Digital Living

So the husband and I are taking a little trip this week. My sister-in-law, the beautiful Miss Karly is set to marry the dashing young Travis on the beach in Santa Barbara, Ca this Thursday.

With four children, a household, a business, and an online class to manage the prep work alone for such an endeavor is no small feat. As I was perusing some of the resources posted to our discussion forum this week it occurs to me that I can manage just about every logistical necessity of this trip right in the palm of my hand, amazing. Digital Living indeed!

I suppose it also means there is not a true vacation anymore, but I will choose to focus on the positive. So lets see,

Hotel reservation confirmation.... check
Dog and Cat Fed by neighbor-Reminder and thank you text sent ....check
Email confirming Receipt, processing, and delivery of this weeks payroll......check
Discussion posts responses.......check

Now if they could only make an application that will pack our bags!

Huerta 3B

This weeks reading, particularly the chapter Creators, was very interesting to me. What I initially wanted to write about was the fading use of what I learned was low-tech media. From my fellow classmates, Ashleigh's discussion post I learned that cursive writing was not being taught to one of her younger siblings, they are no longer submitting papers in cursive, but via computer.  I remember learning cursive myself, I remember when my 15 year old learned it in elementary school, and come to think of it I have yet to see my 8 year old Wyatt be taught the skill. I was searching for articles that would support the continued education of such skills. I really could not find anything on the matter. I found that my thoughts on the matter were not really a foundation for an argument or discussion, but more my own opinion.

Upon further investigation I  found more support for teaching our Educators to use more digital technology in their classrooms. Other articles I found actually found fault with our schools for teaching archaic skills the like of cursive, when there were so many other skill sets more relevant to today's youth. How indeed can you argue with a statement like that? 

I did come across more proponents for using digital technology in teaching special needs students. From my skimming of several articles I was able to see that they have found digital technology to be particularly useful in keeping the attention of not only at risk youth, but autistic children as well. I am thinking of developing a discussion topic on this subject if I can find enough research to build upon.

Although, I do find it more helpful to build a paper when you identify your "Nay Sayer" as Graff and Birkenstein suggest in They say/I say,  I am finding it challenging to find them. I suppose it is not in my mature to willing consider opposing ideas as valid. This only reaffirms to me that I have a lot to learn in the area of academic writing.

The templates provided  have been a great tool in learning the construction process of sound arguments. I find it confidence building to have an idea, research it, then present my findings based on a sound foundation. Especially when the findings agree with my ideas :). I  did catch myself wanting to email Mrs. Record with a question of What if?  "What if I cannot find the foundation with which to support an argument"? The I realized that if there is not argument perhaps my thought on the subject are only ideas based on, as suggested in the online lecture for week two, "values, opinion and views based on my own life experience". It is a learning experience to understand the difference between academic opinions and those based on my exposure to the world.

Huerta 2b

Having my teenage son, Seth, diagnosed with Epilepsy the summer prior to his Freshman year was an event we could not have seen coming. He had a seizure while at a friends house. Getting a frantic call that my son had gone by ambulance to our local hospital was surreal. As I look back now, just 14 months after that incident I think, as a family, we have managed it well.

In Born Digital on Pages 64-65, Palfrey and Gasser tell the imagined story of Natalie and her parents. Natalie has Epilepsy, she does not always wear her medical bracelet that would stand to warn medical personal of her condition. As a safety precaution her parents decide to have her implanted with an RFID chip. Oh how this scenario resonated with me. In the book, I believe the authors to be trying to show how parents unwittingly expose their children's privacy. The privacy issue was not an issue at all with me. The RFID chip however was. I found it deeply troubling that any parent would have such a devise implanted in their child. Even the authors seem to take issue with these devices as they refer to them as "draconian" on page 48.

To be honest, my fears of such things are most likely rooted in my faith. Having any computer implantation device, in any of my children, would never be an option for me. This is a belief that was taught to me by my Christian parents. And while I've come to know my own understanding and translation of the book of Revelations I cannot help but hear the words "Mark of the Beast" in my head relating to such things as implantation devices.

Now my more rational, analytical self can see the logic and even benefit of such a device. I can understand the fictional parents worry and concern for their daughter’s condition. The importance of medical personal knowing her condition, and medication to treat said condition, is not lost on me. With all that said, for my child, I will continue to rely on a medical alert band, as well as a well informed circle that includes school officials, family, and friends to communicate Seth’s condition those necessary.