Freeze Blog Post #1

1.      1. Moving into 6^th grade was most definitely a huge change for me. Along with going to a new school all the students at Short Pump were given their own personal computer for the year. We literally had that computer at our side from 6^th grade all the way up till our 8^th grade graduation. It was awesome having this computer, but I was one of the slowest typists in my class. Luckily, I had signed up for the “wheel.” The “wheel” was where a student could sign up for a class for each nine weeks. After a nine weeks would be up then they would switch to the class for the second nine weeks and so on. I believe my keyboarding class was in the second nine weeks. My class was hard because the teacher would put cardboard over your hands and then you would type out a sentence. You were graded one how well you typed out the sentence. One mistake would be minus five points. Two mistakes would be minus ten points and so on. Therefore, learning how to type would be very important especially for the nine week grade. Every time we walked into the class we would start our assigned computer and start up a warm-up. It was my favorite time of the class because our warm-up was really a game.  Needless to say I learned my basic skill of typing in that class. Now I can type and not even look at the keyboard. 

2.      2. Yes, I do see a lot of similarities between some of the websites that I read. For instance on Melissa’s autobiography she had to take a computer class since she was in kindergarten. Also, she mentioned that her teacher covered her keyboard as well. The age is different though, I was in middle school at the time of my first computer class, yet she had her first computer class in elementary school. On Kristin’s page she mentioned how she was introduced to the computer lab when she was in elementary school as well. She never fully stated though that she had to learn to type or even simply when she learned. According to Claire in Through the Years she played on the computer but never specified if she took a class on how to type. I believe that through her playing on the computer she was learning skill about how to write.

3.      3. According to the different article and from my understanding to be digitally literate is understanding the use of technology and being capable of learning the different digital technologies that are foreign to us. Even though Technology is rapidly expanding being able to be literate in the advances lets users know how to work the device with little too few directions. Just like a language schools teach students how to be literate in digital technologies. That is a part of the curriculum these days. In order to be digitally literate you need to have an open mind and an understanding of technology. I believe that Kristen said the definition of a digital native the best “I feel like they have been there forever.” Honestly to be a digital native is to know how to speak the language. Natives know how to flow and that is the same as a digital native. They know how technology flows.

4.      4. In order for my generalizations to be true I would need to basically match up a digital native with a digital immigrant. Also, I would have to see how they obtained the information about technology and how often they use it. Also I would have to look and see how many schools are teaching based off of technology. Therefore if schools are teaching based off of technology they are teaching their students how to become digitally literate. Based on our class discussion people believe that digital literate means to be “fluent.” Also, they believe that the digital natives are people who can use technology with not a lot of thought and can use it well. According to Kristin her computer usage grew up when she grew up.  She hit her “technology revolution” when she was in high school. I believe that is true for most digital natives. They grow up with all of this technology yet they start really using it by the time they’re 14 or 15.

Bibliography:

Clinnin, Kaitlin. "Intro to Digital Technology 8/24." Video blog post. Prezi. Prezi INC., Aug.-Sept.       2011. Web. Aug.-Sept. 2011. <http://prezi.com/flykj0aogiyy/intro-to-digital-technology-824/>
Couillard, Claire. Through the Years: A Technology Literacy Narrative. Web. Aug.-Sept. 2011.              <https://scholar.vt.edu/access/content/group/2a92dc99-d203-48aeab73b6922383b165                /Unit%201%20Readings/a_technology_literacy_narrativefinal.pdf>

Higgins, Melissa. “Web Literacy Autobiography,” Bgsu.com.   Web. July-Aug. 2011. <http://www.bgsu.edu/cconline/Karper/student-work/eagles.niagara.edu_80/mhiggins/WebLiteracyAutobiographyintro.html>

Peworchik, Kristin. "My Web Literacy Biography." Bgsu.com. Web. July-Aug. 2011. <http://www.bgsu.edu/cconline/Karper/student-work/eagles.niagara.edu_80/kpeworchik/FrontPage.html>.