Hello from Mississauga, Ontario!!
I am taking my last two electives in the Masters of Education in Adult Learning and Global Change. I am in mid-career in the data analytics field looking to become a better mentor, coach and leader. As well, I am exploring ways to become involved in the Social Economy.
Based on the little bit of reading I have done thus far for this course, I am specifically intrigued about the function or writing versus the process of typing. Just to date myself, my elementary school experience was all executed using pencil, pen and paper. In high school, I took two computer programming courses where there was one tiny project using punch cards! In my work now, I am typing on the computer at least 6 hours a day so am fully digital. What I find interesting for myself, as I take courses, is that I can remember the details of what I physically write using a pen but if I take notes on a computer, my retention of the material is much less. In fact, since blue pen was what I used in high school, I find my memory recall best when I use blue pen!
Hoping to discover whether writing will be or should be retained in future generations!
Since this is my first ETEC course (an elective), I am excited to meet a new group of folks who are focused on the technology side of things. Looking forward to working with you all!
steve campbell
May 16, 2018 — 5:22 pm
Interesting background, good to meet you.
I like how you bring up using the pen versus typing to learn. It will come up in the next module’s reading, but also learning in a primarily oral culture is quite different as well.
Speaking about using the pen, I am quite good at taking notes in classrooms, but I am hyper-aware of the permanence of the pen. As such, I am careful to pre-arrange the structure of my learned information in my mind before I set pen to paper. Whereas, in taking notes on a computer I am also aware of how typed notes can be altered, deleted, moved and sorted into structured thought after entering them. Perhaps that is the reason those of us who began taking notes via the pen are better able to retain material? I wouldn’t worry about losing writing completely, it’s not like we are going from Papyrus roll to Parchment codex. Every technology has it positives and negatives.
Sorry to go on and on for an introduction. It’s a pretty interesting topic. Welcome!
alicia lok-malek
May 17, 2018 — 1:42 pm
Ah…yes, Steve…after a day of starting to read the material my thoughts are starting to evolve. Not sure where they are revolving to but here we go for the ride!
sally bourque
May 16, 2018 — 8:27 pm
Hi Alicia,
What other elective are you taking?
I too have found something about writing with a pen reinforces information in a way that typing does not. I wonder what taking written notes with a stylus on a tablet would be like?
It makes me reflect on the section from “Module 1” in our course in Canvas, sub-section “Thinking about Text and Technology” and the observation that text may play a role in shaping human consciousness. I listened to a fascinating “hidden brain” podcast several weeks ago about how language shapes the way we perceive and organize the world around us. Some of the examples in the podcast were asking people who spoke different languages to arrange a series of pictures in time sequence and the way they organized the pictures varied based on their mother tongue. (Ex: English speakers organized the pictures left to right, Chinese speakers would organize top to bottom, etc) This is just one example of how the language you learn to speak affects your organizational perception of how time flows and how you “Read” the world around you. It makes me wonder about growing up using a pen and paper and how that has shaped the way our minds have adapted to retain knowledge and understand the world around us.
alicia lok-malek
May 17, 2018 — 1:31 pm
Hi Sally – I am taked ADHE 327 as well. Guess we are allowed one or two undergrad courses for my program.
Sometimes when I am out needing to takes notes unexpectedly, I will use my stylus on my phone (yes, big phone). It seems more natural than thumb typing!
I have often wondered if there are some “frames” of mind that are better suited to writing versus typing. At the moment, in my very reflective, personal or deep thinking frames of mind, I tend to want to slow down and get more intimate and write my thoughts. As soon as I have that break through or have lots to write, I will move to the laptop. It has certainly be an interesting personal evolution…
sally bourque
May 18, 2018 — 4:39 pm
I think more phones should come with a stylus! In fact, I’m surprised that stylus’ in general are not more popular!
EdPawliw
May 18, 2018 — 8:38 pm
Hi Alicia
A most interesting point you bring up. When I took my teacher education courses was when I got my first computer. That was back in 1988. I would write my papers out first, edit, and then type them into the word processor. Now I will create a digital outline and fill it in as I type away. The advantage to this is the ability to take off on tangents, completing thoughts for various parts as they come to me. I have felt relieved from the pressure of having to organize complete thoughts before committing to a print format. I can organize, shift, add, delete creating a document that seems to evolve dynamically as I work on it.
For “taking” notes now, I download articles, highlight, comment within the digital copy for notes, and copy and paste passages into personal reference pages as I go through a reading. I am finding that I can recall a passage I may want to refer back to by manipulating it in some manner, be it copy and paste or highlight/comment. I’m wondering if this fiddling with the text provides a similar recall response that writing notes does?