http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/opinion/sunday/quality-homework-a-smart-idea.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Read the above article and comment on how you think media (and modern technology that generates new forms of media) affects the learning process and homework possibilities both negatively and positively.
I think that media and modern technology has affected the learning process and homework both negatively and positively. The way it affects it negatively is because social websites and television is time consuming. Children/teenagers tend to ignore their homework when it comes to both of these things. Homework is really the reinforcement of what students learn in school. When students disregard this, they can be only hurting themselves and their learning process. One positive way in which media can help is that it can help students with certain information that they may not know or would find in the textbook.
ReplyDeleteMedia and modern technology both has a negative and positive effect on kids these days. As the generations pass, technology is going to take up a big part in students lives. A negative effect would be that with all these social networks kids tend to procrastinate on homework, projects etc.. A positive effect would be that the internet is not limited to only a little bit of information and when students use it for school it cant be very useful.
ReplyDeleteMedia makes the learning process and homework possibilities better but also can be bad in certain ways. The media makes homework and learning much easier because we have information disposable at our fingertips. Someone has a research paper? Finding out information about the subject at hand is so much easier. Have to write about the latest Congress meeting but missed it on CSPAN? The easiest thing to do is go on Youtube or on the news website and watch it. Sure, media has a good affect on learning and homework but at the same time it has a negative effect as well. Due to socializing websites, such as Facebook, Twitter, AIM, etc, students get distracted very easily while attempting to do their homework. It's very tempting and no matter how much you don't want to, you end up there. As an example, while attempting to read and do this homework, I somehow ended up signing onto Facebook and socializing for a few minutes. But pretty much, media has both a negative and positive affect on learning and homework for many reasons.
ReplyDeleteThe media and modern technology can have both its advantages and disadvantages when it comes down to learning. Firstly, it can be seen as both a positive and negative effect when the media allows you to change your opinion or be biased on a certain topic, such as politics or religion. Children these days are too preoccupied in obtaining information with what's going on in pop culture and the latest gossip, but fail to recognize the importance of homework. Fortunately, on the other hand, the media and modern technology have provided us with faster and more efficient ways in receiving our information and news. We are able to learn current events and any other recent updates due to our technology. Another advantage to the media is that it has tons and tons of information so homework can never go undone if you have a computer or tv, etc. We learn new things everyday with the aid of the news, radio, or internet. Technology and the media are both necessary to us, whether it be in a good way or a harmful one.
ReplyDeleteIf you ask any teenager, when doing homework, almost 75% of the time students rely on technology to do their homework such as typing a research paper. Of course like everything in this world, technology and media have both positive and negative effects. One advantage is that technology can provide a wide range of information that can be useful to your learning abilities. If you can’t seem to find some information you’re looking for students always find themselves “googling it”. On the other hand relying TOO much on technology can be dangerous. Plagiarizing work that isn’t your own can be one outcome of relying on technology. This deprives students from enhancing their analytical abilities. Everything in moderation can always be beneficial.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I found interesting about this article was when the author discussed the amount of time certain teachers spend covering one single topic. This amount of time can be considered as too little or too much time. When you don't cover a topic enough, it causes students to forget what they learned. When a teacher spends too much time, it gets repetitive and less interesting after a while. According to the New York Times Article, “Spaced repetition” is one example of the kind of evidence-based techniques that researchers have found have a positive impact on learning. Here’s how it works: instead of concentrating the study of information in single blocks, as many homework assignments currently do — reading about, say, the Civil War one evening and Reconstruction the next — learners encounter the same material in briefer sessions spread over a longer period of time.” Personally, I think this is a good idea. If topics were studied hand in hand with each other it would be easier to learn, and will help the student remember the lesson for a longer period of time.
I feel that media has more of a positive than negative effect on the learning process. Since teenagers are so used to being on the computer, and reading things online, they tend to remember the information read online more. The media helps find information, as well as distinguish some myths. It also shows different ways of solving a problem or even different, simpler terms to remember important information by. These different forms of learning can ultimately lead to more students being able to interleave much easier, because their minds will see the problem/ question and interpret the many different ways by which it can be solved/ answered. The media also has many distractions, such as socializing networks, Google, games, etc, but then again everything has its downfall. Not many teenagers sit down and read the newspaper every morning, I know I don’t; so without these socializing networks and search engines, many teenagers would not know much of the local events that are occurring.
ReplyDeleteMedia and modern technology have both negative and positive effects on the learning process and homework.
ReplyDeleteIt is very difficult for me to do homework on the computer. I leave many tabs open of social networking sites and they distract me from doing my homework. As hard as it is to do homework on the computer, it's also hard to learn anything via technology (in my opinion). There are just too many distractions.
On the other hand, media and modern technology have positives effects on the learning process and homework. Because of the advanced technology we have in today's society, it is so quick and easy to find answers to any question we have. Let's be honest, we all have used websites such as "Google" or "Bing" to help us with our assignments (with respect to school regulations). Media and modern technology also help with the learning process which can be seen in the article. Studies for new learning techniques such as "spaced repition", "retreival practice", "cognitive disfluency", and "interleaving" were most likely computed on technology and sent to other schools as a suggestion to practice.
Media and modern technology are sometimes a distraction but they sure are helpful.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteModern technology and media can have both its ups and downs.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm not only speaking for myself when I say the internet can be distracting while I do my homework. The many blinking notifications of social networking sites catch my attention every now and then when I look up from a textbook or a worksheet. Then suddenly a quick two minute check can turn into fifteen minutes--a total waste of time.
However, having internet is comparable to having a billion textbooks, and then some, accessible to you in a single press of a button. So yes, the internet actually CAN help you with homework by providing tons of information without the bulk of paper.
The media, especially the internet, can harm a person's learning experience and dedication to homework assignments. Say a student is typing an essay, yet at the same time, their internet browser is open with Facebook, YouTube, etc. on multiple tabs. I can speak for myself, as well as many others, when I say that this is a definite distraction and can harm someone's grade for that particular assignment.
ReplyDeleteNot only that, but Sparknotes, a website used to "assist" students gain a better understanding of their reading material is abused in ways unimaginable by English teachers. Having a source like this on the internet is torturous temptation.
However, the internet also has it's pros when coming to learning and homework. Edline is a prime example of one of these pros; now, we use Edline as an easier way to find our homework and other school news on a convenient webpage personalized to fit the needs of each student in our school. Also, research papers have been made a lot easier to complete with search engines and many online sources to help collect our information.
Technology definitely affects the way I do my homework, especially the internet. I usually say "Thank goodness the internet was invented!" or "WHY was the internet invented?!?!" because the internet either helps me quickly finish my homework or helps me quickly get distracted from finishing my homework.
ReplyDeleteMany social networking sites are addicting causing us to waste our time on it but, a pro to these sites is that, when you need assistance, your friends can help you and vice versa! I am pretty sure this is the same for other students as well, and if you are not easily distracted, then my dear friend, kudos to you!
Technology has definitely come along way with how students nowadays are able to learn. Calculators definitely help save time and the internet is a free library that is filled with so much information! There are cases when the information taught at school is much more complicated, while some sites have more simple explanations that be understood more quickly.
In the end, media and modern technology positively affect our lives in so many ways, however, because it has positives, it definitely has its negatives.
Media and Modern Technology has both positive and negative effects towards the learning process. In this day and age, when kids don't know an answer to a problem, they quickly turn to the internet. This is good because they are able to solve their problem but it's also bad because they get so accustomed to turning to the internet for solutions that when the time comes that they have to write a paper, they will take ideas from someone else's work on the internet and make it as their own. Television and the internet serve as a major distraction in completeing homework.
ReplyDeleteMedia technology can be helpful when it comes to the learning process because face it, student would prefer to work on a computer then writing in a book. However, I admit that procrastination would most likely take over a less focus students' mind and be distracted by the other things available to do on the computer.
ReplyDelete"The quantity of students’ homework is a lot less important than its quality. And evidence suggests that as of now, homework isn’t making the grade."
ReplyDeleteToday in class we read a NY Times article on the trouble with homework. While some believe that teens have too much homework, and the much of it is 'busywork,' others believe that teachers need to dole out homework more frequently and in larger quantities to make up for "empty-headed teenagers sitting before computer screens, consumed by video games and social networking sites."
In my opinion, not only is homework often overloaded on teens, but teenagers physically and mentally suffer from the amount of homework they receive every night. If you ask any teen about how many hours of sleep they get a night, you might be shocked to find that almost no one will say that they get more than 5 or 6 hours of sleep, if that much. In an effort to try and get good grades and not miss homework assignments, students stay up until the wee hours of the morning writing essays and filling out worksheets. Because of this, these students come into school tired and irritable which often causes them to doze of in class or snap at fellow students. If a student has a test or quiz the next day, they may not do as well as they normally would had they have had an adequate amount of sleep. In turn, this causes many teenagers’ grades to drop, resulting in aggravated teachers and parents alike. This vicious cycle can be seen in high schools (and many elementary schools) across America.
How can we fix this problem? The author of the article, Ms. Annie Paul, suggests using a technique known as “spaced repetition” to reduce the amount of homework given every night while still allowing the students to learn as much as possible. While I believe this may be an effective strategy, the truth is I just don’t know. As a student, I can’t imagine my life without homework – it’s a part of my everyday life and, for better or for worse, I have to do it – but it would be nice to get a lighter load or, on occasion, get no homework at all. While I don’t think homework should be blotted out entirely, I do believe the system of assigning homework needs some serious retooling.
Media technoloy in student life is very helpful. It helps the educaton process by because students of our aes are very computer savy. We have no choice but to use our resources and be able to to do ourhomeworkand research.
ReplyDeleteMedia technology can be negative and positive. Students would find it a lot easier to do their homework assignemnts on the compter because most students go on the computer at least once a day. It would be easier for them to complete the assignments but that can also be a bad thing. The only thing that makes media technology negative is social networking and procrastination. The internet has so many different ways to communicate with other people and this might be a problem if the students are on social networks and trying to complete homework assignements. Even though media technology has its positives and negatives nothing is perfect.
ReplyDeleteChanging media technology can affect the learning process greatly. Media technology such as televisions, radios, and computers are distractions to most children. With these electronics as students we tend to lean toward them instead of our homework. The less homework one does, the more he/she forgets what’s going on in the classroom. On the other hand, students can also learn from media technology and/or reinforce information found in books. Over all media technology will affect students, it is up to the student whether he/she will let it affect them in a bad way.
ReplyDeleteSometimes changing media technology can be a burden to both students and teachers as well. Learning how to use these new technologies can be extremely time consuming and annoying. These advances in technology are intended to help make things quicker for our everyday uses of technology. Technology can help us gain access to information that we would never have. All in all technology is great but it is sometimes misused. Some people may take advantage of technology for instance on the internet by not giving credit where credit is due. Technology is also somewhat making kids lazy. They don’t have to go through the long process of searching up a word in the dictionary or looking up information from a book at the library.
ReplyDelete