Blog 7

Virtual High Schools the Future?

Today we talked with the staff of Provost Academy. It was pretty interesting seeing how much thought went into creating these schools. There of course are going to be issues with public schools allowing extracurricular activities because it’s taking business away from their schools. The founder certainly did his research on how to monitor and observer students and the best ways to approach different areas. I wanted to know how they were funded I figured they were state funded but some people didn’t think so, I thought it might have been rude to ask. Overall it does sound better now that I got a glimpse of the processes by which they will run the school. There are a lot of neat ideas and technologies. I think this will be a great improvement over homeschooling normal practices. It will allow the people to have more interacting with others. It will also allow them to become more technology savvy without them really noticing. It will be pretty interesting to see how this works out. And I was really impressed to see how many people signed for a first year test school program.

Blog 6

Don’t hate appreciate

There is a need to become cloud friendly. There is a need to, and not only for your own benefit but it is also vital for learning and teaching purposes. As tech people we need to fallow trends of technology and of the populous. In recent years people have been taking advantage of the “cloud” (internet networks) for many purposes such as replace of hardware, applications, and technology structure. It is easy to keep using the methods that we know and discard the advantages of the new outlook on technology. It kind of like trying teaching an old dog new tricks, it’s hard and sometimes impossible because people don’t want to take the time to learn new methods they are fine with the way things are. This is especially dangerous to tech people it is our duty to keep up with technology and methods of such. We are the go to people for the questions, even if they are obvious questions. New methods create new ways to handle tasks and could help improve performance. They could improve the work place and process lessening the load of tasks and obstacles.

The cloud technologies are breaking down the barriers allowing global access and flexibility. Don’t discard mobile devious as unimportant technologies, virtual worlds, or cloud computing techniques as well. Staying involved helps you stay involved and up-to-date with the possibilities of technology and benefits. Each younger generation is accepting and building of new technology break-throughs accelerating past older generations because they ignore the possibilities and the admirations for their technological abilities.

What new trends and technology do you see the need to focus on?

Blog 5

Adult Learning the point of no return?

I work as tech support for the Chemistry college of USC. And we have a couple of adult Faculty members that are pretty much oblivious to change. Anything from the icons on the desktop not in the right place to the way a programs opens up. They hate change even though it can improve function in their field and lifestyle. You will get an ear full if the computer doesn’t do exactly the way they want. Why is the older generation so uptight about change when the younger generation seeks change? For my part in the online teaching of Google I am going to teach the usage of Picasa by Google. The good thing about this situation is that these adults are looking for or finally accepting the need for change.

From past experience I have notice that older adults just want to do things the way they have be doing things for years. I guess the younger generation is just more use to multi-tasking and changes in technology that it seems natural for change. But I can’t really blame them because if I was 60 or above I would hate to learn new things that discard my previous knowledge. But right now my brain wants to know why things work so I can use them. The other generation could care less and just use bits and pieces of the technology capability to just get by. Ignorance leads to identify theft and security issues. Most of them could care less about security they think they are immune for some reason. People take advantage of those types of people.

My question to this whole post is why older people hate change? I respect those that try and make effort to accept change. It’s not that I disrespect them it’s more of feeling sorry for the way they don’t care to try and it could hurt them in the end.

Blog 4

Reflections

Most of the needs assessment part was already developed before we began the team project. Matthew Ligon met with the coordinator of the SC Department of Education, to discuss which subject he would like for the workshops and how we should approach them. There is a need to inform teachers about Google Apps because as technology becomes more important to the education system there is a growing need to have technical skills. These Google Apps could help assist them in the classroom and outside the classroom. Many teachers don’t make use of new technologies especially those that derive from the web 2.0 technologies. My module focuses on the subject of Google Picasa and Google Talk. Since we switched the models some we need to clear up who’s now doing what in the models. I will be working along with Christopher Lambert on either of the two Apps and help develop a story board. Picasa is a great photo and image manager that will help aid teachers who use a lot of visual aids. Google Talk will create better communication between teachers and students with real time talking abilities that rival that of Skype but without the phone service. I think the best thing about Google Apps is that Google offers these Apps free of charge, which is really great because of the bad economy.

For the design phase we talked about the method on how we are going to produce screen capturing with CamStudio on virtual machines, if necessary. We also did some reconstructing of our original scheduled tasks and rearranged them to better subsidize the modules. The Nicenet website will allow us to construct our own working area similar to that of blackboard for teaching purposes with the ability of discussion boards. The screen capture videos will probably be hosted on Youtube for easy access and service free solutions. I personally never performed any screen capturing in order to help teach someone how to perform tasks and for informative purposes. I will gain insight and observation on what maybe my weaknesses and strengths in this style of teaching. It can allow me to help people by giving videos demonstrating tasks and solutions to computer problems.

“Second Life Becoming Something that Isn’t Real to Create Real Results”

Second Life an online virtual paradise for people looking for a new life outside the boundaries and regulations of the “real” world. This social network gathering of individuals live separate lives as avatars to imamate their actions as if they are new people in a different world. Second Life has been target point for people looking for a virtual self that is not restricted by the physical world. This desire has created a large community of individuals and where ever there is a large group of people money has a chance to be profited from the group.

Businesses have used Second Life as a market area everything from advertisement to selling goods. From this idea sprouted the idea that the opposite can also happen to help businesses. Meaning why not use Second Life as a way to cut costs such as a method of E-Learning or having Virtual Meetings? Being able to meet from almost any place that has access to the internet allows people in difficult geographical locations to meet in one place cutting costs, gas emissions, time, and hassle from traveling. I heard of IBM using this Virtual world for meeting before, and I bet other companies and schools have also toyed with the idea of using it as well.

I myself can see great potential out of the idea of long distance interaction and E-Learning with the use of the internet. The internet is still in a maturing and development stage. Until they create faster bandwidths for everyone that handle the kind of internet that I foresee in my head the potential won’t be met. But let’s focus on the present. I don’t just want to focus on the Second Life community but rather what it is creating. An interactive internet and world.

E-Learning is the idea learning from any place that has internet or some form of network system. What if we could use these ideas and create a new level of interaction between people by creating real world interaction simulations that could open our minds and interaction skill level like we do in real life? What I’m getting at the idea of reading, listening, and seeing are very limited and have low impacts on our learning skills in the long run. But if we can interact with data and people, just like they were really there, it could really affect our learning abilities. Second Life is opening that idea of real interaction and communication. Right now we are just using it for pleasure, but if we were to focus its potential it could change the way we learn and interact. Many want to use the internet to break the boundaries between virtual and physical. Could it happen? Who knows? The point I’m getting at is E-Learning is very limited right now in the way it attracts people, how it teaches them, and how it makes people participate. What if we could make them want to interact just as if they were in a real classroom?

I am not supporting the idea of being dormant in your room surfing the internet or interacting over the internet all day, but the idea of braking barriers to cultures and availability is a possibility and has great potential to come out of it. Chat rooms that felt like you were talking with someone in the same room and virtual schools that helped you truly learn with a new level of interactive abilities.

In what ways do you see the internet changing E-Learning abilities in the future? Better yet how will Virtual world type atmospheres change the way we learn?

Organizational Culture thrives in Emotional Intelligence.

Nominated last year as “the number one place to work” by Fortune 500, Google was recently featured in a news segment by NBC News. Google remained anonymous throughout the beginning of the segment as NBC began to describe the wonderful workplace environment making the viewer salivate for such a place to work. Google offers everything from gourmet food, play/game rooms, exercise facilities, and luxury benefits, to loose restrictions in the work areas. Experiencing such a positive environment, Google employees have happily rewarded their employers. This has been evidenced by “tremendous job loyalty” and employees with deep innovation which has resulted in huge productivity. Inspiration is passed down from it founders’ views as Vice President of People Operations summed up the work environment of Google in one phrase “hierarchy is bad, and monolific teams are bad.” Even with all the expensive luxury benefits Google brings in a record amount of revenue. Google receives around 3,000 applications a day and 1,000,000 a year.

My first impression of the video was “I want to work at Google.” The atmosphere does seem to create a less stressful environment with the comfort of “if you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours” mentality. It is actually an ingenious idea of comforting your employees to the point that they are extremely productive. But I wonder what really happens to the mental state of the workers? Is there such a thing as job security? I can only imagine that the competitive nature of each job, along with the thousands of applications that come in every week, must put extreme pressure on the employees to be productive. The idea of thousands of ingenious programmers and management people seeking your job would be extremely stressful. However, if there is a decent job security clause for employees then I can see why Google is setting record profit levels. Looking at the whole picture and package, I could thrive in such an environment like Google has produced. I feel that I could be much more productive for employers that see me as a human being first.

Now how does all this involve emotional intelligence? Emotional intelligence involves the emotional state and how it affects you and everyone around you, including your work. When Google satisfies its employees it helps them mentally and emotionally to work without too much pressure. Making the atmosphere energetic, loose, fun, and luxury helps make an employee work more comfortably and confident.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6h-gm01Fb0&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fachak.com%2Fgoogle-best-place-to-work-for&feature=player_embedded#t=346

Blog 1 (TSTM544)

Is technology disruptive or constructive?

Before technology was common place, all business related teachings rotated around business philosophy, methods, and concepts. Just before the real internet began the new technology called E-mail was being used in its early stages. Many businesses at first didn’t know what to do with the new technology. Many saw it as a disruptive technology and not in the good way we use the term today. They first saw it as a method that would get in the way of their structured business methods and daily operations. But it soon caught on as a technology that created faster response and a ways to increase innovative business structures. This topic of disruptive technology makes me think of Google Wave. I still have my doubts about its success, but I’d like to be wrong. I love innovation and change. As the internet becomes more and more mature ideas seem to be decreasing and innovation becoming less common place. Sure websites are changing layouts but nothing new since the idea of Facebook and youtube for video sharing has come to the internet in a while. Many people sit back and wonder what is next, there feels like nothing left to discover. I have some ideas but some of them are still far in the future if any. At many times I feel my internet experience becoming “dry.” I want something to peak my interest.

Like I said before I had bad vibs from the first mention of Google Wave. But maybe I should be more open to the idea. This could lead to something even greater down the line. It could become a positive disruptive technology. The definition of disruptive technology is the idea that technology will bring for innovations that could improve business processes and day to day actives in methods the market didn’t foresee. Technically Wikipedia has a better definition, I just summarized it. This reflects the way youtube changed the market with the idea of exchange videos.

Many people believe Google Wave will be the “new email.” Probably not, but it could be a hybrid of email, chat, video, and interaction that could help develop innovative structure in the business place and culture. I believe E-mail will still be the “professional” method of most business oriented projects. But like I said “Google prove me wrong, and change the way we see the internet.”

What are your thoughts on Google Wave? Will it just be a fad for the younger generation or something much more?