13
Jul
2021
Jul
2021
VR and AR acceptance rate
categories: AR, e-learning, educational technology, information technology, instructional technology, VR
#Millennials most accepting, before #GenZ
Searching for "millennial"
24
Feb
2021
Feb
2021
Cultural peculiarities
- Richard Nissbett and his study about the differences between the East and West
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2016/06/14/cultural-differences/ - Hofstede and Michael Minkov
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2018/04/15/no-millennials-gen-z-gen-x/
16
Dec
2020
Dec
2020
Pastel QAnon
This Will Change Your Life
Why the grandiose promises of multilevel marketing and QAnon conspiracy theories go hand in hand
The Concordia University researcher Marc-André Argentino has a name for people like Schrandt: “Pastel QAnon.” These women—they are almost universally women—are doing the work of sanitizing QAnon, often pairing its least objectionable elements (Save the children!) with equally inoffensive imagery: Millennial-pink-and-gold color schemes, a winning smile. And many of them are members of multilevel-marketing organizations—a massive, under-examined sector of the American retail economy that is uniquely fertile ground for conspiracism. These are organizations built on foundational myths (that the establishment is keeping secrets from you, that you are on a hero’s journey to enlightenment and wealth), charismatic leadership, and shameless, constant posting. The people at the top of them are enviable, rich, and gifted at wrapping everything that happens—in their personal lives, or in the world around them—into a grand narrative about how to become as happy as they are. In 2020, what’s happening to them is dark and dangerous, but it looks gorgeous.
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more on QAnon in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=qanon
28
Nov
2020
Nov
2020
18 Pros & Cons of Online Education
categories: digital divide, Digital literacy, Gen Z, instructional technology, Millennials, pedagogy
https://cognitiontoday.com/pros-and-cons-of-online-education-and-learning/
- Access to variety
- More autonomy, flexibility, & control
- Native digital habits
- Extended brain
- Easier Relatability
- Easier self-expression
- Distribution of learning resources
- Competition for quality
Cons/Disadvantages of learning online
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Gateway to procrastination
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Online disinhibition & psychological distance
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Merging of formal & informal environments
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Opportunities for technological & human errors
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High cost of transition
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Weak boundaries & monotony
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Lack of buffer activities and time gaps
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Cyberbullying & threats
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Alpha
Meet Generation Alpha. Here’s How Their Lives Will Be Different Than Previous Generations
Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, & Gen Alpha: What Generation Am I?
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more on online ed in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=online+education
22
Nov
2019
Nov
2019
Zuckerberg politics and money
categories: Facebook, social media
Thiel is notorious among Silicon Valley billionaires for explicitly endorsing Trump in 2016 and speaking at the Republican National Convention that year. Thiel, a libertarian who runs a company that enhances government surveillance efforts, has also questioned the value of women voting.
a series of dinners at Zuckerberg’s home in California with conservative pundits and activists like white supremacist Tucker Carlson of Fox News.
It’s safe to say that Zuckerberg’s politics are issue-specific and generally party-agnostic.
Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard after two years. Zuckerberg has enrolled for the past decade at the University of Davos, where rich people pretend they are smart and smart people pander to the rich. If someone chooses to study world politics from Henry Kissinger, you can assume that he will have some twisted views of how the world works.
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More on Siva Vaidhyanathan in this IMS blog:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2018/04/15/no-millennials-gen-z-gen-x/
14
Oct
2019
Oct
2019
Teaching the MTV learner
categories: announcement
My note: 17 years after, and several generations after (Millennials, Gen Z) the observations still hold
Singer, M. (2002, February 13). Teaching the MTV Learner. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/Teaching-the-MTV-Learner/46241
Britney Spears does have more appeal than most quadratic equations. With thousands of dollars of high-tech digital engineering spent on every word uttered, or in this case, sung, how can the typical college professor compete?
“In China today, Bill Gates is Britney Spears. In America today, Britney Spears is Britney Spears-and that is our problem.” ― The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/304461-in-china-today-bill-gates-is-britney-spears-in-america
MTV Learners are seeking warp-speed answers to their life issues. They want to know: “What does this information (your course) have to do with me (self-actualization)?” and “What does this information (your course) have to do with my career (my choice of vocation)?”
Be democratic, not autocratic. Instead of management by fiat, try taking regular opinion polls and surveys of your students to determine the specific methods of teaching your course.
Try to eliminate the lecture-test, lecture-test, lecture-test format and substitute other learning models that accentuate the choices of the MTV Learner. Focus on the quality of your syllabus as a giant “master operating agreement” that presents the learning objectives of your course and related policies in a manner that is as clear and as easy to understand as possible. Without sounding too litigious on your syllabus, present the consequences of missed absences, overdue work, incomplete assignments, and the like.
13
Oct
2019
Oct
2019
digitally native need computer help
The Smartphone Generation Needs Computer Help
Young people may be expert social-media and smartphone users, but many lack the digital skills they need for today’s jobs. How can we set them up for success?
https://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/grow-google-2019/smartphone-generation-computer-help/3127/
Kenneth Cole’s classroom at the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County, located on a quiet residential street in Madison, Wisconsin.
The classes Cole teaches use Grow with Google’s Applied Digital Skills online curriculum.
One day he may lead Club members in a lesson on building digital resumes that can be customized quickly and make job-seeking easier when applying online. Another day they may create a blog. On this particular day, they drew up a budget for an upcoming event using a spreadsheet. For kids who are often glued to their smartphones, these types of digital tasks, surprisingly, can be new experiences.
The vast majority of young Americans have access to a smartphone, and nearly half say they are online “almost constantly.”
But although smartphones can be powerful learning tools when applied productively, these reports of hyperconnectivity and technological proficiency mask a deeper paucity of digital skills. This often-overlooked phenomenon is limiting some young people’s ability—particularly those in rural and low-income communities—to succeed in school and the workplace, where digital skills are increasingly required to collaborate effectively and complete everyday tasks.
According to a survey by Pew Research Center, only 17 percent of Americans are “digitally ready”—that is, confident using digital tools for learning. Meanwhile, in a separate study, American millennials ranked last among a group of their international peers when it came to “problem-solving in technology-rich environments,” such as sending and saving digital information
teach his sophomore pupils the technology skills they need in the workplace, as well as soft skills like teamwork.
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more on digitally native in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=digitally+native
more on millennials in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=millennials
18
Sep
2019
Sep
2019
App Gap
categories: educational technology, social media
Higher Ed Needs to Bridge the ‘App Gap’ to Reach Students
By Gordon Freedman Nov 29, 2018
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-11-29-higher-ed-needs-to-bridge-the-app-gap-to-reach-students
Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) or Gen Z (born after 1996)
Today’s youth culture lives in apps—not for the sake of the technology itself, but for the rich social, psychological identity-driven mash-up that define a person, group, interactions and opinions.
When a Millennial or Gen Z-er accesses a new consumer app, it is as simple as opening the morning newspaper is for their parents or grandparents. However, when the same people look at a college schedule, fill out paperwork or an online form, access or save records that they may need later, and, eventually, try to conjure it all at the end of this process, they are stopped in their tracks.
Building a Brand, User Testing Apps, Social Media Marketing
By contrast, when brands and memes compete on social media, young people pay attention.
Without those social signals as well as continual feedback from their friends and influencers— what the younger generations rely on for context—they are likely on very different wavelengths from the colleges who want them to attend and stay, training and outreach opportunities vying for their attention, and employers who need reliable entry hires.
Each generational shift suffers a cultural communication schism, noticeable at home and in school, that in the past was navigable by the time young people focused on college or career training, or entered the workforce. Today, this is not happening.
The gap between the traditional practices and the social and consumer app world is serious. Simply creating app-like technology to mimic older processes is not the answer.
Equity is more than creating more organizational programs or developing more ineffective websites without adequate measures for engaging and empowering young people who need support.
22
Jun
2019
Jun
2019
bluetooth and surveillance
Did you know that companies use the Bluetooth capabilities on your phone to track your movements in retail stores, gyms, airports, and more? I didn’t.
Turning Bluetooth off doesn’t stop them.
(Re-tweeting because my last tweet contained an error.)https://t.co/qRdcpErVb4
— Susan Fowler (@susanthesquark) June 14, 2019
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/14/opinion/bluetooth-wireless-tracking-privacy.html
Recent reports have noted how companies use data gathered from cell towers, ambient Wi-Fi, and GPS. But the location data industry has a much more precise, and unobtrusive, tool: Bluetooth beacons.
Most people aren’t aware they are being watched with beacons, but the “beacosystem” tracks millions of people every day. Beacons are placed at airports, malls, subways, buses, taxis, sporting arenas, gyms, hotels, hospitals, music festivals, cinemas and museums, and even on billboards.
Companies like Reveal Mobile collect data from software development kits inside hundreds of frequently used apps. In the United States, another company, inMarket, covers 38 percent of millennial moms and about one-quarter of all smartphones, and tracks 50 million people each month. Other players have similar reach.
What is an S.D.K.?A Software Development Kit is code that’s inserted into an app and enables certain features, like activating your phone’s Bluetooth sensor. Location data companies create S.D.K.s and developers insert them into their apps, creating a conduit for recording and storing your movement data.
Beacons are also being used for smart cities initiatives. The location company Gimbal provided beacons for LinkNYC kiosks that provoked privacy concerns about tracking passers-by. Beacon initiatives have been started in other cities, including Amsterdam (in partnership with Google), London and Norwich.
Familiar tech giants are also players in the beacosystem. In 2015, Facebook began shipping free Facebook Bluetooth beacons to businesses for location marketing inside the Facebook app. Leaked documents show that Facebook worried that users would “freak out” and spread “negative memes” about the program. The company recently removed the Facebook Bluetooth beacons section from their website.
Not to be left out, in 2017, Google introduced Project Beacon and began sending beacons to businesses for use with Google Ads services. Google uses the beacons to send the businesses’ visitors notificationsthat ask them to leave photos and reviews, among other features. And last year, investigators at Quartz found that Google Android can track you using Bluetooth beacons even when you turn Bluetooth off in your phone.
Companies collecting micro-location data defend the practice by arguing that users can opt out of location services. They maintain that consumers embrace targeted ads because they’re more relevant.
You can download an app like Beacon Scanner and scan for beacons when you enter a store. But even if you detect the beacons, you don’t know who is collecting the data.
The Times’s guide on how to stop apps from tracking your location. For Android users, the F-Droid app store hosts free and open- source apps that do not spy on users with hidden trackers.
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More on surveillance in this IMS Blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=surveillance
14
Apr
2019
Apr
2019
Gen Z and social media
Under Employers’ Gaze, Gen Z Is Biting Its Tongue On Social Media
April 13, 20195:00 AM ET
The oldest members of Generation Z are around 22 years old — now entering the workforce and adjusting their social media accordingly. They are holding back from posting political opinions and personal information in favor of posting about professional accomplishments.
only about 1 in 10 teenagers say they share personal, religious or political beliefs on social media, according to a recent survey from Pew Research Center.
70 percent of employers and recruiters say they check social media during the hiring process, according to a survey conducted by CareerBuilder
Generation Z, nicknamed “iGen,” is the post-millennial generation responsible for ‘killing’ Facebook and for the rise of TikTok.
Curricula like Common Sense Education’s digital citizenship program are working to educate the younger generation on how to use social media, something the older generations were never taught.
Some users are regularly cleaning up — “re-curating” — their online profiles. Cleanup apps, like TweetDelete,
Gen Zers also use social media in more ephemeral ways than older generations — Snapchat stories that disappear after 24 hours, or Instagram posts that they archive a couple of months later.
Gen Zers already use a multitude of strategies to make sure their online presence is visible only to who they want: They set their account to private, change their profile name or handle, even make completely separate “fake” accounts.
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more on social media in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=social+media
and privacy
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=privacy