Journal

 3:  Impact  of  Technology  on  Thinking  

With  all  of  the  technological  innovations  that  have  been  made  over  the  past  twenty  years  or  
so,  it  has  been  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  fully  study  and  understand  the  long-­‐term  
effects  this  technology  is  having  upon  people,  especially  younger  people  who  are  still  
growing  and  developing  cognitively.    Due  to  this  lack  of  study,  there  have  been  many  
heated  debates  over  the  potential  benefits  or  drawbacks  of  the  digital  information  age.  
We  have  now  read  and  discussed  two  different  articles  on  impact  of  technology  in  the  
digital  era  on  student  learning  and  thinking  processes.    Nicholas  Carr  focuses  on  many  of  
the  potential  drawbacks,  whereas  Andrea  Lunsford  views  the  developments  in  a  positive  
light.    With  these  articles  in  mind,  your  assignment  for  Journal  3  is  to  write  a  narrative  that  
you  think  best  explains  what  impact  the  various  aspects  of  the  digital  age  have  had  on  your  
educational  life,  or  on  the  state  of  education  in  society  in  general.    You  can  use  the  following  
list  of  points  to  guide  your  narrative,  but  you  also  have  freedom  to  depart  from  this  list  if  
you  wish.  
• Does  having  vast  amounts  of  data  available  at  the  touch  of  a  button  make  students  
lazy  researchers?  
• Does  “information  overload”  cause  students  to  be  unable  to  develop  the  focus  and  
discipline  necessary  for  reading  and  understanding  longer  texts?  
• Does  exposure  to  and  immersion  in  various  modes  of  discourse  online  promote  
students’  abilities  to  recognize  and  utilize  various  tones  and  voices?  
• Does  the  new  information  age  mark  the  end  for  the  “linear,  literary  mind”  
mentioned  by  Carr?    That  is,  are  we  moving  into  a  new  age  where  we  think  
differently  about  how  to  think?  

Again,  think  of  this  list  as  possible  ways  to  guide  your  thoughts,  not  as  a  checklist  of  what  to  
cover  in  the  journal.    I  want  these  journals  to  be  reflective  of  your  experiences  and  
opinions,  although  you  should  use  evidence  to  justify  your  claims.    To  that  end,  you  should  
also  include  at  least  one  passage  from  either  of  the  articles  that  had  an  impact  on  your  
interpretation  or  opinion  on  the  subject.    You  should  indicate  which  article  you  are  quoting,  
but  you  do  not  need  to  include  a  bibliographic  page  with  your  journal  (unless  you  are  
quoting  additional  sources).  

Journal  format:    Your  journal  must  be  at  least  one  full  page  in  length  but  not  more  than  
two.  [This  amounts  to  approximately  635  words  and  40  lines  of  text.]  To  achieve  this  full  
page,  single-­‐space  the  entire  document;  set  “paragraph  spacing  after”  to  0-­‐point;  use  a  12-­‐
point,  Times  New  Roman  (serif)  font;  use  1”  margins  square  (top,  bottom,  left,  right).  At  the  
top,  left-­‐hand  side  of  the  document,  list  only  your  name  and  the  assignment  name.  Then,  
with  a  blank  space  above  and  below,  provide  a  unique  title  that  is  centered  (not  “tabbed”  
over)  on  the  page.  Indent  the  first  line  of  each  paragraph  using  the  tab  button  (set  at  0.5”  by  
default  in  MSWord);  no  extra  space  is  needed  between  paragraphs.