Motivation Blog

     My motivation comes mainly from my interests and past success in what I've done. Contrary to Pink, the majority of my motivation is not focused on monetary rewards, I find it hard to do boring tasks even if there's a huge paycheck for doing it. Instead I find motivation to do things that I find interesting or doing things I'm good at such as computers/technology. Doing things that you're successful at makes you want to do it more because it creates a good feeling similar to what Pink mentioned about why people play instruments on weekends for no pay. It makes you better and it's fun. In addition, doing things that interest me makes me want to do it more often thus making me more successful at it, which brings back the idea that I prefer doing things I'm successful at.
     
     I also agree with Pink that high rewards makes you perform worse. I find my self able to do better when there's no rewards or consequences. When there's less consequences, it allows me to divert one hundred percent on my focus on working and not fretting. The pressure of rewards just adds another focus to the brain which could be used on working. Monetary rewards are nice, but the stress presented by the them can hinder one's performance.

TED Blog

      One of the websites I found on the TED blog was http://youtube-trends.blogspot.com/ . The blog compiles rising Youtube videos onto one site as well as shows what are some trending searches. Also, one can find graphs that show search/view trends of a certain topic or video. The graphs can be filtered by region, month, day of the week, and many other categories.

     I believe the site is useful for anyone who wants to kill or waste time on Youtube by finding new videos or perhaps for someone who wants to keep up with the most popular videos. It's also good for finding new Youtube channels to subscribe to, whether it be a music channel or a prank channel, this blog will list the top channels and videos of any category or search queries. Some examples of search queries could be Harlem Shake, Gangnam Style, or Kevin Ware's leg injury. This blog is good for whenever I'm bored or want to procrastinate doing work because I could spend a good chunk of time just watching videos found off this blog.

The graph below, found on the blog, shows when the peak interest of searches for the Harlem Shake occurred.

Egan Blog & Research Update

     I agree with Egan in that there are many examples in my life that support Egan's viewpoint. Throughout high school, I learned to depend less on teacher's teaching me, instead I learned how to self study material covered in class because sometimes the material is not taught in a way easy for me to comprehend. In addition, I have also become more independent in that I know longer rely on my parents or anyone else to keep track of my schedule or tasks, both are handle by my self now.
     Attending Sycamore also allowed me to develop a wider range of interests. I was able to take the courses I wanted as well as choose the difficulty. I was able to take different types of courses some of which were interesting such as computer science and physics, and I also discovered courses that I dislike such as Spanish and chemistry.

     For my research project, I have barley started writing as I've been searching for more sources that oppose the viewpoint of smartphones being helpful in education. I feel that having a good balance of sources between the two viewpoints is essential if I want to draw valid conclusions. Over the break, I'll most likely finish writing section 4 and if I have time,  It will include a bulk of my sources as well as statistics. After that, I might search for more sources because you can never have too many. But overall, I will probably compare sources that support and oppose smartphones in the classroom, and using those sources I will conclude whether or not they are beneficial.

Research Project Updates

    This week I found sources that were against smartphone use in the classroom, as well as examples where the phone industry has sponsored the use of smartphones in the classroom. Both of these are conflicting opinions on whether smartphones would be beneficial to students.

     The first source states the viewpoint of a professor at Bryant University, who believes that smartphones are a big distraction in the classroom and that they're too expensive to maintain. He believes that students spend too much time surfing the internet and texting in class instead of paying attention. One notable statistic from this article is that 66% of people between ages 18 and 24 answered that they fear losing or being without their phone meaning they are very attached to their phone and easily distracted by them. The smartphone ownership at Ball State has also increased from 27% to 69% in just three years.

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2012/03/21/smartphone-use-among-college-students-concerns-some-professors

    The second article describes how the phone industry is claiming that smartphones are making students smarter and that it can improve math skills. Digital Millenial Consulting  funded school districts in Chicago, San Diego, and Florida with smartphones as a part of a study to research the effects of smartphones and how they affect student performance. Students were given high-end Windows phones which they used for social-networking, research, and other various software. These students' grades were then compared to students who were not given smartphones and the group with the smartphones scored 25% than the students who were not given smartphones. The cost for each to student to receive a smartphone was costly at one thousand dollars a year.

     My research this week has been successful. I found studies that showed smartphones were beneficial in the form of statistic as well as opinions from college professors that are against the use of smartphones in the classroom. My goal for next week is to find more studies supporting or perhaps against the use of smartphones in the classroom as well as the best type of smartphone for students. Some other areas I need to research are ways to soften the heavy expense of funding smartphones for each student and any apps on the phones which are beneficial.

The image below shows distribution of smartphone vs non-smartphone ownership by grade level.

   

Capstone Project Progress

     I've decided my topic will be on the effects of smartphones on students in the classroom and whether it would be a good idea for more schools to implement smartphones for each student. The major factors I'm researching are how do smartphones affect grades, time to do homework, and possible distractions caused by smartphones; depending on those factors, I can determine whether smartphones are actually beneficial in schools or whether they are just a distraction and shouldn't be implemented.

      Some other factors to consider are the cost of smartphones, best brand of smartphones, preventing cheating through smartphones, what apps are useful, and the learning curve of using a smartphone. So far I've found data correlating smartphone ownership and house income.
http://www.statista.com/statistics/195006/percentage-of-us-smartphone-owners-by-household-income/
The graph supports my expectation that households with a higher income are more likely to own a smartphone, however it should be noted that in all the levels of income, the ownership of smartphones increased from 2011 to 2012.

     The biggest challenge so far is finding big studies correlating smartphone usage and grades/test scores. Most studies only sample a class or they're just a testimonial from one student, but not a lot of studies sample a high school or a bigger population. I have found many sources that support the use of smartphones and very few that oppose it and I've kept track of them on Easybib. However, my other questions have been answered by most sources I've come across. The graph below from 2012 also shows that most smartphones users are skewed towards the younger generation.

Why Parents Need to Let Their Children Fail

     I completely agree with the author's opinion on parenting. I feel some parents are overprotective of their children, which can inhibit their ability to learn independently. I also think by "babysitting" their children defeats the purpose of school, to learn. The parents intention may be to improve their children's future success, but by doing work for them, or restricting their activities, they are just hurting their children's future. When their children go to college, the parents won't be able to help them with every step. What will the children do when they struggle?

     Instead, parents should do as the author suggested and just let them fail. In order to learn how to be successful, they have to be able to fail and recover from it. If they're always successful because of their parents, what will they do when they fail and their parents aren't there? Parents should only help their children when they're failing and can't recover. However, if the children are doing fine, they should not intervene at all. Know when to help is key for parents and letting them fail earlier in life is better than letting them fail later in life as the consequences are lower when they are still children.

What I Hate About Technology

     I love electronics and technology, but there are a few things I dislike about them. Technology always gets outdated and it almost always breaks. Both of these are unavoidable in most circumstances, which really annoys me because phones, laptops, and cars are expensive and not something I can just purchase freely without researching and putting thought into.
    Technology gets outdated quickly which is good because it means technology itself is progressing, but it's still a nuisance having something like a slow computer or a phone without WiFi  I might buy a phone one day and maybe a week later, newer phones are already being introduced. Being myself, I always want the newest, best piece of technology, so having obsolete technology is unsatisfying. However, the expensive price tags on any electronics make it nearly impossible to keep up with the newest models without a huge bank account.
     Another aspect of technology that I dislike is it breaks easily and hard to repair. Nothing bothers me more than breaking something and having to take it to a shop for repair. What's even worse is when the repair bill costs close to the price of the product. I also can't repair electronics most of the time because it's so complicated making the repair shop the only route to take to get my electronics fixed. No matter how well I take care of my electronics, they will naturally degrade. A frequently used computer may break randomly any day even if it's taken care of, there's no way to prevent this other than not using it and even then it may break. Even though it's repairable, it's sometimes not worth it just because the computer is outdated and expensive. This creates a situation where technology is expensive to keep and maintain.
   
This article discusse the life span of smartphones and how often it takes a smartphone to become outdated.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/29258026/ns/technology_and_science-digital_home/t/planned-obsolescence-cell-phone-models/#.URKc_KU0WSo