week 10 Qs 1 Wegner relating to Prensky

Both Wegner’s and Prensky’s theories focus on individual learning with the possibility of getting together with others in a ‘community’ to discuss the findings.
Wegner’s notion of Communities of practice is not as focused on doing everything digitally as Prensky but the sense of community is still the same digitally.
Natives can learn online individually as well as in groups which allow a larger number of people to be together and share ideas at the same time. A point that Wegner makes is that “Many of the ways we have of talking about learning and education are based on the assumption that learning is something that individuals do. Furthermore, we often assume that learning has a beginning and an end; that it is best separated from the rest of our activities; and that it is the result of teaching” (Wenger 1998: 3). Unlike face to face seminars discussions can continue online for as long as people continue responding to a certain topic and also the major thing this that people are no longer bound by geographical location.

week 10 Qs 2 digital divide

In socioeconomic society the digital divide could have negative effect digital natives with all the skills they need to access WebPages and downloadable files will not be affected but the immigrants might be. As we can see the government is now trying to push more people to use the internet and interactive television as their main source of information. Prensky speaks of the natives speaking in a digital language that new information should be present those outside the native society will be at a disadvantage because they might not fully understand what information is being put forward.
On a global scale the majority of the world still do not have access to computers and the internet and if global decision are being made without the majority knowing what is being agreed upon this could cause serious revolts in society or exclusions of certain groups.

Week 10 Qs 4 Tailored education

By tailoring education to suit a certain area or community instead of basing it on the national standard will affect society. The differences that will be included in this process will complicate situation when people move out of that community into another because their skills and/or academic grounding will not be the same as that of the new community and might not be compatible. Some cultural and personal preferences such as sex education in schools can be something that can be tailored to suit different communities but when it comes to fundamentals such as the basic maths and English this could prove to be a problem.
I believe that education has a major role in work culture because depending on ones qualifications this determines what career they will have and what promotions they are likely to receive. These qualifications are usually based ion a universal bench mark such as a masters Degree will entitle you to a higher position than a person with just a diploma, however if the educational system is tailored to suit different cultural needs in society giving promotions will be difficult because that universal bench mark will be removed.
A question that could be raised here is who gets to decide what the universal bench mark is? The dominant powers in society despite them being a minority society still needs to conform to their ideologies. The issue of culture also arises if cultural considerations were to be incorporated into education whose cultural values would it uphold? Again the dominant powers. In this we see the dominant powers exerting their ideas this process is known as hegemony, hegemony is a concept most popularized by the theorist Gramsci. He used the term to describe a process whereby “A condition in process in which the dominant class (in alliance with other classes or class functions) does not merely rule society but lead it through the exercise of ‘moral and intellectual leadership’” (Gramsci 2006 in Storey 2006:96)

week 10 Qs 5 what is the semantic web?

The semantic web is an idea coined by Tim Berners-Lee that search engines on the web might be developed to function better this could be done by making sure that the search results present what the reader only wants to see that is it would filter all the material not relating to the initial search without the user having to modify what is types into the search bar currently tricks such as using quotation marks or asterisks can provide a better search but Berners-Lee aims to seeks ways in which using certain features like self description can understand as to what context the search of the user is.

week 10 Qs 6 How does it differ from web 3.0 ?

It differs form web 3.0 because web 3.0 facilitates for the web to be a sort of database of enquiries which are not specific to different users instead it is the users task to sift through the information till they find what is relevant to them whereas with the semantic web the technology would readily do that for the user using filters specific to the user’s profile as well as context.

week 9 Qs 6b digital technologically imbricated world (or not) part 2

d)With their resistance to technology the neo-luddite will the left out of the technological world. I think that communities of traditionalist neo-luddite will be formed and special courses will be run for them but with them being against technology most of the materials they will need will be outdated because book will have because a thing of the past and most of the current information will be online. With them taking up special traditionalist university study structure they will be limited as what subjects they can take up to study. With limited material to study as well as limited course choice the future prospects of getting a job will be heavily limited.
however we could have so neo-luddites who are willing to use some technology some of the frustrations of the 'enlightened neo-luddite' could be obtaining reliable information form the internet, since most of the work to be submitted on university courses is heavily reliant on computer formatted work most research is now being carried out on the internet. Despite there being a vast wealth on information on the internet it is not always correct and sifting through hundreds of web pages to obtain information can be really frustrating. Without the essential knowledge of how to use search tricks such as including quote marks to pin point your search or asterisks to make you search broader on that subject matter.
e)A technophile in 2020: which the now advanced society long gone are the desktop computers and laptops now the Microsoft's Dream Screen has taken over no longer to students need to carry around bulky computers but instead just need a flat surface on which to project the computer and keyboards because they have now been replaced by interactive virtual keys. With everything centered around technology human interaction is minimalistic lectures are now delivered through a master chip which can be downloaded within the university Wi-Fi range and virtual seminar will have taken over.

week 9 Qs 3 should education stretch a person?

I definitely think that education should stretch a person but only to a certain level, but stretch I mean that it should challenge the student to think further than just the material provided during lectures or seminars. The information provided should urge the student to want to find out more about the topic from other sources as well as contradicting sources to get a different point of view. The sources used should not just be the expected books that are on the reading list but books by other authors to give a different perspective of things, journals provide the most up to date information by academics before books are published as well as using web of science which has books and journals from authors that are not typically found in the everyday library, all these exercises help the user to stretch their mind as well as enrich themselves which new material.