It's All In The TV

      This is the next big thing for technology as everyone makes the transition from their cable subscription packages to getting a better internet speed for their computers. The internet empowers alot of air into today's devices and has been the standard for some decades now, providing the source for simple computing, gaming, internet TV, and WIFI capable products. Without the internet, everyday people and even businesses would lose a step or two in their everyday interactions as the internet is irreplaceable in today's evolving circle of needs. The internet is now provided just about every where you go, as more and more businesses adopt the idea of having free WiFi for customers.

    The ever-changing economy is playing a big part in this transition as customers are looking to save money and make the most of their technology to leverage a world that utilizes their devices in a whole new way. It is obvious that technology can be used in new ways because there are apps, TV websites, and more available to gain access to television or movie programs. The majority of households in America have a Netflix, Hulu, or Crackle account to watch the majority of what they want, without a cable subscription. 

With the internet growing everyday, there is guaranteed to be something there to entertain, teach, follow, create, or even communicate to America.

     Looking back at the history of televisions, they were a window for entertainment and now it seems that the internet has found a way to get into the window that we all stared at for hours. 

Social Learning Theory Pt. 1

Today’s journey will be in the learning domain of Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Learning Theory. Through examples I will describe phases of his cognitive learning process and show steps to learning at work. Through extensive research, I have discovered a way to correlate the learning to Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory.

Phase 1- The beginning phase of Bandura’s theory is called Attention, which involves vicarious learning through modeled events and observer characteristics (Kearsley, 1994-2008). This phase describes the initial process of being introduced to training material along with detailed actions that depict a companywide reference standard performance. This information is displayed in a recorded format for every store companywide to observe the modeled event on their storefront computers.

Phase 2- The second phase is called Retention, which includes symbolic coding, cognitive organization, and symbolic rehearsal (Kearsley, 1994-2008). During this phase, attempts will be made to learn new information in the best possible method to form knowledge organization that will activate memory processing (Alessi & Trollip, 2001).

Phase 3- This is the most engaging phase called Motor Reproduction, which involves self-observation of reproduction and accuracy of feedback. This phase of learning is the trial and error process of becoming familiar with saying the show script verbatim. This phase can not be completed without the Retention phase, which is the root of mastering reproduction fluency.(Bransford,2000)

Phase 4- This phase is called Motivation, which depends solely on factors that usually have to be determined within self to be a task or skill that is meaningful; if not learning will not happen. For example, a worker knows that he or she will get fired for not knowing a required skill on a job that they need. This type of motivator would be considered an extrinsic motivator (those from the outside), because the pressure or demand of the job is why they push themselves to learn. But on the other hand if my motivation comes from just the challenge of learning the skill, this would be an intrinsic motivator (those that come from within the person). These motivators will vary from person to person depending on what is important to them. (Bransford,2000)

Phase 5- This phase is called Self Observation, which requires that I observe myself and evaluate my actions to determine whether they are positive or negative habits. In this phase, my observations direct my thinking, back into the previous stages to determine if my actions are satisfying my requirement to learn the script (Alessi & Trollip, 2001).

Phase 6- Self Response deals with my responses to feedback and how it is handled, whether encouraging or disappointing regarding my learning actions. This can be affected by other colleague’s feedback as well as my self criticism.

In conclusion, Albert Bandura is arguably the most eminent living psychologist. His Social Cognitive theory has influenced many areas of inquiry: education, health sciences, social policy and psychotherapy among others. This film presents some additional footage of Dr. Bandura’s best-known research such as the BoBo doll experiment, treatment for snake phobias, and the use of television dramas to convey positive social messages. (Moore,1999) 

Are You on The Social Media Bandwagon?

Social Media is an ever vibrant technology for us to be social in the 21st century. Not only are individuals benefiting from the social media explosion, but businesses are using it to spread their message. The Social Media Bandwagon has a wide variety of users that participate for anything from social interactions, professional growth, and even to learn about varied subjects. Today's social media has fundamentals that can be used as learning tools, because from my experience using these media services there has been learning moments that I have taken away. For example, with Twitter you can read posts that are listed on your home page that will give you access to a learning on demand type environment. The same is true for YouTube, it has just about anything that you want to learn on their site presented as channels. The best part is that you can subscribe to the channels that benefit your learning.

Today's Social Media can provide benefits even without interaction. For example, with Digg, you can have a search engine find information that relates to what you are studying or want to become more familiar. Even better you can go to Flickr and have the site show you different parts of the world, which is a virtual field trip. At some point now or in the future, we have all been on the Bandwagon even if we did not know it learning or possibly teaching something. The influence of Social Media is that we can all learn something new by the power of another person's thoughts or ideas. Which leaves me to think should we all strive to be on the Social Media Bandwagon or stay away?