Linear Text

Linear Text

We have made the transition from linear to digital when it comes to reading and writing. Linear text is the way we read in books and most printed material, the author has control over the way we read the text and expects us to read it in the sequence it was written. Digital text is a more interactive way of reading, it gives the reader more control of the way he or she reads the material using hyper text links. Hyper text is the method of storing data through a computer program that allows the reader to click on links at will and retrieve the data non-sequentially.

Video 1 did a good job showing the evolution we've gone through when it comes to the way we read write and collect information. The video displays the transition from manual writing to digital writing and then to hyper text. When writing manually the person had to worry about their penmanship and left an unsightly grey area when erasing to correcting an error. When writing digitally he had access to different fonts could easily revise his work without detection. Even with the progress between manual and digital writing, both of these methods leave the reader with limited ways to read the material. When using hyper text the reader was given more freedom to explore and retrieve the information the way he or she wanted.

The digital world is also changing the way we think, communicate, and live our lives on a day to day basis. Due to the rapid changes in technology we have to conform the way we learn in order to keep up, and become productive citizens in this new day and age. The article 'Rethink Schools: digital age learning requires new model' is about how the school system should under go reform in order to incorporate students new methods of learning. The article says, " Educators can't truly deliver 21st-century instruction in schools that reflect industrial age design", educators are not equipt with the tools needed to effectively teach students in this new day and age.

Video two is a documentary featuring different people in various fields of education speaking about the connection between technology and learning and how schools and the education system should be remodeled to accommodate our learning methods. The video states that education was ranked the lowest, below cole mining, in a US department of commerce survey of IT intensiveness. I find it ironic that education would be ranked the lowest because education is the base of the pyramid. School if the first thing a person goes through before becoming employed, so the fact that education is not embracing the change and other industries are it makes it harder for students to succeed.

Both the video and the article are prime examples of why the school system needs to revise the way they teach to coincide with the way we learn and live. Today people are very social; weather it be via twitter, face book, e-mail or instant message.

Our world is evolving, it isn't the way it was when our parents were growing up, or even when we were in elementary or junior high school. With all of the different advancements in technology it is a new day and age. The old way of doing things are becoming truly obsolete.