Mobile Broadband

[Dana]

Mobile broadband is a very important meta-trend. It has helped people all around the world to do many different things. For example, it has helped people communicate with each other in ways people in the past have never thought was possible. Also, it was helped in many businesses by using (for example) videoconferences to connect people from different areas of the world, instead of them having to travel for that one conference. As well as these examples, mobile broadband has also helped students. If a student is absent from school he/she can easily access the Internet (from any device, like a laptop or mobile phone) and the student can see what work they have to do. Basically, people can work from home.
But Mobile broadband isn’t all good. Some people abuse this technology and use it in bad ways. For example, in the mobile broadband group discussion, one individual has brought this issue up and she (BethRitterGuth) said, “we have seen a wave of students using cell phones to cheat on exams. Do you think that is a result of the technology or is it a change in the students themselves?” and I answered, “I agree with you. There are many wonders to technology that benefit us and help us in our everyday lives. However, at the same time, students in different regions of the world are abusing technology and using it in an absolutely wrong manner. Instead of preparing for tests and exams forth hand by using the Internet on their mobiles to study, they are actually saving documents and files on their mobiles that will help them on their exams. So, overall, the problem (in my opinion) is that children are finding it easier to cheat because of the technology, and so, they are abusing it. Teachers should check that students don’t have their mobiles/iPods before an exam (especially a big one, like end of year exams).” So, basically, there are many people out there who abuse the technology.
Of course, there were many difficulties for me in this project. Firstly, I have never done anything like this before, so it was a new experience and I didn’t know what to do. I was the project manager, and everyone expected me to know the answers, and they didn’t realize that I’m a student like them and even I sometimes don’t have the answer to everything. The most important/challenging issue I faced was communication. There were some people in my group who communicated with me excellently and they were great! And there were other people who didn’t answer some of my messages. Also, I think the different time zones were a slight problem because we had to check the ning everyday, more than once a day. And I am not a very organized person, so this was very hard for me. Also, I tend to do things last-minute, so I think the communication “wall” was partly my fault.
I think my video was really good. Even though I didn’t start it as early as everyone, I still think that it was good. The images I used were mine, and I was so happy that I had finally found a good use for them. I had some problem with iMovie because the video format was incompatible and it took me about two days to figure out the problem and another day to get a converter and convert the files successfully to the correct video format. I had to visit so many forums on the Internet to find a converter, and to find out which format I had to convert the files to. But at the end, everything worked out, and I’m very pleased with my final outcome.
I think that I have improved many skills throughout the project. For example, I improved my organizational skills. This is because I had to keep up with the messages I was receiving and staying on track with the development of the project. I don’t usually check anything in specific when I go on the Internet, and on my hotmail I have over 1,000 new messages, so I’m not a very reliable person. If people want anything from me, they’ll find me on MSN or they would call me. I can’t even remember the last time I was on my Facebook account, so it was really hard for me to keep up with everything.
I really enjoyed working on this project, even if it was very hard for me. It was fun meeting new people and communicating with them. It was also fun learning about websites such as delicious, because not only can it help me with my I.T, it can also help me in other subjects, and even at home. I used to search things on Google, but not I prefer using delicious because the websites that are given to me are so much better and more accurate than the ones given to me from Google.
Overall, the horizon project has really helped me in many different things and ways. And also, it has been a lot of fun working with people inside the classroom, and out of it. It is a great experience and I hope that the students who do this project in the future enjoy it as much as I did.