I know class tumblr is open till Tuesday and maybe I could stand to have a few more posts, but right now I don’t think anything I post here would have much substance to it. I’ll just share a few thoughts about our class.

1- I felt inadequate and didn’t have much confidence in myself this semester. I would read these essays and articles and there were times I felt I did understand a point, but many times, my head was just spinning in confusion. It always seemed like people in class had a much better grasp on things in class as we discussed the readings. On the day that class was optional and we showed up to discuss our projects with the teacher, the class got into a discussion and quite a few people mentioned having the same feelings. It was quite a relief to hear that others felt the same way. I realized that I actually did have a much  better grasp on things than I thought, I realized that we were all learning as we discussed the readings and everyone shared their ideas and interpretations.

2- I really enjoyed seeing everyone’s final presentations. In most classes, I’ll watch presentations and there are times people do exceptionally well at keeping it interesting but it’s still on a boring teacher-chosen topic. The thing I liked most about our class was seeing all the different ideas people came up with. I’ve never had a class before where everyone’s project was so different. It’s cool that there will be individual papers, group papers, websites, videos, etc. And even more interesting because everyone has such a different focus with their project. I’m sure our teacher will actually enjoy grading our final projects, can’t say the same for any other teacher I had this semester.

3- To all others graduating this semester, HALLELUJAH. We did it! I’m trying not to be too paranoid with fear of failing a class or being told at last minute I missed a requirement. I’ll be much more relaxed when I finally have the degree in my hands. 

The past few days, I’ve noticed a few real-life situations that relate to class readings.

Discipline. This is something we discussed specifically in class and over tumblr. Sitting in the same seat every day in class. We’ve been in this semester for about thirteen weeks now, right? I’m understanding over someone taking “my” seat the first week or two as that isn’t time to really establish your territory in class. But when we’re in the end of the semester…you just don’t do it! I have a class in which we arrange our desks into a large semi circle. We have to move the desks when we get to class, but still,everyone takes “their” spot. I got to class and a girl was sitting in my spot, but her desk was far over enough that I just grabbed another desk and moved it to where I sit every day. The next day I got to class and she was there, smack dab in my spot. It throws off the entire class because then I have to sit somewhere else. Luckily, a guy who sits near me wasn’t there that day so it didn’t have to cause annoyance for everyone else.

Control. I sometimes take public transportation. I use my U card when taking public transport. In the past, I would often neglect to tap on/tap off. I’ve never once in my life been checked for fare on the trax, but when I take the bus I would always remember because the driver usually won’t let you on without paying. Recently, UTA is threatening to fine people who don’t tap on and off with a large fine (I think around $150) A newspaper article reported that UTA is working on a study to see where people are coming and going. I always knew I should tap on/off when I used public transport, but I had nothing to really control me to do it. With the risk of getting a fine, I now make it a point to always tap on/off.

Fordism. I work in a call center. We do customer-service phone surveys. The work is very monotonous, you call someone, ask the questions, end the survey. Start over. Recently, our office moved and with that move the management has really been pushing for better productivity. We’re not allowed to keep our belongings at our desk as it’s too much of a distraction. We have to keep our stuff in lockers like kids in junior high. I think we’re still allowed to keep pen and paper to draw, but you can’t be writing words. Yeah…I know it sounds ridiculous. I’m 22 years old and I have worked there for five years and don’t have any trust from my managers. Many of my co-workers say things like “We have to be robots to work here” or “It’s the Nazi regime” I look at it as Fordism. We go in for mundane tasks, doing the same thing over and over.

Disclaimer: I know these are all ridiculous examples. This post was meant to be light, I just found the simplest of connections that relate to some minor annoyances in life.

I know I’ll have time to present this in class but I just thought I’d make a post about this because there’s not much else for me to post about. For project 2, I did a paper called “Classrooms of the Future” in which I took the classroom at Fairmont High in Rainbows End and used real life examples to discuss how learning is evolving and what classrooms will look like in the future.

My final project will be an expansion on that. I will be creating a webpage of a virtual school. I’ll talk more about it when I do my presentation in class, but I’ll be modeling aspects of the school after some of of the readings we’ve done in class. This isn’t going to be one of those “Get your professional degree in 6 months!” schools. This is going to be a “real” university in the sense that it will be an accredited school and will have a different approach than the typical online schools you see such as western governors or university of phoenix.

This article can help you understand better the direction I want to go:

 http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/04/04/25-million-investment-backs-startup-aiming-create-elite-university

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/53772053-80/teens-texting-percent-texts.html.csp

I read this article in the paper today and I got to thinking about conversations I have over texting and those I have in person. I have noticed you can’t have a deep conversation with a friend over text. It just can’t be done, you can’t know the other person’s emotions or tone as you read their messages. A psychologist is quoted in this article as saying texting conversations are superficial. A communications professor at the University of Utah thinks otherwise. He says that we are able to compose our thoughts in more sophisticated ways when we have the time to actually write them out and unlike in a face-to-face conversation, we can take time to send our reply instead of responding right away. 

I can see both sides to the argument,although if I were to choose a side, I personally agree with the argument that texting conversations are for the most part, superficial. 

That we are never alone in carrying out a course of action requires

but a few examples. For instance, you have become so estranged from

your parents by a university degree that you have become ashamed of

how dumb they are. Reading critical sociologists, you realize that this

is the common experience of a whole generation of ‘upwardly mobile’

young kids from ‘lower class’ families lacking ‘cultural capital’. And

this is when you begin to wonder who has estranged you from your

very kin, who has molded your voice, your manners, your face so

differently from theirs? Perhaps a strange beast that pertains to no

one in particular and who is nobody’s responsibility. It is a force to

be sure, maybe a habitus. Second, you think you are in love with your

future partner. You read a statistical study of marriage patterns where

his age, his height, his revenue, his degrees, the distance between his

town and yours fit, within a very small margin, in the mean range of

what thousands of other young girls are in love with at almost exactly

the same period. So, who is in love then? Others for sure, a strange alien

agency that does not look like you, which has no eyes, no mouth, no

ears but which acts all the same. But how exactly?

I liked this paragraph because I notice similar behaviors in myself and many of my friends, classmates, acquaintances, etc. To me, this was the most blatant example of how people’s actions are very much affected by society. Throughout all my school years, the idea of college was pounded into my head. I had to go to college to get a degree or I’d be nothing but a bum for my entire life. I realize that there are possibilities in life without a college degree, but I think the actions of others have scared me into believing college is the only way. There is no doubt I would have attended college any way, but I have struggled and I wanted to give up many times. But with all I hear about no one being able to find jobs and how a degree will make me more marketable and give me a leg up in the workforce, I’ve been motivated to stay in school. On the bright side, it has worked out for me. Since my transfer to the U, I’ve grown to enjoy school more and have made a lot of self progress. The only point I’m trying to get at is that my actions and decisions to stay in school were very much motivated by others, not myself. 

The second example actually made me laugh, but it is the sad truth with many women I know. I could even say it’s partially true for myself, but I’m more of a realist and I know Prince Charming won’t come knocking at my door. Girls are absolutely conditioned by society to want a man with all those perfect features. with the portrayal of some famous men as being “sexiest man alive” or what not, would a woman actually find him attractive on first glance? I’m not trying to give a “Women are shallow” lecture here. I’m only pointing out that women are told by society to want a “hot” man. A man with a toned, muscular body. A man with a large income and a nice car. And you know what? I think the idea is nice, if you could fall in love with a man like that, many would think you had it made but are women actually in love with him or do they just love what he has?

When we were talking in class today about groups like Al Queada, Occupy Wall street, and Anonymous, I thought of another group that may fit into the same category. If you remember about a year ago, protests were organized throughout Egypt against the government. These protests were widely organized and made known through social media such as twitter and facebook. Pretty soon, residents of Egypt were blocked from these sites. I think this is a good example of networking as a group. There was no “leader” to any of these organized protests. The protests were made possible because these individuals worked together for a common cause. Here’s a link to an article about the protests to refresh your memory if you don’t know what I am talking about:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12289475

I wrote earlier about how I wanted to do a project related to Education and maybe using the tumblr blogs from class as part of my project. I got to thinking that I may try doing a project on what classrooms in the future will be like. I only graduated five years ago and already things seem to have changed a lot in high schools. Many schools are issuing students their own iPod’s or iPad’s so they can have all their textbooks on them. On the news recently I saw a story about Granger High School being rebuilt, and there are many features being built into the school to prepare for the future. They’re expecting to have computers in many of the classrooms for everyday use. I think I can also incorporate the tumblr blogs from this class into my project, because I think the online presence of our class is somewhat indicative of what future classes may be like. I’ve taken online classes, but the use of social media for class is a new concept to me. I think I’ll take futuristic examples of the school in Rainbows End and also find articles and such about real world schools and classes to do a project on what future classrooms will look like.

I still feel very unsure about this, but I’m struggling to come up with any other ideas for a good project. I saw posts about mashups and collaborations. I was thinking about maybe taking ideas and posts from the class tumblr blogs and doing a project on education. Education is a big part of Raindbows End with the school and seeing how all the people are learning amongst one another. I think it would also be a good way to show how we are building upon other ideas as we learn and do school projects or papers. I know this sounds really vague and at this point I have next to nothing, but maybe with a little more brainstorming I can come up with a good project using this idea, or maybe I’ll think of something better.