Reflection for Session Two 17/09/2010

“ Teacher, teacher! Is Miss Ong in? I need to find her.”

“Not at her desk.”

“Cher, cher! Need to submit work la! Can help me pass a note to her not?” *scrambles to find foolscap paper and pen, and then scribble some illegible words on it. “Thanks!”

I stared at the seemingly empty paper except for three words and eight numerals, ‘please SMS me 9034 xxxx.’ Thinking to self, “Waa, now notes are the step boards to modern technology? Fast or what? Just a few years ago, I’m like them, except the notes serve their function as details-filling notes…”

I still remember the times I spent cooped up in my mummy’s room for last minute crash studying for my ‘O’ Levels, I stick like ten thousands worth of post-it notes on the wall in chronological order form, and spent like hours reading points of knowledge on those neon coloured stickers. Then I will quiz myself by asking myself question, which I will then answer self, before checking for the right answer from the post-its. This is my memory with post-its. Moving onto polytechnic life as a design student, I have my first laptop, my beloved Macbook Pro. I was exposed to the application, Stickies. I find it rather useless personally, cause I have no use for reminders unless people remind me actively instead of passive notes like Stickies. It dawned on me that actually, the rawer the thing is, and the more effective and active it can be. Versus the fact that when a raw post-it note in front of your on your desk with a message like ‘I’ve returned you your book. Here.” It looks like Stickies and Linolt play their roles passively. The applications do not scream for your attention for things to be done or addressed, like a reminder with a personal touch to it (post-its or even friends’ nagging).

Having said all that, lesson learnt: Old is gold. There’s a reason why post-it made its creator a multi-millionaire the moment it was being introduced to the market. No doubt technology should be applauded and given credits for its innovations and convenience, but I do not know about its importance or its sense of existence in our daily lives being indispensable.

Maybe, but not yet.

K: What I already KNOW

I have already know the existence and know-how of Stickies application for Mac.

W: What I WANT TO LEARN

I hope to be able to learn more interesting web 2.0 tools other than Linolt to once again, actively engage their attention to learn about artistic sense when they are playing or interacting using the tools.

L: What I LEARNED this week

I learned that I can use Linolt as a common platform (other than like Facebook) to capture their attention actively, as well as getting them to view their own opinions with more ease as they do not have to stand in class to voice out their ideas.

Q: What Questions I still have

I am still apprehensive about session two's lessons and the takeaways of the lesson. Like, how to ensure that students follow through what we are teaching, through the right tools. How receptive are they to lessons through a different platform? How to tell if we are tapping on the right prior knowledge using the same tool we use to teach them?