EME 6414

 As part of this week's readings, there was an on creating intentional web presences (Lowenthal et al., 2016). In today's world, so much is done online. We pay bills online, submit applications, run social media, and even do homework. Every time we are online, we are creating a digital footprint. However, are we intentional with our digital footprint and presence? Think about teenagers and kids. Do you think they think about what they are posting before they do it? I think it would be important for all students to take a web class of some sort. In this class, they can learn the importance of digital footprints and how to create a web presence. As a school counselor, I always tell my students to be careful what they post online, whether it be on social media or somewhere else. Once you post something, it cannot be taken back. I also tell them that colleges and some employers are now asking for social media links to look at profiles.  Some kids may say that Lauren doesn't wan...

 Tomorrow is the last day of school for my kiddos. While I should be happy that I am getting a break, I find myself worrying about what they will be doing over the summer break. Some will do summer school, go on trips, or isolate themselves in their room all day on their phones. Gone are the days where you went outside during the summer and played with friends until it was dark. Now it is all about scrolling through social media or playing the next Call of Duty or more popular video game. Even summer school in my district is all digital and from home.  Now don't get me wrong, technology is important and can be beneficial. However, it can lead to addictions for others. In 2022, almost all teenagers had access to a phone (Vogels et al., 2022). If you were to ask a teen to give up their phone or social media for a day, they would probably look at you like you were crazy. However, would they give it up for 30 minutes to go play outside or do another activity around the house that ...

 During this second week of class, we have talked about digital natives vs. immigrants, produsage, networked relationships, families, RSS readers, etc. Before this week, I didn't even realize what the word produsage meant. I love reading and exploring the tools each week because it allows me to make connections.  One thing that I realized this week is that even though I am considered a digital native, not everyone is. As a school counselor, I get phone calls all the time from parents stating that they don't know how to work Google Classroom or other aspects of the technology needed to help their students with work. Some may call these parents as digital immigrants. Us, digital natives, must be patient with the digital immigrants because it may take them longer to figure out technology or social media. They may have grown up in an era where technology or social didn't exist or wasn't rapidly changing as it is today.  This coming week marks the last week of school for my ...

 I am 32 years old and today is the day, I truly realized what RSS readers are supposed to do. I have seen the symbol before, but I never knew what it was for or what the purpose was. I love that through RSS readers, I can now access everyone's blogs. Sometimes it can be a pain to do a million steps in order to achieve your end goal. You have to go to Professor Dennen's class blog then choose the blog you want to read. However, through RSS, you can subscribe to all the blogs. Not just the most recent ones but all the ones a person has ever written. Finding out about RSS readers makes me think about how teachers can use them in the classroom or how I, as a school counselor, can use it. I might be able to use these readers to subscribe to news and research about counseling topics. This would allow me to stay up to date so I can effectively help my students.  When did you discover RSS readers? Have you known about them for a few years or are you like me and just found out about t...

“Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.” (Prensky, 2001). The following quote was found in the article Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants by Marc Prensky. When I first read this quote, I had to take a step back. Then I thought if students are no longer who teachers were supposed to be teaching then who are we supposed to be teaching? Why would Marc Prensky include this quote in his article? As you start skimming the article, you learn about digital natives vs. digital immigrants. Digital natives are those that grew up around technology, whereas digital immigrants are those that did not. For example, natives would be most students in the K-12 educational system and the immigrants might be their grandparents. While it is important to recognize that there are two different classes, it is especially important for teachers to adapt to meet the needs of the student, even the technological needs. Some teachers feel that students cannot learn t...

 As part of this week's assignments, we were to read Part 1 of Networked: The New Social Operating System  by Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman. In the beginning of the book, the authors tell a story of Trudy Johnson-Lenz. In December 2007, Trudy, unfortunately, fell down and hit her head. Doctors ended up removing part of her skull and there was a chance she would not make it. While waiting for her to recover, her husband used his phone to take her picture with all the bandages and tubes. With these pictures, he sent them to friends so they could understand what was going on. Little did Trudy's husband know that this picture would essentially go "viral." People all over the country would end up knowing about Trudy's story and were praying for them. Radio stations were dedicating shows to Trudy. Some people even organized fundraisers for Trudy with the family's permission. However, I want you to think what would happen if Trudy's husband did not take that pictu...

 If you were to open up your phone right now, how many social media apps would you have? How much time do you spend looking at social media? When I was a little girl, there was no social media. Nowadays, it is all over, whether it be Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, or some other ones that teens have discovered that you do not know about. Over the last few years, there has been much debate whether social media is good or bad for a person. A person might say that social media is good for me. I can connect to friends and other people who live far away. This became especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, the United States shut down its borders and people were encouraged to limit contact with others. As a result, people could only talk through their phones or social media.  However, some can say that social media is ruining people's lives. especially teenagers. Below is a YouTube clip where the United States Surgeon General is warning Americans about the dangers...

 Hello World,  I originally chose this class because I needed an elective for the summer. Some of my classmates are also taking this class and said that it was interesting, so I decided to sign up. What I did not expect was learning that we were going to have to blog three times a week. While I am comfortable writing research papers, there is something about writing blogs that scare me. After reading the syllabus I thought to myself, "What did I get myself into?"  However, the more I thought about this class, the more I realized that the class could be a good opportunity to relate to my students. I currently work as a school counselor at a middle school. Teenagers, at this age, are flooded with various social media apps, cyber bullying, making the next viral TikTok video, etc. By taking this class, I hope to learn about the various social media apps so I can learn what my students are talking about because I sound ancient when I mention AIM or Myspace and their new platfo...