Journal #1

Finding new ways to connect: Professors adjust their methods to reach technology-savvy generation. By Eleanor Yang Su

This article makes the good point of how fast technology is advancing. The younger generations are growing up with so much technology at hand it has become second nature to them. Teachers and Professors are smart enough to realize they have to keep up and attempt to use this same technology to their advantage. For professors who don't, not only will learning be minimized but i feel the student will lose a certain amount of respect for the teacher. Teachers need to exude a grasp of knowledge and when a student is capable of a higher grasp of technology the student may wonder, what else does the teacher lack?
In and out of the class room students of the new generation or the "millenial generation" are constantly using new technology, claiming that even Email is out of date. With the use of these advances multi-tasking is an everyday occurrence. One of the students Su wrote about claimed she limited her online chatting while in class, she did not stop her chatting but limited it. The attitude of students has not changed , most still try to get away with as much as they can but the way in which to do so has become much easier and efficient.

Question 1: Where does one draw the line between teaching and entertaining? I feel it depends on the subject matter but as long as a student can retain relevant information it is learning.

Question 2: With multi-tasking becoming such a everyday thing and responses happening so fast are we further "spoiling" our youth with a need for instant gratification? I seems that waiting is a thing of the pass (unless one drives in San Diego County). But perhaps this is the way of the future and as long a persistence is valued there should be no social deterioration.

And away we go

Hello everyone,

My name is Sam Phinney and I was born in Madison, Wisconsin. I moved out to Santa Barbara, California when I was only a few weeks old so I consider myself a California native. I went to school, K through 12, in Santa Barbara and even attended some city college courses there. During summers a worked as a tree trimmer and in my senior year of high school I began waiting tables. At the age of twenty two I got offered a job managing the same restaurant and quit the tree work. At twenty six I was burned out and my wife and I quit our jobs and traveled around the world. Now we are back and she is working and I am attending CSUSM.

Technology has never been a friend to me. Even as a manager we did the accounting by hand using pen and paper. I even joke that computers don’t like me since they seem to malfunction when I am present. Sorry class, hopefully this semester will change all that. I do have a PC and am becoming more and more comfortable using it, thanks mostly to video games. I have accepted that technology is important but still have a tendency to shy away from all the cool things it can do.

The mission statement seems to cover all the bases. There is a tone of competence and acceptance. It is different then most business mission statements and if it proves to be practiced by professors and students alike it will create a great learning environment.

Here is a picture of my wife Alison and I outside of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.