MSTU 4020

The focus of my research project is to determine how students' social media accounts/online presence impacts New Jersey independent high school admissions.  Adults and teachers often remind high school and college aged students to be aware of what they post online, focusing digital citizenship lessons on a digital footprint and the understanding that what is posted online never really  goes away. According to the Associated Press's video below, "Social Media Footprint Leaves Impact on Students," posted in 2015, approximately 35% of college admissions officers check an applicant's social media prior to making an admissions decision, which has risen from 10% since 2008.   Since then, social media has only become more prevalent and available for people of all ages.  While most social media sites have policies that state a user must be at least 13 years old, many children begin signing up for accounts much earlier.  A study "Number of child, teen,

Question (summarized): In the article, the researchers recommend parents to give children limited access to social media.  In what ways can social media benefit academic performance? Over the course of the semester, I have become very interested in studying the influence of social media on education, so my answer to this question has very much evolved over the past few months.  Prior to this semester, I hadn't strongly considered social media on education, so my answer to this question has very much evolved over the past few months.  Prior to this semester, I hadn't strongly considered social media use on learning, so I'm not sure I would have supported its use in the classroom. I have experienced 1:1 device initiatives in schools, both in elementary, middle, and high schools, with students using a variety of technology (chromebooks, ipads, laptops, etc.) and due to a variety of factors, I've seen these devices often become more of a distraction.  As a technology

Designing an online community in such a brief period of time and with a large group of individuals was not an easy task, though I enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with a variety of others.  Our community "Wanderlust" aims to appeal to people who are interested in traveling on a budget.  While this is a pretty general topic that I'd like to think applies to most people, I think that's the point.  This focus would appeal to active posters who could find a niche within the community, while also being useful for the occasional user who may only be looking for a few recommendations on an upcoming trip. While I believe I am an outgoing person, I believe that joining a community in NYC can be somewhat daunting, especially when going to events by yourself.  Often, I find that people rarely attend events alone and will come with a friend or group of friends, and will then spend the majority of their time together instead of interacting with others.  When designin

Image Source: Buckets After reading the Bowman, Levine, Waite, and Gendron (2010) article "Can students really multitask? An experimental study of instant messaging while reading" about multitasking, along with several peer blogs with reactions to this article, I chose to focus this week's blog topic on exploring multitasking further.  While the article focused on individuals completing multiple literacy-oriented tasks at once which results in lower performance, I would like to generalize to any activities that can be multitasked.  In this day and age, Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) platforms like televisions, computers, phones, etc. allow us an increased opportunity for multitasking every day.  It seems obvious that splitting focus on any tasks will result in decreased performance, yet we still attempt it every day and the variety of technologies available make it easier to do so. National Geographic's series "Brain Games" explor

I believe that most technology has been created, or can be used, to solve an existing societal problem. Cell phones help us communicate (and as they continue to develop new capabilities, they solve a whole host of other problems). Cars enable us to move from place to place easily. ICTs provide a platform for sharing ideas and communicating with individuals globally, which we would not otherwise have access to, along with providing a wide variety of other uses that make the completion of daily tasks easier. This argument, that technology is created to solve existing societal problems supports a soft technological determinist point of view; In short, culture and society are influencing the creation and development of technology. However, I was particularly struck by the video "5 Crazy Ways Social Media is Changing Your Brain Right Now" by ASAPscience. This video provides strong evidence that supports a hard technological determinist standpoint that some technology, like

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) encompass a broad variety of digital tools. The infographic above from Tech Target provides a breakdown of many, but not all, of the components of ICTs and provides a definition: "The term information and communication technology (ICT) is generally accepted to mean all technologies that, combined, allow people and organizations to interact in the digital world." During last week's MSTU 4020 class, we were asked to discuss our "favorite" ICT. This was a difficult task because I am someone who uses so many different ICTs in a single day: communications, internet, software/hardware, transactions, etc. It was challenging to choose just one because some of the ICTs that I use are necessary for my job, schoolwork, and daily life. For me, when I think of naming a "favorite" of anything, whether it be a favorite movie, favorite food, or even a favorite ICT, it evokes a sense of choice . In this day and