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Tech Detox!

For this task- I’m truly going all out. I don’t think I ever have been much of a procrastinator, but I have been procrastinating a lot more (for my standards anyways) as of lately. I’ve been having a rough time at home, so instead of putting my unrest into distracting myself by doing school work, I usually take the easy way out. And for me, all that time procrastinating goes into 3 particular apps- Instagram, Bricks N Balls, and Hole.io. I never noticed how much I actually was on instagram until lately when they installed a feature that shows you how much time your on there, and it has amounted to hours a day. I scroll through Instagram as a way to avoid anything “hard”. Every time I can’t figure out a concept in my homework, I decide that maybe instagram would have the answer and take a half hour break immersing myself in memes instead. It’s my immediate escape mechanism when not wanting to look at someone, or when waiting for something. Not only is Instagram draining so much of my time, but it also makes me feel terrible about myself! It’s an app where I constantly see people creating an idealized life for themselves online. I have probably lost sleep over things that people have posted on the app, and I know it definitely contributes to my anxiety and self image problems. 

Bricks N Balls is its own type of monster. There are nights when I actually dream about this app because I’m pretty sure it’s the most addictive thing on the planet. Every time I’m doing something that doesn’t require all 100% of my attention, I find myself playing Bricks N Balls almost habitually. I avoid paying attention to lessons by playing it, even in conversations with my friends I don’t bother to look up because I’m so into the game. It’s ridiculous how addicted I am to this app and I’m convinced it’s the most addictive mobile game to ever be made. Hole.io is similar to Bricks N Balls as I find myself playing it every once and a while without reason, but not as often as it drains a lot of battery when I play it. I know that without Bricks N Balls on my phone I’d probably gravitate to Hole.io so I’m deleting that one too! I’m really hoping that this detox goes well and I actually can be productive for once because I really need it! 

My experience summed up in pictures, songs, and gifs...

When I open up my phone and realize that Instagram and Bricks N Balls isn’t there. 

My response to the tech detox!

When I just want to scroll through Instagram to distract myself from a Chemistry lesson and realize it’s deleted off my phone. 

When I finally get used to not having addictive apps on my phone and feel like I have a lot more time on my hands to do things I want. 

Going into the tech detox, I wasn’t sure how it would end up going. I was originally convinced that it wouldn’t work, that I would just gravitate to equally addictive apps on my phone and be just as distracted by those apps. Surprisingly, that didn’t happen at all! I found myself paying attention in class, and doing homework efficiently. Of course, sometimes I would distract myself from tasks by scrolling through Twitter, or playing crosswords, but honestly those breaks were good stress relievers and I found it easy to pull away from those tasks- something I couldn’t do with Instagram, Hole.io, and Bricks N Balls. 

I was definitely frustrated for the first 3 days, I found that most of my problems with withdrawal was towards Bricks N Balls, proving once more that it is the most addictive app on this planet! I would find myself unconsciously trying to click on the app that I deleted from my phone, and the wave of frustration that hit me was crazy! I would continue to have dreams of me playing the game, and whenever I had time to kill I would feel like pulling my hair out because I wasn’t able to play this useless game! Sometimes I would also try subconsciously clicking on Instagram, but more in practical situations. I would want to see the profile of somebody, or find a picture that I remembered recently. My feelings regarding those instances were more based on inconvenience rather than a true wanting for the app itself. 

I am really proud to say that I didn’t go on any of the three apps I gave up once during this week. I think I structured the detox well- there were too many hurdles between me and the apps to actually make it convenient to go on them. And, since they were deleted, I didn’t really have to worry about subconsciously going on the apps. 

I think the tech detox definitely allowed me to procrastinate a lot less, and now I feel much less stressed when it comes to getting things done because I feel like I won’t get sucked into scrolling into Instagram or Bricks N Balls for hours at a time. As well as this, I think I definitely got to understand which apps I was truly addicted too, and which I just happened to use a lot. Instagram was frustrating not to have at times, but I didn’t feel a need to really be on it ever. I think I genuinely experienced withdrawal symptoms with Bricks N Balls, and I felt almost nothing with Hole.io (probably because I stopped using it as often from previously because of the amount of battery it sucked up). This detox was a success, and it has taught me to be more conscious about how certain apps are affecting me, and when to know that it’s time to delete them instead of keeping them around.

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Mary made some super cool cover art for this song too- so I decided to include it in the post!

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Songwriting and Learning Audacity- Self Directed Project Analysis

Summary:

For my self directed project, I decided to write my own song and record it using audacity. I used several online tutorials as well as my own intuition to learn audacity and get my desired result. This project started as something that I was very hesitant about. I was my first time writing a song, and I had no idea if I would be able to write anything at all- let alone anything good! On top of that, the fact that I had no actual audio recording equipment, and access to only a guitar as an instrument made me scared that this project would not be a success. Though I was hesitant, I feel as though I was able to make something I was truly proud of with this project, and I’m really happy that I took on this challenge! 

How I learned:

The songwriting process was largely something that I improvised, I figured that following tutorials would ruin my creative process, and that I would find it hard to be original. I started writing by playing chord progressions that I found nice, and added a melody and then words on top of it. I found that everything came very naturally and seemingly out of thin air. More than that- I found the process almost magical, like I created something from nothing.

Learning audacity was definitely something more structured, and actually required tutorials to do. I followed several different online tutorials (linked below) to get a general understanding of audacity, as well as tutorials that addressed how to achieve specific effects I wanted. I also sometimes found myself on the audacity forums to find answers to specific problems I had.

Tutorials I used: 

I also found this Wikihow article helpful.

I didn’t find audacity too difficult to master tool wise, but I definitely found it a little finicky when it came to rerecording audio and syncing it up properly. I felt like those actions had a bit of a learning curve to them, and only could be done efficiently with a good feel for the program. 

What I liked:

I found audacity to be a very user-friendly program, with lots of documentation available on how to use it. I didn’t find it hard at all to record or edit my audio, and it was very easy to apply the effects I wanted onto what I recorded. The effects I put on (such a reverb, bass boosting, echo, volume stabilization etc…) still maintained the natural, lo-fi sound that I wanted for the recording, which I was happy about. I also found there was a lot of freedom in audacity to truly produce exactly what I wanted. I could meticulously adjust every setting to my hearts content to get the exact sound I envisioned- something that the perfectionist in me really loved.

What I didn’t like:

The audacity software tended to run slowly on my computer- which is pretty odd considering that resource heavy programs such as Premiere Pro and Photoshop haven’t had many issues regarding lag in the past. Sometimes audacity would freeze, sometimes when recording audio there would be dropouts in the recording due to lag- something that forced me to re-record pieces that I thought came out well. It was also very tough to line up audio, as there were no tools to actually do so. This process was frustrating and time-consuming, and I wished there was a way to do it more efficiently.

The worst thing ever!

Definitely the worst and most frustrating part of this entire project was the moment my audacity software crashed out of nowhere and decided it could no longer read any of my files. At this point I was just adding the finishing touches on the song, and somehow the program just gave up on me! When I googled it, I was told what I experienced was an uncontrollable audacity error, and could not be fixed. Learning this was of course very discouraging for me going forward, and was a big obstacle I had to get through to achieve my final result. Though momentarily feeling like it was the end of the world, I was able to re-record my parts to produce what I think is a better produced recording overall. 

All my audio was lost! 

Conclusion:

I am extremely happy with my results using Audacity, and would definitely use it again for a variety of purposes, which could include writing new songs, editing voice overs for projects or videos, or creating audio compilations. I think that Audacity is a very powerful tool, and I am very happy that I chose to learn how to use it in IDC. As well as this, I think this project really made me less afraid of songwriting in general, and has inspired me to continue to write and make music in the future.

Tumblr will not allow me to embed the mp3 file here, so please find my final mp3 file in the post above!

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The Future of Technology

I watched a Doctor Who episode called “The Waters of Mars”. It takes place in 2059 - 40 years from now. Though the episode takes place on Mars- focusing in on the first humans to visit the planet- it still showcases many new technologies that would exist in 2059, as well as gives a glimpse into life on earth at this time. 

The most obvious change in technology is the fact that humans have been able to set up a mars base, and have people live on it long-term. This achievement takes countless technological developments- such as mass oxygen production, and improvements in harnessing power, as well as meticulous planning. Other “new” technologies are emphasised in the show, such as walkie-talkies that seem to work very well over a long range, a robot with hands that can be controlled by a human wearing movement-tracking gloves, personal domestic robots, and laser guns. As well as this, a biodome which sustains plants as well as animal life is incorporated within the Mars settlement. During the episode, characters also spoke about humans almost becoming extinct during the previous 50 years due to war and climate change- which I found very interesting- especially since Doctor Who is largely a family show that doesn’t necessary delve into humanity’s immediate future. 

Though the large majority of technology in this show revolves around life on Mars, there seems to be a stress placed on the influence of robots in the daily lives of humans on earth. Humans seem to have “domestic robots” that help them at home, robots built the Mars base, and a robot helps the crew on board. Though the show doesn’t go into detail regarding robots, I would assume the increased amount them used by humans would decrease the need for labour jobs we have today, such as construction or cleaning. As well as this, connectivity on the base is near to seamless. There are cameras nearly everywhere and pressurized sensors which track people throughout the base. People can be recognized by computers by just the sound of their voice. This seems to suggest that life on Earth would lend itself to be much more connected- even more than today. I could imagine surveillance camera technology being much more widespread, and face or voice recognition very accurate. This could mean the justice system might work much more quickly and surveillance could provide compelling evidence for many crimes, but also invade privacy. 

The technologies in this show are depicted as positive to neutral. They are seen as more of a set of tools rather than entertainment. In fact, I think technology in this show takes a very similar form to what it is today, it is used as a way to connect, and as a way to help humans both carry out hard tasks, and survive on a planet that otherwise is uninhabitable. The robot in the episode, “Gadget”, becomes a main plot device, and ends up saving the crew from their impending deaths, which is definitely a positive thing. But other than that, technology is simply used as a tool that carries out everyday life. It isn’t viewed as a miracle but it also isn’t viewed as a destruction. More than anything, it is just viewed by the crew as a way for them to be able to carry out life on Mars. 

Ignoring the fact that human race might have been close to extinction in the past couple of years according to the show, I wouldn’t mind living in this future. I think the show has depicted tech as something that isn’t completely invasive, and instead something that is in the control of humans rather than controlling humans. It’s important to me to have a future where humans can remain autonomous while technology evolves, and I think that is the world that is depicted in Doctor Who. On top of that, I would love my own personal robot!! 

All in all, I think Doctor Who provided a relatively accurate view of what I would expect technology in the future to be- a very seamless tool that can be further integrated to help make the everyday lives of people easier. I also expect technology in the future to reduce privacy, as well as overtake jobs. I think the show did a great job in keeping its depictions of the future quite rational, rather than getting carried away with impractical depictions of what life might be like in 40 years (50 from when it was filmed). 

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Cell Phones- Good or Bad?

Based on the materials presented in class and your own background knowledge and experiences, do you think mobile phones have overall had a more positive or negative impact on the world?

I have heard a lot of different opinions regarding how beneficial cell phones are. On one hand, I’ve heard adults say they are the “ruin of our generation”, and will cause nothing but bad- on the other- I see my phone is something I use everyday in useful ways. 

My phone primarily to me is a tool that makes me feel safe and secure. I know that it makes me getting lost or stranded somewhere a lot less likely, and gives me constant connection to people I know, or a way to access help if I need. To me, that is extremely important, and plays a large factor in how I live my life- and I can see phones playing the same role in the lives of many others. That being said, my phone is also a major distraction. I think I’ve become addicted to the mobile game “Bricks n Balls”, and find myself playing it when I should really be doing homework. During class, I’d rather be scrolling through instagram or watching a youtube video than paying attention, and it takes a lot of self-control to make sure that doesn’t happen. Constant need to be on ones phone causes many issues regarding distraction, and though this may detrimental to learning in a classroom setting, it can be much, much more harmful in real life. Using a phone while driving is a very serious problem, and when it occurs, can risk the lives of both pedestrians and drivers.

Mobile phones are also a convenient way to have the internet accessible to you at all times, and though having such a plethora of information at your fingertips is something that has been unheard of until today, it also makes it very easy to become a part of some of the internet’s worst practices- like spreading fake news, and participating in harassment. Many companies that practice very negative business practices- such as Amazon- thrive off of constant accessibility to the internet. 

Mobile phones also raise major concerns regarding privacy. The GPS within mobile phones give tracking capabilities, monitoring conversations and activity of others is a very real threat to privacy within our society. I have a friend whose location is constantly monitored by her parents, which I believe is a major invasion of privacy on their part that certainly would not have happened if she didn’t have a phone. 

I know that I’ve been blabbing a bunch about how phones are so negative, and even though there are a lot of problems regarding mobile phones in our world, I still think they cause more benefit than harm (though not significantly). The most defining thing about phones is that they allow people to stay connected at all times, and to access knowledge at all times. Phones allow people to come together, to learn more, to have a significant amount of intellectual and creative freedom. Cell phones mean connectivity and unity amongst a population that is otherwise divided, which though largely theoretical, is something I find sort of poetic. 

I strongly believe our world would not be as connected as it is without the ease of mobile phones, and it certainly wouldn’t be as efficient as it is today. I believe the conveniences of a mobile phone outweigh the consequences, and I can only see our society continuing to embrace the many uses of phones in the future. 

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Placement!

For the past few weeks, my partner and I have been working to build a website for a teacher with material for a variety of business courses. It has definitely been a lot of work to restructure a site that otherwise had a bunch of clutter in it initially, but it is slowly turning into a project that I think looks very nice and that I’m very proud of! 

Did you enjoy the experience? Why or why not? 

I have a very big passion for graphic design, and decluttering websites. The idea of taking a very inconsistent website with varied formatting and turning it into something very structured and organized and good looking makes me feel  happy and accomplished. Although the site does have a lot of content, and is a bit difficult to filter through especially since every single unit is not consistent in formatting, I am really enjoying taking the time to look through and order pages. I also have not run into any issues with my partner or my teacher. Everything seems to be moving along efficiently and I’m getting the content I need when I need it- this makes the process of redoing the website a lot more stress-free. The only complaint I might have is just the sheer amount of content that I have to go through- it seems never ending!! It can be frustrating knowing that I have so much to do ahead of me, but actually doing it isn’t stressing at all and I find it a very pleasant way to just stop thinking about math or chemistry and just focus on design and order which I love. 

What went well with your placement?

So far almost everything is going great with the placement. The communication with both my teacher and my partner has been efficient and timely. The work is also getting done at a good pace, and I think everyone for the most part is on the same page with what is being done and how it is being done. All of our tasks and daily logs have been filled in a very timely manner which is very good! I honestly wish most of my group projects were like this, because everyone is really eager to get things done and enjoy what they are doing! So far this placement has been super positive and I’m hoping to keep it like this! 

What difficulties did you have with your placement?

The only thing that has hindered our placement from being done sooner is my partner being very sick lately. It obviously is nothing she can change, but it has been a bit stressing for me to largely work on things by myself in class. My partner has been very helpful in making sure she does work she needs to from home though, which is great. The sheer magnitude of content we have to filter through can also be stressing, but I think it’s being done at a good pace which I’m very proud of. Every project has its challenges, and I’m very happy our challenges are very manageable with enough hard work and good communication! 

Do you consider your placement a success? 

I hope so! Unless something goes wrong at the last minute, I am very happy with the progress we made and the working relationship we have with our teacher. I love working on the website during IDC, and I love working with the person I’m partnered with. I’m very motivated to make the website a success, and thoroughly enjoy what I’m doing, and by just those factors alone I think it makes the placement a success. I am so excited to put out a really nice and organized website that students will find easy to use! 

Do you think the project is useful/has value for IDC students/teachers/students of placement teachers?

I am very excited for my teacher’s students to use this site, I’m truly proud of how it looks, and think that it’s definitely a website I would enjoy using as a student. We are also working to embed quizzes on the site which I think is a very unique and exciting way to enrich student’s learning. I hope our site can become a good example for IDC students and teachers alike when building a google site for a class. The uniform and easy-to-follow layout of the site was definitely a priority and I hope it can be a way to model efficiency in web-design (which I think greatly enriches learning) for future projects! 

How could the project be improved for future IDC classes?

The only thing I think could be changed would be to the amount of site content we had to work with, because it can definitely be a bit overwhelming, especially for people who might not completely enjoy web design, or with a teacher or partner who are not very helpful. I’m very lucky to be working with such supportive people, and that’s what definitely makes the project a lot more manageable. I think making sure that everyone is comfortable and confident with the work they are doing and the people they are working with is the best way to have a successful IDC placement. 

Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed this IDC placement, and am very excited to continue working on it! I love projects where the end goal is producing something that others can enjoy and benefit from! I hope that the site remains useful for years to come and becomes a tool for students to enrich their learning! 

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Learning Strategies Reaction

Over the past two weeks I attempted to work out around 2-4 times (about once or twice each week) but unfortunately I was only mildly successful at it- working out once in the two week period. My overall strategy for doing this was trying to begin working out as soon as possible within the first two weeks, in order to get myself in the habit of working out as fast as possible.

How successful were you at implementing the strategy or technique? What helped or impeded your success?

I was only somewhat successful at working out. At first I was extremely eager to go and exercise, and on the Thursday after we wrote about our goals, I went ahead and worked out, even though I was feeling extremely tired that day. I worked out for half an hour, which wasn’t a large amount for me, but I wasn’t feeling very well that day so I settled for it being an ok start and used it motivation to improve. My feelings after working out weren’t ones that motivated me to do more though, they were largely neutral and were drowned out by the sheer amount of fatigue I was experiencing. Sadly, the next day I woke up with a fever which developed into a terrible cold that has not completely gone away. Even once my cold had somewhat gone, I didn’t have much motivation to work out. My stress levels were extremely high since I had applications to submit, tests to take, and was going through some issues with my parents. In the past two weeks I was feeling very emotionally drained which subsequently made me feel physically drained.

I think starting on working out early definitely kept the idea of exercise in my mind a lot more often, but didn’t really help much in getting me to actually work out. So it both helped me by giving me motivation to start early and also impeded me by putting a lot more pressure on me to work out when my body was absolutely not feeling up to it.

Did the strategy improve your learning or reduce your procrastination? What evidence do you have to support this claim?

I think the strategy of working out as early as possible certainly helped me to jump on working out when I could, so it reduced my procrastination (though I don’t procrastinate much anyways)- but it also largely added to my already stressful week. Since I am a very very anxious person, having more on my to-do list means that I get way too overwhelmed to do much of anything. Though I was still very stressed, the strategy did help keep the ideas of fitness and healthy living in my mind more often, which resulted in me eating a lot healthier and being conscious of my weight. I lost one pound and a bit in the past 2 weeks, which might not be anything absolutely life-changing, but certainly is something especially taking out my condition and the fact that I have not been working out much.

Will you continue with the strategy?  Why or why not?

I do absolutely want to continue to work out in some way, but I don’t know if this would be the strategy to do it because of the amount of stress it caused me. Throughout my time doing the experiment, I found other ways to release my stress that might have been easier to access than just working out, which includes playing guitar and hanging out with friends. All of these methods definitely make me feel good like working out sometimes does, but they were things that I enjoyed doing a lot more and didn’t really view as a chore.

In conclusion, I think this experiment really taught me that flexibility is a lot more important when it comes to leading a balanced and stress-free life than meeting one particular goal. Sometimes working out isn’t the key to being happy and reaching weight loss goals. In fact, I lost weight without even really working out consistently! I think that self-care has a lot to do with being realistic and doing what you truly want to do to relieve stress.

Going forward, I want working out to be a thing that I do if I truly am not stressed and also have the time, and make doing things I really love at the time a priority. Of course sometimes that can be exercise like playing tennis or taking a walk or even working out in my basement, but sometimes it might not be which is ok. The entire process should be highly personal and make you happy!

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Habits Experiment

I’ve always had issues with keeping to working out and eating healthily. I have a condition called PCOS, which has a lot of symptoms but the one that really matters in this case is the fact that its super duper hard for me to lose weight, and to do so it requires a really strict diet and exercise routine to maintain. 

This summer when I had a lot less to focus on, I used to work out fairly regularly and focus a lot on how I ate, but now it’s the exact opposite. As school got busier I felt like the effort it took to go and workout increased from the summer, and I got more prone to eating unhealthy foods because of stress. I want to begin to get back on track with my working out, because I know it keeps me a lot less stressed and more focused. 

Explain your procrastination or multitasking problem and explain why you want to fix it.

The busyness of my everyday life has gotten in the middle of my self-care- and in turn has shot me into a spiral of not working out and then getting even less focused leading me to not work out! Me not working out also worsens the symptoms of PCOS which includes acne and hair growth which isn’t super fun for me! So, I want to take on this challenge to hopefully keep me a bit more focused and a lot more healthy! 

Explain how you will implement the strategy – be as specific as possible.

I want to be able to work out between one or two times a week to start, because it really matters to me that I first get into the habit of working out every once and a while before I fully jump back into exercise. 

My first session working out will most likely be this weekend (I’m aiming for Saturday unless something comes up) and around 11am after I’ve woken up and digested my breakfast, I will go downstairs to my basement where we have a stationary bike and treadmill. 

My first workout will be cardio, because I feel as though I have an easier time doing cardio than strength workouts. Cardio also gives me a much higher release of endorphins after I do it, and it seems to feel more effective for me. 

My cardio workouts will be about 45 minutes, 15 minutes on the treadmill and 30 minutes on the stationary bike. This workout is fairly standard for me, and I like the way it makes me feel a lot. I do know that later on I will have to change the workout I do because I get bored easily, but I want to be able to start with something familiar. 

After my workout I want to have a slow and mindful cooldown, doing some yoga would be a great way to do this, and since I did a yoga class in school last year I find it easy to pick back up.

I want to be able to work out around four times in the next two weeks- about twice a week give or take, once on the weekend and once on a school night. I think that workout schedule is very realistic and not completely time consuming. As well as that working out makes me a lot more focused so I think I’ll be a lot more motivated to work out after my first time working out. 

What is your end goal? How will you know the strategy works for you?

My end goal as I stated before is to work out around four times in the next two weeks. I’m hoping to be motivated to work out and I’m hoping to become more motivated and focused as the experiment continues. PCOS has been a big challenge to deal with and has really derailed my mental health and motivation recently, and keeping it more under control means a better way for me to maintain my mental and physical health. If I become more motivated to work out within the next few weeks and see some results I will know that the strategy has worked.

What are your critical moves?

My most critical move is to actually get downstairs and work out that first time because it’s super easy to find a million excuses as to why its not a good idea to work out. I need to be able to be the rational guide in my mind rather than a crazy monkey that focuses on the short term please of doing nothing and doesn’t see the long term benefits of working out.

In the future, also making sure that I change up my workouts so I don’t get bored, or taking up classes would be a great way to keep me motivated when working out.

How will you shrink the change?

The most important part of my plan is making it achievable for me- and that means it needs to be realistic. I could plan an elaborate 14 day workout routine that consists of a 2 hour workout every single day but I know that I’ll absolutely never get around to it. For me, that challenge is so scary that in the end I’ll lose motivation instead of gaining it like I’d like to in this challenge.

So, to not spook me (or the elephant) I’m creating an achievable goal which is two workouts a week with one being on the weekend. This eliminates the stress of thinking working out will take up too much time, and doesn’t tire me out to the point that I don’t want to work out anymore. Resonable workout lengths also ensures that I get positive endorphines from working out, and feel more focused but also do not feel drained.

How will you tweak the environment?

I want to make sure working out is done in a place where I feel comfortable and that does not require a lot of effort to get to. For example, working out at a gym 20 minutes away would certainly discourage me from going there because of the 20 minute commute. At home, I have ample room for strength workouts on the floor and opportunities for cardio workouts on the workout machines I have. This makes workouts easy to get to and also not boring!

It’s also important to tweak my workout plans for how I’m feeling. For example, I used to take boxing classes downtown and the feeling of going outside and travelling on the TTC over the weekend was a great change of scenery to staying in my home for the entire morning. I might want to incorporate those boxing classes in these couple of weeks if I feel I have the time and want to go downtown! Working out in front of other people also gives me a type of accountability for working hard. I want to be able to complete the work out since I payed for the class and since other people are watching me!

In conclusion, I am very excited to begin working out again, and to be a stern leader in my mind to avoid procrastinating exercise! I know just a couple of workouts will put me on track to doing more workouts and then in turn getting fitter. I’m curious to see how the challenge pans out and I will make sure to communicate what happens at the end of the two weeks!

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Technology and 21st Century Learning

This blog post is centred around a series of questions. We have been delving recently into how schools can integrate technology efficiently and effectively to prepare students for the future. In that time, I’ve been thinking a lot about my school and how use of technology is preparing me for my future. In this post, I’d love to go through a couple of inquiry questions, and reflect on how school’s use of tech influences me and prepares me for life beyond Mackenzie. 

Is school preparing me for my future? 

One of the biggest purposes of school is to prepare students for the future ahead of them. Sometimes that means teaching them math and science and writing that might be a useful basis of knowledge for their post-secondary endeavours. But sometimes that means teaching them practical things, like how to work with other people and time management and critical thinking. To me both of those aspects of preparation are almost equally important when it comes to preparing me and other students for the future. In my opinion though, there is one big part of preparation that the school is missing- so big that it should be its own topic together- and that is preparation for dealing with the 21st century. 

One of my main concerns with the structure of the school board is the lack of adaptability when it comes to curriculum. For example, courses that require research lack integral lessons about information verification, which is a growing problem on the internet today. Other courses aren’t updated to include online safety, which are very important to have in an era where the internet control’s students lives. On top of that, school doesn’t adequately address the issues many students have with time management or cell phone distraction, which if not addressed can lead to unhealthy habits that hinder students once they enter into the workforce.

Overall, I do think school does prepare me by giving me a great base of knowledge for my academic interests ahead, and it also prepares me by helping me improve some of my soft skills, but it simply does not prepare me for a world taken over by internet, which requires a large amount of critical thinking, caution and self-regulation to effectively be a part of. 

How do you personally use technology to learn?

One of the most sworn-by methods I use to memorize information for tests is online flashcards. Not only do I find them to be an extremely effective way to memorize information and a great way to narrow down what you do and don’t know. I also enjoy the portability of them. I can easily study for a test on the subway on my way home, or just sitting in my bed. Keeping totally legal PDF copies of textbooks on my computer also saves my shoulders from a lot of pain and makes studying convenient. As well as that, retrieving powerpoints and worksheets from my teacher’s websites help me a lot in revising subjects for tests. 

Do classes that use more technology appeal to you? Is it easier for you to learn the content?

Honestly, I’ve found that the use of technology in class largely depends on both the teacher and the material being taught. For example, chemistry class is a lot easier when I have online access to powerpoints online and do Kahoots as reviews, but tech in a class like yoga might feel a bit unnecessary and counter-intuitive where all lessons are focused on the body and mind. Those previous two examples were also classes that greatly interested me, and had vastly different uses of technology in them. Classes that do use a lot of new and exciting technology do appeal to me, though. I really enjoy learning in new ways, and often different ways of learning make me more engaged in the class. Submitting assignments online also makes completing work a lot easier and me less likely to procrastinate or get stressed, allowing me to complete the course more effectively. 

Does it matter to you if a teacher uses technology in class? Why or why not?

To me, it doesn’t really matter objectively but more has to do with the class being taught and the teacher teaching it. I think that it’s always great enrichment to use tech within classrooms, but I also can be completely satisfied in a class that does not use tech when the teacher is engaging and passionate about what they do. For example, my functions class used little to no technology but my teacher was so engaging and interested in the subject that I felt as though I had a just as accurate understanding of the course as I do in my calculus class where all lessons are taught on a smartboard. Technology certainly is a tool which often improves classes, but it is not essential to make a good class. I also completely believe that education in 21st century thinking skills such as information evaluation, and online safety education is absolutely essential in almost all classes to help prepare students for internet centred workplaces ahead of them.

I hope my perspective on technology and 21st century learning gives you some insight on how a student might view technology in classrooms, and the importance of educating students in a way that prepares them for the future. 

-Julia