allow the votes to be counted instantly and accurately.

My fellow Canadians, we must lead the way into the future. A democracy in the twenty-first century cannot survive using ancient methods. We shall move our vote to the blockchain, and our country into the forefront of the technological revolution.

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The Global Impact of Social Media

Overall, I believe that social media has ultimately had a negative impact on the world. The original purpose of social media was to be a neutral platform for sharing content and connecting with people from all over the world. It has vastly overstepped this initial ideal. Now, social media have formed a toxic space rife with corruption, cheap monetization techniques at the expense of personal privacy, and detrimental mental health effects.

As evidenced by Payam's presentation, one must utterly abandon one's privacy as a standard part of using the inernet "Big" data collection techniques employed by Facebook, Google, and other internet giants have created a subversive market for targeted ads, or even more nefarious behaviours. The data they collect could have been used for good: statisticians, etiologists, and other data analysts have never had such extensive datasets. Instead, the data exchanges hands like illicit drugs in a billion-dollar market, and the user is none the wiser. The greatest evidence a typical user has that this is taking place is advertisements, which can follow them for weeks after a given search query or Facebook 'like'. What else do social media aggregates do with the extensive profiles they've developed on us?

From a naïve perspective, social media seem like the perfect place to express oneself and to broaden one's horizons by connecting with people from completely different backgrounds. Yet, whether intentionally or not, social media platforms employ algorithms that tend to enforce the opposite in order to maximize user retention. As Lauren stated in her presentation, Facebook is especially guility of algorithmically creating these "echo chambers": spaces where one only experiences viewpoints and opinions they already hold. Additionally, people are more likely to view news articles and other posts with a lot of likes, rather than those which are necessarily true. This produces a proof-by-popularity fallacy, in which something is taken to be true just because it is popular. In what is often being called the post-truth era, social media are allowing fake news to propagate and take hold in the public psyche.

Finally, while not necessarily a primary cause, I believe that social media has negatively affected the mental and physical health of its most devoted users: teenagers. Consider the acronym that has recently entered everyday parlance: FOMO. FOMO, or 'fear of missing out', describes the sadness of seeing something on social media in which one was not involved, or to which one was not invited. It is almost a foreign concept to me that parties and other occassions used to go completely undocumented, instead of blared online for everyone to see. Before the advent of Snapchat, the only way I would have known if there was some party or gathering to which I wasn't invited would be if someone told me about it, which would be uncouth. Therefore, provided my friends maintained their social decorum, I would be blissfully unaware of my snubbing. Now, all I have to do is flick through my Snapchat Stories to learn about every single party, concert, and surprise birthday I missed. No doubt, this has had a significant effect on my self-esteem and mental health, not to mention that of those around me.

It is the general scientific consensus that intaking blue light at, the most prevalent colour during the daytime, at night can cause difficulty sleeping. Unfortunately, it is now the case that most teenagers blast themselves with blue light from their screens immediately before bed, because they were doing their last rounds of checking social media. Therefore, it is no surprise that teenagers report difficulty falling asleep, rarely getting enough sleep, and showing symptoms of severe sleep deprivation. Sleep is an incredibly important part of mental health, of which teenagers are willingly depriving themselves in favour of social media.

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The famous last words of a programmer:

That should be easy enough to write...

Over the past few weeks, I have been building an inventory application for Mackenzie's music program. The school music teacher had originally approached me with the idea for the app – a digital system that allows music students to loan their instruments, and the teacher to keep track of who has what – early in the semester. As I wished to focus on my courses and grades, I was unsure if I would be able to take on the project. However, when I was suddenly able to take it on while focusing on my courses and grades, I jumped at the opportunity.

That's when I uttered those famous last words.

Did I Enjoy the Experience?

Even though I've yet to finish the app, these past few weeks have been extremely educational for me. As much as I love writing code, I seldom have the dedication to finish what I start, especially when things get rough. However, working with deadlines ensured that I kept my nose to the grindstone. Additionally, writing this app forced me to learn React – a development framework I'd been meaning to learn for a considerable time. React takes a whole new approach to applications, so it taught me a new way of thinking. There are few things I love more than learning, especially when it's free-structured and in the realm of things I enjoy. As a result, I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to learn a résumé-ready skill I'll need in the future.

Additionally, I really enjoyed the knowledge that every time I walked into IDC, I could open my laptop and just start working. I have spare during the other afternoon period, so this project afforded me an entire afternoon of unstructured working time. As you may know, I have a little, erm, difficulty with rigid work schedules, so it played into my strengths perfectly.

What Went Well?

Far and away, the most enjoyable part of this project has been the strong communication with my placement teacher. As it happened, the teacher is on spare during IDC, the only period during which I am encouraged to approach her. Additionally, I was always able to check in with her briefly during my spare or at lunch, and we were in frequent communication via email. During past endeavours, I would dread the inevitable chasing of clients (or colleagues!) to ask them questions or get their input. This time around, however, communication was a breeze.

Additionally, my placement teacher was as pleasant a client as a developer could ask for. She was forthcoming with which features she wanted and how she wanted the user experience to be, as well as understanding of which features were 'wants' as opposed to 'needs' for the beta release. She was specific about her vision when I needed her to be, and trusted my skills and input when I needed her to.

What Was Difficult?

The one facet of the project at which I failed almost every single class was the daily log. For some reason, it always escaped me to write down my day's work after completing it. I chalk this up to me being in 'the zone' and still thinking about how I'm going to solve the latest problem.

Despite working on the project in class every day, I still encountered my usual difficulty with applying effort at home. More often than not, the most I would complete outside of class is an artboard or two in my app design document. As a hackathon veteran, I know for fact that I can produce a full-fledged app from nothing in the span of just a night. Why, then, have several weeks gone by and the app still isn't done? On the one hand, to be fair, I do have to keep security and other longer-term considerations in mind. Not to mention that my self-set deadline for completion is still a month away. On the other hand, with a lot more effort, it could have been done.

Was I Successful?

As of the time of writing, I have still not completed the first production-ready version. All I have to show for myself is a half-done design document covered in scribbles, an architecture diagram for a database that doesn't exist, and a barren template full of unstyled components. What I do have is a treasure trove is knowledge I can apply to future projects; however, knowledge doesn't really translate into a gleaming portfolio.

I am optimistic – if not certain – that I will deliver something I am truly proud of by the due date. It will take a lot of learning, and even more hard work, but I think that it will all come together in the end. During our weekly meetings, My placement teacher has expressed her hope that some day, the app will be in a state that it can be monetized and sold to music teachers across the world. That dream is still distant, but its faint glimmer keeps me going.

Is This Project Useful?

I think that this project is more applicable to life in the workplace than any other I've done at Mackenzie. At its very core, modern work is all about learning about your target audience and what they want, and delivering a finished product on a reliable timeframe. Every once in a while, teachers will throw us students a bone with a 'case study' or 'imagine you work at So-and-So Company...' scenarios. These application questions are often a thin wrapper over the typical knowledge-regurgitation test question.

This project is useful because it is what school intends to be – a miniature simulation of the 'real world' in which the currency is knowledge. In this project, a content creator (the student) must meet the varying needs of a client (the teacher) in order to roll out their product on time and earn their invoice (a high mark). Failure, rather than being a devastating blow with long-lasting effects, is what it should be at school: a learning experience.

How Could It Be Improved?

I wish that the approximate time-scale of the placement had been a bit more rigid. Whereas I am more than happy to continue working on this placement until its completion, my peers are already starting to wrap up their work, and reflection assignments, such as this one, are already starting to roll in. Had I known that I should have expected to be done by early November, I probably would have opted for a slightly less ambitious task – or the same task with slightly narrower scope – just so that I could match pace in the course with my peers.

Overall, I am satisfied with this project and my progress. On the first day of IDC, our teacher promised us a project-focused course, and a project-focused course I got. With every project I complete, I become just a little more prepared for the next one, and it was a pleasure to make my first dive into mobile development within the confines of the classroom.

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On September 25, I wrote a blog post describing my plans to end my struggle with procrastination using the Pomodoro Technique. Seventeen days later, the results are in; did Francesco Cirillo's world-famous technique help me reclaim my lost time?

I'll save you the reading: my experiment was an utter, blatant, abject, resigned, other synonyms failure. Well, it was a failure... at its intended purpose. Along the way, I learned a lot about myself and how I work, and how I might be able to re-introduce the Pomodoro Technique to greater success in the future.

Starting with the pomodoro round I used to write my previous blog post, I kept track of how many such rounds I completed in a notebook. Bearing in mind that my goal was to complete seven rounds in as many days, each one accomplishing at least one of the tasks or goals in my planner, here's a digital copy of my notebook:

I

(By the way, that's a tally mark. Or, maybe it could be Roman numerals. Or regular numerals. Who knows?)

How Successful was I?

Looking from a sheerly statistical perspective, I completed one seventh, or 14.285714% of the pomodoro rounds I intended to. If each individual pomodoro is twenty-five minutes long, that means I was productive for a grand total of one hundred minutes, or just shy of two hours. In the words of the great Mark Forward in his role as the Coach on Letterkenny, my performance was "Embarrassing, ya pheasant!"

Let's break down why that happened.

In my previous blog post, I acknowledged that my schedule is chaotic, and that I wasn't always going to be afforded the long stretch of time required for pomodori. I also promised myself that if any such disturbance were to occur, that I would get back into the saddle the next day. However, I didn't expect that the following week would be one of the busiest weeks of my life. Between two tests, a presentation, and an assignment, I also had to complete an application for the prestigious Loran Scholarship. This meant wild goose chases all over the school, hunting for teachers to sign off on four years' worth of in-school activity, and frantically writing my response essay. The essay would have been manageable to write at home... if I had gone home any day of the week before 9:00 P.M. Some days, I was attending meetings and rehearsals; some days, I was running them.

Somehow, amid all this chaos, I managed to cram in some studying and assignment work in my usual, haphazard, coffee-fuelled fashion. Somehow, whether from the intervention of some kind deity or a stroke of luck, my lowest grade on all of the aforementioned schoolwork was a pitiable 99%.

How many of these disturbances could have been prevented by better prior planning, more rigorous in-school work habits, or surmounting my utter inability to say "no"? I don't know. Nevertheless, the numbers don't lie: I'm more on top of my grades and extra-curricular responsibilities than I've ever been. To my parents' and my collective chagrin, although it's clear whether my work is getting done, I still lack the feeling of control over when and how it gets done. Unfortunately, the Pomodoro Technique cannot do much in that respect.

After that horrendous first week, I took quite a bit of time to introspect and think about why this experiment failed so spectacularly. I came to realize that the Pomodoro Technique didn't solve my productivity problems because it doesn't address the root of the problem. The Technique attempts to eliminate distractions while working to produce long stretches of intense focus. I do admit that sometimes I can be distractible, especially when I'm disinterested in the work. However, if the work is sufficiently interesting – or urgent – then focus is seldom the rate-limiting step. My true undoing is getting started.

In an attempt to diagnose why I had such difficulty beginning work, I downloaded an app called Moment. Moment allows me to track how many times I pick up my phone, how long I use it for, as well as what apps I use most frequently. After using it for only a few days, I was utterly blown away by the result. On average, I use my phone upwards of FOUR hours a day, picking it up seventy-two different times daily. Sure, some pickups are as innocuous as checking the time or changing the song, but the four hours I tick away (or, as the app delightfully puts it, 27% of my waking life) always begin with picking up my phone.

Finally, after a week, the app instructs me how to take screenshots of my battery use, so that it can calculate which apps I use the most frequently. Far and away, the worst offenders were Instagram and Facebook; I used each of them upwards of ninety minutes a day. In a bold move, I deleted both of them off of my phone indefinitely. If I am going to be childish by abusing my phone to blow off my work, it's only a parent-like response that can save me: taking my toy away.

(On left: me. On right: my conscience.)

Who knew that my meme addiction would become the root of my problems?

This self-inflicted punishment will continue until morale improves – err, I mean, until I can develop a work habit sturdy enough to withstand the unexpected. If my meme habits can withstand a day or two without my phone, then my work habits can too.

What Will I Do Moving Forward?

For now, I'm going to continue using Moment, as well as a browser extension with a similar model, in an attempt to limit my destructive behaviours. Right now, I have an extensive blacklist of applications and websites on which I can only spend a total of seventy-five minutes per day. Any more than that, and my browser locks out of all of them for the day. I think that seventy-five minutes is reasonable: while I should be able to relax a little after school or after finishing my homework, any more and I might as well not have a limit. Nonetheless, I'll continue tweaking them as I see fit until I can be productive regularly.

Then, and only then, I'll try to re-implement the Pomodoro Technique. The Technique seems very interesting, and I think it would be a good way to segment long stretches of work such that I don't burn out. However, these long stretches of work simply do not exist yet, hence I have no burnout to prevent. I'm cautiously optimistic about the future, as long as I apply the effort within myself to find out what works for me.

Reading back on how hopeful I was at the beginning of this endeavour, I almost have to laugh. Perhaps, if the me from seventeen days ago knew that his experiment would fail, he would have done things differently. This blog post would have borne good news instead of bad.

What's that? How can I prove that the experiment failed? Well...

This blog post is due Thursday, October 12, at 1:45 P.M.

It's currently Thursday, October 12, at 12:00 P.M.

Seems as good a time as any to start...

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On a quiet Saturday morning, I sat at the kitchen table with my brother. We talked, we joked, we argued – everything brothers do.

After finishing my breakfast, I stood up and said, nonchalantly:

I'm going to go get some work done.

To which my brother scoffed and, laughing, replied:

No, you're not.

The art of being siblings is a delicate one. Although we hurl insults at one another as casually as some brothers toss baseballs, it's never done with the intent of harm. In the aforementioned conversation alone, we must have called one another 'idiot' a dozen times, for such dire offences as forgetting the asymptotic complexity of a sorting algorithm. (If you hadn't guessed, we're both computer nuts.) Jabs like those immediately wash away like water off a duck's back, barely even noticed. Why, then, did his last three words – no, you're not - cut so deeply?

Because they were laced with truth.

I am a chronic procrastinator. We both know it.

My brother and I have worked together on multiple projects, and he's observed my work habits for my entire educational career. Whereas he could easily plug away at a project, putting in an hour or two a day until it was done, I would scarcely look at the work until the very last minute. What often ensues is a cocktail of late nights, caffeine, and a very stressed and unpleasant Oliver. My procrastination habit has permeated every part of my life, even my extracurricular interests.

Procrastination becomes a vicious cycle. When work is initially assigned, I decide not to start it. Instead, I browse social media or engage in other destructive behaviours. Nonetheless, I feel stressed and guilty all the while. Because I'm stressed, I'm not in the mood to do the work... rinse and repeat. As additional work comes in, the stress mounts. Ultimately, most of the finished work I submit is the result of an all-nighter or is done the morning of.

Perhaps my most toxic behaviour is pseudo-productivity: while procrastinating, I will read article after article about productivity, or download (and spend hours configuring) the latest trendy to-do app. By doing this, I feel as if I'm taking steps towards being productive without actually doing a single thing. Perhaps, then, it's time to actually try out one of these productivity techniques, about which I've read so much, for myself.

What is the Pomodoro Technique?

The Pomodoro Technique was invented by Franceso Cirillo in the 1980s to maximize his productivity in university. Using a kitchen timer shaped like the eponymous fruit (pomodoro is Italian for 'tomato'), Cirillo would work nonstop and uninterrupted on a task for twenty-five minutes. Then, he would take a brief rest of three to five minutes, before embarking on another twenty-five-minute sprint. After four of these pomodori, which totalled to over an hour and a half of productivity, he would be entitled to a longer break before starting another round.

I would tell you more about it, but the timer I'm using to write this post just rang, and it's like music to my ears. I'll get right back to you...

The passage of time doesn't really translate well onto paper, does it?

According to Cirillo and scientists who have researched the technique, taking these breaks helps to prevent burnout. Additionally, they give the user time to hash out their thoughts and creative impulses in an unstructured manner.

Franceso Cirillo, creator of the Pomodoro Technique

My Implementation Strategy

The best way to see if something works is to try it for yourself. And what better way to review the Pomodoro Technique than to use it in the writing of its own review?

My implementation strategy is simple. First, I will put my phone away, as it's simply not needed when working, and put all my electronics on Do Not Disturb mode. Using this timer I found online, I will work in full accordance with Cirillo's method, working only when prescribed to do so and taking mini-breaks between sprints. During my breaks, I have learned, it is crucial that I leave my working environment. So, I will step outside of my room, play guitar on my bed... anything other than use my laptop.

At the end of the round, I will reward myself with my favourite productivity-booster: coffee.

Unfortunately, this technique only maximizes productivity once you've already committed to working. Yes, it will help me cut down on lost time by way of distraction, but what is to be done about my inability to sit down and just start?

My Goal

Luckily, the Pomodoro Technique has one more trick up its sleeve. Both a pomodoro and a pomodoro round serve as excellent units of measurement. Unlike counting completed tasks – some of which take much longer than others - pomodori are a unit of productive time. As a result, it is much easier to commit to completing a certain number of pomodori per day than the nebulous goal of completing a task. Therefore, it is my goal to complete at least one round every day for the next week. Regardless of how I use those hundred minutes, whether on schoolwork or on personal projects, I will use them to build a habit of putting aside distraction-free time to just work.

Critical Moves

Let's get down to business, to defeat the Hu – I mean, to get some work done. What are the specific actions I will take in order to achieve my goal?

In the early going of my adoption, I know that it will be difficult for me to choose a time to start working, thereby discouraging me from starting altogether. Instead, at the end of each school day, I will evaluate how much time I will need when I get home to decompress, catch up on emails and/or social media, etc. Then, immediately following this period, I will schedule my work time. Whether I like it or not, I will start a timer and get to work. Once I'm in that flow state, I'm unlikely to leave it.

Once I'm seated and (relatively) ready to work, I will open all the tools I will need for the task, and close all others. This will minimize the chance of me getting distracted, as well as reduce wasted pomodoro time sifting through tabs or browsing the Web for what I need.

Shrinking the Change

Of course, it is unrealistic to assume that life will always afford me almost two consecutive hours of uninterrupted time every day. Nonetheless, I know how quickly I break good habits, even after just one disturbance. To combat this, Cirillo offers an excellent four-step strategy which I shall adopt:

Inform the disturber that you are currently working on something and can't be interrupted.

Negotiate a time when you can get back to them.

Schedule that negotiated time immediately.

Call back the disturber at the scheduled time and help them tackle their issue.

This will help me "shrink the change" by ensuring that I stick to my pomodoro as tightly as possible, until eventually it becomes a strong habit.

What if there comes a day when I simply can't get any work done? One day I may be too sick to work; another, I may be attending a meeting or spending time with family. Life throws curveballs. I am okay with this; will my brain, in the midst of habit formation, be okay with it too? No matter what happens, I must promise myself – and ensure – that I will get right back in the saddle the next day.

The one thing I must avoid is the feeling of "hey, we didn't do any work today, and it felt goooood." Sure, it may feel good in the short run, but reducing stress and enjoying success feels much better in the long run. Keeping that big picture in mind will help the change shrink in comparison to the threat of work.

Tweaking the Environment

Being a more tech-minded person, it only made sense to use one of the myriad pomodoro timers available online to time out my sprints. Unfortunately, using technology to work is also often my undoing in the form of distractions. As a result, I have to take special precautions to avoid distraction when it's time to hunker down.

As I write this, my phone is in Do Not Disturb mode on the opposite side of the room, rather than its usual spot on my desk and within arm's reach. Additionally, I typically write on Google Docs, with a whole slew of other tabs open. Instead, I've opted to use my code editor, Visual Studio Code, as my text editor of choice. Not only does it allow me to type white text on a dark background, as I prefer, but it even comes with a handy "Zen Mode" that opens the editor in full screen and maximizes my typing space.

Finally, I must establish true Zen with the perfect soundtrack. My preferred poison for productivity is an endless Spotify playlist of Frédéric Chopin's greatest works.

Not pictured: 'Nocturne No.2 in E-Flat Minor' playing softly.

Four pomodori later, I've done it! I went from dreading the ambiguous task of writing a blog post to completing a first draft. In a future round, this draft will transform into an edited copy. With my well-earned mug in my hand, I've got to say, I feel accomplished. Not because I'm one step closer to having my homework done...

Because I'm one step closer to proving my brother wrong.

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Technology and Twenty-First Century Learning

Has School Adequately Prepared Me for My Future?

If my future lies strictly on the beaten path – do well in high school so I can get into a good university, which means I can get a good corporate career, in which I will work until I retire – then yes, school has prepared me well for it. It is likely that any boss for whom I should work will have been through the same rigamarole themselves. Conveniently forgetting how without some serendipitous connections from their father helped land them that first promotion, they will believe that corporate ladder-climbing, starting as early as elementary school, is the key to success. However, should I choose to stray even a little from this socially-enforced destiny by, say, choosing to start my own company, I shall find myself woefully clueless on what to do. Leaving alone the fact that my particular high school courses did not include financial literacy or home economics – which a different choice in school or classes would remedy – the rhetoric of " you need to find a good job" is still deeply engrained in teachers' parlance. With the advents of startup culture, serial entrepreneurship, and career-hopping, the economic scene is changing. The aforementioned proverb could soon transform into "you need to make a good job." If the school system does not adapt to reflect this – and soon – students could find themselves prepared for careers of the past in the economy of the future.

Do I Use Technology to Learn?

Without technology, I doubt I would have the same passion for learning that I do today. My YouTube "Recommended for You" section is perennially littered with videos about mathematics, computer science, and linguistics, reflecting my watching habits. More often than not, looking up something on Wikipedia for school results in an hours-long dive into a rabbit hole of reading. Other than just satisfying my curiosity, the things I learn along the way sometimes help me come to epiphanies about content I was struggling with in class. When it comes to in-school learning, websites like WolframAlpha, Desmos, and Khan Academy are invaluable for math and science courses. It is almost unfathomable to me that just a generation ago, research assignments meant actually entering a library instead of typing a query into a search engine. There is no more satisfying feeling than writing the final sentence of that essay and then, one by one, closing every research tab. Finally, my future career path – software development – could not exist without technology. With every successive improvement in software paradigms, I will need to use technology to learn the new skills required to stay relevant in the industry.

Does Technology Help Me in Class?

Although I would definitely consider myself a technophile, technology sometimes becomes my undoing in a class. Several of my classes employ technology in novel ways. Take, for example, my calculus class, which distributes all handouts and homework online. I really enjoy this content delivery method, as it allows me to access all the work and lessons from anywhere. Additionally, my teacher tracks our learning in the class via nightly consolidation quizzes. They take no more than five minutes to complete, but I find them an excellent diagnostic tool to identify areas in which I am struggling. Unfortunately, not all digitization is made equal. Last year, I purchased a convertible laptop/tablet for school uses, and was very excited to use it to take notes. I can certainly type much faster than I can write; no more begging the teacher to stay on the current slide as I furiously write down the information! On the very first day, however, I found myself with Facebook or Reddit open more frequently than Google Docs. Unfortunately, I am quite distractible when I'm not interested in the content. (And, for courses that require note-taking, I'm lose interest more often than not.) Having a tablet enabled my distractive habits to take me onto social media or other apps, rather than the mere doodling or scribbling of random words that pen-and-paper allows. In Functions, taking notes in real time soon became unwieldy because of all the fractions, esoteric symbols, and graphing required. I have now returned to carrying a spiral-bound notebook with me, taking notes by hand and then digitizing them at home. This is actually an optimal solution; I can take my in-class notes more effectively and with greater focus, and then the act of going back over them to type them up helps enforce the content.

Does it Matter if a Teacher Uses Technology?

To me, a teacher's use of technology is not necessarily a make-or-break in terms of my enjoying the class. I have taken classes in which the subject matter was taught exclusively via dictation, textbook reading, and/or acetate overhead projection which I have enjoyed. Conversely, I have taken classes in which every lesson was taught on the SmartBoard, and homework assigned online, which I loathed. To me, the technology being used is not as important as how well the teacher is able to use the technology to present content. As we discussed in class, there is a difference between technology merely serving as a substitute to paper or chalkboard, and using it to truly augment the student's learning.

What Technology Should Teachers Use?

I am a strong advocate for implementing Augmented Reality (AR) technologies into the classroom. I was first inspired to take this position at a technology expo. There, I saw a live demonstration of a smartphone app that turns textbooks into interactive dioramas. Unlike Virtual Reality (VR), which requires large headsets and controllers, most students already have the equipment required for AR in their pocket. We are approaching an age where almost every teen has a powerful computer and camera on them at all times in their phones. I believe that, if implemented correctly, students could use their smartphones to supercharge their learning. Examples of promising classroom uses for AR include 3D models of historical events, complex chemical structures, and mathematical vectors. As someone who has always struggled to visualize these concepts in my mind, the idea of images popping out of my textbook so that I can actually see them is exciting.