Project 3-Fake Facebook Profile Page

This is my fake profile page setting up my project 3 topic which is a gap year and displaying the main topics and different categories that will be in my paper.

I chose to do my research topic on whether or not it is important to take a gap year in between college and high school. I think that it is a very good idea to take a gap year after graduating from high school. I personally did not take a year off because i was too caught up in graduating from high school and picking a good college to attend. It was one of my biggest regrets to miss the opportunity to take a gap year after high school. I realized that it would benefit me a lot more if i were to take one after high school and travel,  instead of traveling when graduating from college, which is a prime time to take a job in your career path. Although, there are other options like participating in study abroad for a semester or two. Study abroad is a great thing to do and i know i will definitely complete at least a semester abroad, but it would be a lot easier and more convenient to just take a gap year after high school and travel. Taking a gap year will also have benefits like the student would have more time to decide on their university instead of being rushed into a decision like senior year in high school. Others just aren’t ready to attend a university right out of high school and need to take a year off to relax and make the right decision. It is a British custom to take a gap year between high school and university and i think that the U.S should follow this custom.

Although many people believe that taking a gap year is putting them behind in life or their career path, i believe that it will really put the student at an advantage and ahead of their competition. Taking a year off  really can improve maturity, decision making skills, communication, time management, self control, independence, and knowledge. The list goes on and on with the benefits of the gap year. Not to mention it looks awesome on a resume. The student will really mature and grow during this year at a much faster pace than attending your freshman year of college. They will be better prepared and educated on making a college decision and more mature throughout college. Also, if a student decides to take a gap year, they have the opportunity to just take a few classes or programs to earn college credit and improve their resume. Overall, if you have the opportunity to take a gap year, i think you should do it in a heartbeat because it will only benefit you later in life.

Extracurricular Activity-Snowboarding-Comic

 

My extracurricular activity that i decided to draw a comic for is snowboarding. My first picture is of a snowboarder going down a mountain (i know i suck at drawing). I decided to pick up snowboarding again out here in Colorado because the opportunity is so great that you can’t pass it up. I snowboarded about six years ago and hockey ended up taking up too much of my time so i could no longer snowboard but even back at home it was like going down a little hill, compared to here in Colorado where you can go down huge mountains. These different conditions don’t even compare and this is what i drew in the second and third boxes. In the second box i drew a picture of a snowboarder going down a little hill in Minnesota. In the third box, i drew a snowboarder going down a much bigger mountain here in Colorado. This shows how different the ski resorts really are. This year was also a perfect year to start snowboarding again because of the large amount of snow that we received. It has been an unbelievable year of snow and some of the best conditions in a very long time. In the fourth box i drew the box full of snow that describes this years conditions. In the fifth box i drew a much smaller amount of snow that describes the conditions last year and previous years. Although snowboarding is a lot of fun it can also be a very good workout. At the end of the day i am usually exhausted, especially if you snowboard all day with little breaks. The sixth box shows a picture of a guy sitting on a chair showing how tired his legs are at the end of a long day on the mountain. Although snowboarding can be very addictive and possibly take up a ton of time, i think that it is possible for it to not effect your grades. Although your grades can easily slip if you decide to go to the mountain every day, which i describe in the seventh box. I drew a picture of a guy snowboarding and then the words “every day=F’s”. But if you just go to the mountains on the weekends to go snowboarding, you can still maintain very good grades. In the eighth box, i drew a guy snowboarding with the words “only on weekends=A’s”. This shows that it is possible to still maintain great grades as long as you balance your time. Another great thing about snowboarding in Colorado is the long ski season. It is crazy how long you can ski for because A-Basin is open usually until July. In the last box of my comic i drew two calenders with an arrow in between them to show the long ski season.

Week 14-Project 3 Picture

 

My topic for project 3 is a gap year and i have a diagram of the different outcomes and benefits of taking a gap year above. In the top 3 boxes i have high school graduation, gap year, and first year of college. I drew two arrows starting from high school graduation, one to gap year and one to first year of college. The arrow from gap year to first year of college has a cross through it because that is not the route you should take, instead take the arrow to the gap year which stems down with a variety of options. I have traveling, volunteering, working and earning some credits, and sitting on the couch at home and watching tv. Traveling, volunteering, and working while earning some credits are all good and beneficial ways to spend your gap year so i have arrows stemming from the word good up to the first year of college box. Sitting on the couch at home and watching tv has an arrow stemming from the word bad up to the first year of college box because it shows that this is mainly the only way you can ruin your gap year. This diagram shows that taking a gap year can be great in a variety of ways and that it will further advance you going into your first year of college if you make the most of it.

Project 3 Practices

 

Above, i have attached my mind map for project 3. I added the ideas and connections that i received from my peers and during the meeting.

I think the most helpful activity that we did in class was where we all went in a circle around the room and talked to everyone to get their feedback over your topic. This was very helpful because you got a different perspective and different ideas over your paper and most of the time everyone else had something somewhat new to say. It was also interesting to hear the same ideas from multiple people because i then realized that these are probably pretty important and that i should really cover them in my paper. Also, a couple people that i talked to have taken gap years themselves and this was very interesting to hear their input and opinion over my topic and it happened to match up very well to my main points of my paper. I think that the peer review that we have coming up will be very helpful also. Obviously it will be more beneficial if you have a pretty good draft ready to get reviewed so you don’t have to make as many changes and you can get the most out of the peer review.

I think that it is much more beneficial to work on projects together after you already have your topic solidified instead of trying to come up with ideas with multiple people. If you already have your topic solidified then the peer reviewing and activities can be much more focused which will be much more beneficial to the writing and structure of your paper. I also think it is a good idea for people with similar topics to work together. You can understand each others topics much better and therefore be able to help each other a lot more in ideas and the writing process of your paper. Also, having a similar topic as your partner allows you two to possibly get ideas from each other and build on each others ideas.

Overall, i think the best form of collaboration on projects is an individual meeting with your teacher. Meeting one on one with your teacher can really advance your paper to the next level. It is very nice and obviously helpful to get all the input from your peers in the activities in class, but in a meeting with your teacher you can really find out what they are looking for and the main ideas you should focus on throughout the project.

Should Teachers Be Allowed to Share their Political Beliefs with Students?

http://www.pearltrees.com/#/N-u=1_1957444&N-p=110266132&N-s=1_11301544&N-f=1_11301544&N-fa=11301544

For this week’s blog i chose to talk about whether or not teachers should be allowed to share their political beliefs with students in the classroom. Above, i have posted a link to my pearltree.

There are two very different opinions over this topic, but i think that teachers should be allowed to share their political views in the classroom. I think that students are old enough to handle different views over their politics and the teachers’ different views in general. I don’t think that it is okay if teachers sit up in the front of the room and preach their views, trying to convince students to believe one thing or another, but i do feel like it is beneficial to the students if they hear different views and opinions as long as it is in a constructive way. Also, students hear all about different political views everywhere they go, especially on tv, so i do not see why it is so much different and such a big deal to hear the different opinions and views in the classroom. Obviously it will have a bigger impact on younger kids if they are hearing these different views because they usually don’t know what to believe when they are young, but at the college level i do not see why it would matter. In my pearl tree i connected different links to evaluate different opinions over whether teachers should be able to voice their opinions and political views in the classroom or not. One of my links is from Ted.com, it is in the comment section and there are many different opinions on this subject. Another one of my sources is from debate.org and it gives more opinions on this topic and examples of both sides with people going back and forth debating over this issue. My last link is from local10.com news and it talks about how a teacher is banned from the school because he was talking about his political views to his students in class. This video is full of interviews with parents and what they think about this issue at hand. This was a huge deal at the school and as you can see from the video, there are strong opinions towards both sides of this topic. I don’t think the teacher was preaching at his students, instead, just talking about his political views in class which i don’t see why it was such a big problem throughout the school and over the news.

 

Cheating at the University Level

I think that cheating has been and is still a large problem at the university level. A lot of people think that it is a rising issue, which it is, but i don’t think that there is more cheating that is going on now than there was in previous years. The school systems have just given cheating more attention recently. One of the main reasons why students cheat, is in order to get the good grades that they are pressured to receive, and not only that, but students believe that many other people are cheating and they don’t think that it is fair for them to get better grades without doing the work.

Overall, obviously it is better to do your work because eventually you will have to do the work anyways, if you would like to pursue your certain career path. Cheating also develops bad habits that will carry over to your career. When you have a real job when it really matters, you’re not going to be able to cheat, and if that’s what you’ve been doing throughout college, then you will be screwed.

I think a lot of times teachers know that the cheating is going on but they don’t take action or stop the students for a couple of reasons. First, it is a lot of work for the teachers to go through the process to punish the students for cheating. Second, a lot of the teachers will let it go because they know that it will catch up to the student in the long run and the student will be in trouble when they actually have to know the material.

A smart option for students who are trying to find resources to get good grades would be to go to the class office hours or try to schedule an appointment with the teacher and get additional help outside of class. Another option would be to get a tutor. An ideal situation would be to have a classmate tutor you because they are right there with you learning the material and will really know what is going on in class. Students could also work in groups or form study groups outside of class. Study groups are an ethical way to get additional help on homework or assignments so the student won’t have to rely on cheating to obtain their desired grades. I think that the best way a student can avoid cheating in general, is to just be better prepared for the class material. A lot of times when students cheat is because they procrastinated studying for a test or doing a project so they feel that they won’t be able to learn the material in time, so they fall back on cheating.

A Gap Year Between High School and College

I chose to do my research topic on whether or not it is important to take a gap year in between college and high school. I think that it is a very good idea to take a gap year after graduating from high school. I personally did not take a year off because i was too caught up in graduating from high school and picking a good college to attend. It was one of my biggest regrets to miss the opportunity to take a gap year after high school. I realized that it would benefit me a lot more if i were to take one after high school and travel,  instead of traveling when graduating from college, which is a prime time to take a job in your career path. Although, there are other options like participating in study abroad for a semester or two. Study abroad is a great thing to do and i know i will definitely complete at least a semester abroad, but it would be a lot easier and more convenient to just take a gap year after high school and travel. Taking a gap year will also have benefits like the student would have more time to decide on their university instead of being rushed into a decision like senior year in high school. Others just aren’t ready to attend a university right out of high school and need to take a year off to relax and make the right decision. It is a British custom to take a gap year between high school and university and i think that the U.S should follow this custom.

Although many people believe that taking a gap year is putting them behind in life or their career path, i believe that it will really put the student at an advantage and ahead of their competition. Taking a year off  really can improve maturity, decision making skills, communication, time management, self control, independence, and knowledge. The list goes on and on with the benefits of the gap year. Not to mention it looks awesome on a resume. The student will really mature and grow during this year at a much faster pace than attending your freshman year of college. They will be better prepared and educated on making a college decision and more mature throughout college. Also, if a student decides to take a gap year, they have the opportunity to just take a few classes or programs to earn college credit and improve their resume. Overall, if you have the opportunity to take a gap year, i think you should do it in a heartbeat because it will only benefit you later in life.

Microsoft Makes Mobile Version of Office Free To All

Microsoft not only made the mobile version of office free to all, they even brought office to the ipad. This is one of the many movements from Microsoft in order to promote cloud technology. Microsoft is really trying to use as much cloud file storage as possible and the mobile version that is now available for the ipad, shows how much this cloud technology is advancing. The mobile version of Microsoft Office is using the OneDrive integration like windows and the mobile versions. This allows for Powerpoint, Excel, and Word to all be able to use the same storage, while editing files on different versions of software.

Office Mobile will be interesting to use and observe how convenient and efficient it really is. I think that if this program really works for mobile then it will be very popular and common for people to work on office programs from their mobile device instead of a computer. Office moving from computers to now cell phones is another example of Moore’s law, technology is getting smaller and smaller while getting faster and faster. Having office applications on your cell phone will be huge and very beneficial for people in a rush, or who don’t have time to sit down and pull out their computer. Now that this technology is free, it will be even more popular, but i’m sure there are some twists in the free app that will upset many people. I’m guessing as the technology improves on the phone, you will have to subscribe or pay for different features in office.

The availability of Office for the iphone and ipad really shows how fast technology is advancing, especially file sharing technology. Cloud technology is becoming very popular these days, for example dropbox has been huge and this technology makes it much easier and more convenient for teachers and students. Technology like the Remote Desktop Connection is another type of cloud network and it has benefited my learning significantly. The MyItLabs and MyMisLabs have been a large part of my business classes and this kind of learning was unheard of 30 years ago.

 

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/03/microsoft-brings-word-excel-and-powerpoint-to-the-ipad-today/

 

 

Bitcoin Creator is Finally Revealed

Bitcoin creator, Satoshi Nakamoto is finally revealed after many years of denial of any involvement in bitcoin. Satoshi kept this information so quiet, that it was a secret even to most of his family, that he was the creator of this popular cryptocurrency. When his family heard the news, they were not surprised at all that he didn’t share this information with them. Satoshi did not agree with the the system we have in place today and did not like the government interference, so he made an alternative way-bitcoins, to keep the government out of controlling the money. `

Satoshi Nakamoto did a very good job of staying under the radar and keeping the bitcoin creator anonymous for quite some time. He changed his name after graduating from college, and for the past 40 years has gone by ‘Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto.’ He has denied any involvement in bitcoin still, but was finally discovered through a Newsweek reporter obtaining his email and contacting him to meet.

There are a few reasons why Satoshi Nakamoto wanted to stay hidden and deny any involvement in Bitcoin. First off, according to Satoshi’s family he likes to keep things to himself and being known as the creator of bitcoin, would draw much attention to him, which does not fit his personality. Also, he is very much against government interference, (which is why he created bitcoin). I think that he created bitcoin for political and personal reasons. He wanted a better system in place and does not care if he gets credit for the work or not, as long as the project continues without him, which it will. It is very interesting to look at how far bitcoin has come. It started with Satoshi Nakamoto’s idea of a way to keep government interference out of the question, and has developed so far and so fast, that there are now bitcoin ATM’s.

GPA vs. Experience

Throughout college there is a lot of pressure to receive good grades and obtain a very high GPA. Students get so caught up in worrying about their GPA and whether or not it will be good enough to get a good job coming out of college, that they forget about a big part in obtaining a job, experience. I’m not saying that you should not earn good grades to have a high GPA, because having a high GPA is very important, people just get too caught up in obtaining perfect grades that they forget about experience and building their resume. Although having a high GPA is very important and helpful, i think that having a lot of experience with work and having a strong resume is far more helpful. An employer wants someone who they know works hard and someone who has experience in many different situations. A high GPA does show that you worked hard throughout college with your schoolwork, but if there is nothing else on the resume than a 4.0, then it is not very satisfying for the employer.

Last semester, in my bus 100 class, a speaker came in to talk about resume building and making the most out of your resources while in college, so you are ready for a career as soon as possible after graduating. He told a very interesting story that relates to this topic. He worked with two different students who were trying to find a job after college, one of the students had a 2.7 GPA and the other student had a 4.0 GPA. The catch to this story was that nearing the end of the year, the 2.7 GPA student had three different job offers, while the 4.0 GPA student still had not gotten a single job offer. How could this be? The 2.7 GPA student had an outstanding resume filled with experience and involvement in different clubs and organizations, while the 4.0 GPA student had nothing on her resume besides her GPA.

She was so focused on obtaining a good GPA, which she clearly did a very good job of doing, but she missed the experience part which really hurt her. This shows that landing a good job out of college does not always depend on your GPA, in fact, it mostly depends on experience. If you can have a high GPA and a lot of experience, then that is obviously the ideal situation, but if i had to pick one, i would pick experience and a strong resume over a high GPA any day.