Part II: Participate

In the future I would like to be a Nurse Practitioner, not sure what I want to specialize in but I do that know nursing is my calling. Nurses use many different types of technology throughout their day at work. Nurses employ a wide range of technology for safe and effective patient care. Some devices are common electronic devices such as computers and wireless phones. Others include possibly X-rays and etc. Increasingly, nurses are mastering patient care technology designed with a specific purpose in mind, such as sensors placed on the patient's forehead to determine how much oxygen the brain is receiving. Advances in technology allow nurses to provide increasingly complex care to patients in a more mobile fashion. Rather than being chained to a desk and telephone at the nurses' station, a nurse can use a computer on wheels (COW) to look up information at the patient's bedside. He/she can contact another nurse via cell phone when she needs help at the bedside. To obtain this goal, I will need to know how to use a cell phone and computer very efficiently and be able to know what I am doing with a lot of knowledge. As i grow older I will hopefully get accepted to nursing school/ UCF nursing program and will have to work in a hospital and there I will most likely get to experience and use much of the technology nurses use.

Assignment for Thursday 2/18

One discussion board website that interests me is:

www.wakeskating.com (in the "general wakeskating" topic)

This website is all about wakeskating, in which wakeskaters all over the world can join and discuss wakeskating such as different tricks, boards, places to wakeskate, and people also post videos and pictures of them wakeskating.

Core 1

Technology is very significant and valuable in my day-to-day life as it is for most people. It is easy to say that my cell phone and the computer, especially the Internet are my life. Each day I spent an immense amount of time using these devices for my social and personal life and also my school and career life. This could be a bad thing though, because I believe that many people, especially myself spend too much time with technologies such as those. People in general rely entirely too much on technology, mostly cell phones and the Internet. Everywhere you go you will see someone using a cell phone. My generation, more so than my parents, has grown up around an enormous amount of technology. We are so dependent on our technology and much more so than people used to be for instance in the 1960’s and its only growing.

Without a personal computer or laptop it would be incredibly hard for a student to be successful in their classes. Most classes have information, assignments, and even exams via Internet. Web courses is used by UCF teachers and students to communicate, provide information and assignments. Everywhere I walk on campus, I see a student using their computer or laptop mostly for school purposes but also for music, general information, social networking, and etc. According to findings released from Alloy Media, “students are spending an average of 12 hours daily engaged with some type of media. The majority of that time, 9.5 hours, is spent with their “tech” gadgets, including computers, mobile devices, MP3 players, and gaming devices.” Also, the article reveals, “Students are now spending twice as much time on their computer than they are watching TV.”

I started using the computer at the age of 10 mostly for email, instant messaging with friends, and certain cites to play games on. Throughout the years, I have become much more thorough and use the computer for more important purposes such as school. My knowledge and ability to maneuver computers has grown an abundant amount mostly due to the time I have spent on computers and laptops since I was a little girl. The practice I gained over the years during adolescents has made me digitally literate today and enables me to operate the use of my laptop very effectively and efficiently.

The computer has shaped many aspects of my life. On the Internet, I can easily access thousands of websites, which provide me with research and answers to endless questions and results. The Internet allows an individual to access accounts, manage households and businesses, pay bills, order items and much more. Access to the Internet via the computer allows an individual to accomplish many tasks from the comfort of their own home without ever leaving. Although the Internet has allowed for many conveniences in our lives it has also had a direct impact on the physical activity of a person. With the ability to access virtually anything necessary online a person leaves to go places less and often will spend excessive time in front of the computer rather than on activities outdoors. The computer has become a revolution in today’s society and has made many ordinary tasks quicker, easier, and more efficient. Personally the computer has been a beneficial tool for my education. Rather than spending excessive time handwriting my assignments and going to the library for research, throughout high school and college, I have been able to save time by typing my assignment and researching via the web. The computer, although proves to be, often times, unhealthy due to excessive use is in fact an excellent resource and tool to the individual.

Although I used to have numerous go-phones from Walmart, I have noticed since I got an iPhone I use my phone a significant amount more. Hence the fact that there are an unbelievable amount of applications that can be downloaded-free or paid for. I can check my email, check to see the cheapest gas prices at my current location, check my balance in my bank account, use the GPS and can do an enormous amount of other things. Although it has taken up more of my time, it has also made a lot of things more convenient. Having all my songs on my phone, a camera, and a video camera are very convenient and useful. For instance, at the gym my cell phone and music are in one, therefore I can listen to my music but if an important call comes in I can answer it. For school oriented use of technology, I have become very familiar with Microsoft word, excel, and PowerPoint due to the fact that almost all of my classes require the use of these programs. As for play oriented technologies, my iPhone, laptop, Beatles Rock band, Nintendo 64 to play super smash brothers and Mario kart in which I have loved since I was a child.

There are many ways I need to improve my technology for my future occupation. As nursing is my calling, there are several important types of technology used by nurses. Nursing is a labor-intensive occupation that lends itself to the application of time saving technology designed to make patient care more efficient and effective. Nurses have always used the telephone as an efficient way in communicating with physicians, patients, and other health care providers. However, today’s’ technologies have evolved far beyond the telephone which include computers, electrocardiogram, x-ray machine, fax machines and etc. According to the Professional Nursing Concepts and Challenges, “modern technology has enabled the medical profession to refine methods of diagnosing illnesses and disorders and to treat them more effectively than in the past.” Technology is incredibly important in many people’s lives and occupation day to day and it has enabled occupations to do things more effectively, efficiently, and organized. I realize that technology is a very important aspects in many occupations and I understand that I have a lot to advance in for the future in nursing technology.

Work Cited

Jarman-Johnson, Lynne. "College Students Spend 12 Hours/Day with Media, Gadgets." Ljj Speaks Blog (2009). Word press. Derek Powazek. Web. .

Chitty, Kay K., and Beth P. Black. Professional Nursing. 5th ed. Philadelphia: Sauders, 2007.

Part 1

I use a lot of different technology on a day to day basis. I have noticed since I got an iPhone I use my phone a lot more. I can check my mail, check to see the cheapest gas prices at my current location, check my bank account and etc. For multimedia, I don't do too much, just really itunes and limewire which I use to download songs. For school oriented, I have become very familiar with Microsoft word, excel, and powerpoint due to the fact that many of my classes require powerpoints or the use of excel or word. As for play oriented technologies, there are many: my iphone, laptop, Beatles Rockband (very fun!), nintendo 64 to play super smash brothers and mario kart which I love! As for improving with technologies, I would really like to learn to make and edit movies on my mac and also learn more about photoshop with photos.

"Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21st Century"

This article, "Connecting the Digital Dots: Literacy of the 21st Century" explains how today its about "connecting the digital dots" meaning that people must be literate both visually AND DIGITALLY. Digital literacy represents a person’s ability to perform tasks effectively in a digital environment. Today the world is so technologically enhanced that "now teachers can do a PowerPoint presentation with streaming video, instant Internet access, and real-time audio-video interaction, and they can do it with relative speed and ease." Being a college student today, I agree very much so that individuals, especially students today have digital literacy more so than back in the day due to the amount of technologically enhanced ways of teaching and learning. The authors main argument is that today in the 21st century, people need to be up to parr with their "digital literacy" as well as literacy, due to the fact that it is very up and coming and digital literacy is being used by so many in this technological world today. The author is writing to inform people in general of this fairly new term "digital literacy" targeting at teachers and students.