Daily Internship Log: 5/30/09

Over the next couple days I need to come up with the technologies and trends that I will focus on and I am struggling with the best way to do it. At first I was thinking that it would be a good idea to look at wide topics like network, administrative, online, media, and user services and then what technologies/trends fit under each area - which may still be the way to go. Especially since this is how the college is separated in the Office of Technology Services. I believe all of the technologies that I have looked at so far would fit into one of these areas.

Well I think I just decided what I am going to do organize the technologies/trends as I would between the different services at San Juan College. This makes even more sense because as I present this information to the OTS staff they would be able to identify - and support or not my thoughts. Well time to get moving on day 3 of 70 days of my internship.
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Articles I read:

• Horizon Report - http://wp.nmc.org/horizon2009/ (Looked at the 2-3 year technologies)
• 7 Things you should know about geolocation - http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutGeolo/163157
• Geotagging to share field trips with the world - http://www.geographyteachingtoday.org.uk/fieldwork/info/teaching-technology/geotagging-photos-to-share-fieldtrips-with-the-world/
  

Technologies/Trends that deem further reading:

• Geo-Everything (Mscape - http://www.mscapers.com/ - a tool to create a virtual and walking tour of SJC - based on where the student is standing could serve up content - video, music/spoken word, text, or photos. - very cool)
  

Summary:

I focused on geolocation/geotagging today and the things teachers/instructors could do is limitless. From documenting a summer trip, creating virtual field trips, providing students with learning prompts while on a fieldtrip based on the students location, and many more. I read one article where an instructor was connecting location with literature to give students a real sense of what the characters would be looking at during a story like grapes of wrath.

This would be a way to do virtual and real guided tours at a university giving students information about a certain area of campus based on where they are standing at that moment. For example as a student nears a certain area near the student union a video or audio describing what can be found in that building.

As more mobile phones have gps and location aware applications the more this technology will expand and become more ubiquitous. Like said in the 7 things everyone should know article this introduces privacy issues - if a social network can share my exact point on a map to all the people who are my "friends" its great for connecting with people but very dangerous as well. I think an episode of numbers explored an issue like this where the school tracked the students via their id cards and a group of students hacked into the system to determine where certain students were and used that info to hunt down those students.

At this point I don't know if I want people to know exactly where I am - I like the idea that I could hide.