Table of Contents:
Purpose:
I am doing this report "My Four Favorites From the Online Generational Curriculum" for a course named Psy 409, "Cyberpsychology" at the University of Hawai at Manoa. In this particular report, I have selected four reports from previous generations and with these four, I will make a comprehensive review of what they did and try to add to existing material.
Dynamics of Dr. Leon James Generational Curriculum:
The incredible thing about this online course is that there is work of all students who have taken this course and future students can learn from prior students who have completed the course. It is an amazing educational experience because we can learn from reading "students" work versus the work of professionals who have text books, articles, or other materials that has already been published. In this course, the end result is publishing our work so that others can see our work on the web.
There is so much information on what the Online Generational Curriculum. Please check this Online Generational Curriculum Site for indepth information on Dr. James? incredible establishment.
What you will find:
In this report, you will find an analysis of four different reports done by four diffrent students each from a different generation. The reports I selected are topics of interest to me. I hope you enjoy my look at prior genrations work.
INTRODUCTION
Selection#1: Report 1: G5 Looks at Traffic Psychology Resources on the Internet: How to control your Road Rage
Why I chose this report
I chose
Jills report intentionally to find information on Traffic Psychology since I knew very little about this field. Jill was included in the special awards page for G5 and I was curious to know why. In her report, Jill immediately tells you that she knew little of Traffic Psychology herself and this made me assume that she was looking for knowledge too. After skimming through this report, I noticed that Jill was very thorough in discussing her topic and thus I concluded that this particular report may give me good insight.
Steps that led me to this report
I went directly to G5 and looked under the special awards section. For some reason I ran across a lot of interesting publications by students from G5. I think I will have to look into why G5 was so inspiring to me. Was it the time? The age? Who knows.
Summary of report
Jill gives a summary of Dr. Driving as a traffic resource on the internet. In her report, Jill summarizes Dr. Driving?s 13 menu items that is located on Dr. James? homepage, she discusses Dr. Driving?s philosophy, and she gives her favorite Traffic Psychology Resources for speeding. The bulk of her report takes you through Dr. Drivings 13 menu items.
My Reactions
I really learned a lot from Jill's report. I think Jill attempted to inform the reader about Dr. Driving's work as she summarizes very critical reports that Dr. James has on his site.
I was very impressed with this report. Jill is a good writer and was very concise. I really enjoyed the section on "Inner Power at the Wheel". It is true that people can be very nice people, but very vicious people behind the wheel. I appreciated more of what Dr. Driving is doing to help people "regain emotional self-control". This is critical to all of us on the road because whether we like it or not, we all share the highways. I realize that people who think they own the highways need some therapy! I liked the commentary on Dr. Driving AWM program. This is a three step program that one can follow. A driver need to Awknowlege, Witness, and Modify out of control behaviors inorder to become calmer drivers. What was really cool was the Chart of the Nine Zones summary. Jill condensed this item very nicely. I think this is a critical area in Dr. Driving?s work. It gives the foundation in which Traffic Psychology is studied. A break down of the three domains of psychology: Affective (feelings and emotions), Cognitive (your thoughts), and Sensory motor (your actions and behaviors). These three along with three levels of internalization which include : safety, self-control, and social responsibility is the measure that we can utilize to track behavior, modify behavior, or at minimum spread some awareness of driving and it?s hazards.
How Jill compares to others in G5
Jill's report was just better than the rest. Jill's format was very effective. It was easy to read due to the numbering of the 13 items and her summary was much more concise than the others. Her web design was perfect: not too colorful, not to tacky, just readable. There was enough graphics to give some life to the page, but not so much that you think you're watching a cartoon!
Suggestions for future students
I think future students should build on this topic of Traffic Psychology as best as they can. Pick an area in Traffic Psychology that interests you most. Create something that can impact readers who are new to this area. I have learned a lot by just skimming through the generational curriculum. By just a glimse of important facts, I have thought very deeply about issues that I wouldn?t think about daily. I drive daily and when I am on the road I am more observant of behaviors of myself as well as of other drivers. I hope that there will be more student reports on the basic issue of tailgating as a form of aggression. I think knowing a little more about what people feel is irate behavior would put more emphasis on the seriousness of this issue. The causes of aggressive behavior should be looked into a little more. Dr. Driving has a lot of research done in this area, but I think student participation could add to what exists. Look at my report on Tailgating. I attempt to find different views on what people consider to be aggressive behavior or road rage.
Report on the Psychology of Computer Viruses
Why I chose this report
I tried searching through the different generations to find information on computer viruses. I know very little about how computer viruses and I have become interested in viruses since I have been encountering problems with my own computer. Kyle?s report made me curious when I saw under his table of contents, "myths about computer viruses". I wanted to see if any myths I had correlated with Kyle?s information. In our G10 class discussion in Web Crossing, one of our topics was computer viruses and Chang?s report sparked a great interest in me. His report on viruses was very easy to follow and easy to grasp the concept of computer viruses.
After choosing my first selection, I realized that in each generation there were students that ranged from very little experience using computers to highly experienced users who were repeaters of this online course. Kyle Kaneshiro's report like all of my reports that I selected were done randomly. I clicked on invidual student home pages under different generational home pages. I clicked on Generation 1, then clicked on Generation 4, and so on. I was looking out for information on viruses, so I bookmarked Kyle's report just incase no one else did a report on viruses. I did believe that viruses were created by people with too much time on their hands, but now I've come to realize that viruses maybe evolving on their own. Take a look at this exerpt from our class discussion on computer viruses:
This report gives online resources that gives data on viruses and these resources were ones that Kyle used in his report. Kyle gives a brief description of what viruses are in a very "basic" way. "Basic" meaning in a very simple manner without using technical terminology. He explains how they work, states which viruses are famous or well known, jots a couple of virus myths, and he gives a good analogy of computer virues to human viruses. He concludes by saying what he learned from doing this report.
I was so shocked to find out how many viruses exist. I didn't even know that there were names for them. In addition, I really like the format of Kyle's report. His table of contents states exactly what is in his report and his paragraphs are short and easy to read. He includes page breaks that allowed me to see the length and breakdown of his report content. His paragraphs are short, but he gives links for you to click on if you are interested in more in-depth information on the subject. I think Kyle has had previous experience with the web and with web design. His format is very effective (it was for me).
I like the way Kyle approached this topic on viruses. He give general knowlege and then provides very descriptive links in which you can click on if you want indepth information. It is much easier to grasp concepts by seeing them all together on a page versus an overwhelming amount of information. I saw this in other reports which discouraged me from reading it. Kyle's report on viruses was very concise, but this report by Chang was also very easy to follow and comprehend. Take a look at this report
I think that future generations should try to update infomation on viruses by exploring research on new viruses, the evolution of viruses, and anti-virus programs that have been created. There are a lot of issues concerning computer viruses, epecially those around virus evolution.
I chose Kathy's report to get a quick lesson on what the study of Traffic Psychology is all about. Tailgating behavior is just a small part of Traffic Psychology and I thought I'd get a sample of what discussions go on in this area. Kathy's report was the simplist report I came across.
This report is my third selection for my generational report. What made me look in this particular generation was due to the fact that I wanted current information on Traffic Psychology. I didn't go to early generations, but I went to the most current generations first. I clicked on individual student home pages in Kathy's generation.
This report gave a good overview of Tailgating behavior. It discusses the domains of tailgaiting, the effects tailgaiting has on an individual (Denisse Tanaka's to be specific), opinions and experiences of people on the issue of tailgaiting, as well as the moral implications of tailgating. Kathy gives opinions on tailgating, gives alternatives to tailgating behavior, and concludes with a warning to people who have not yet encountered a dangerous situation as a result of tailgating.
I really liked the anlaysis Kathy gave on "reinforcing tailgating behaviors". This is the first report I came across that had psychological analysis of some sort. I thought this was very different and gave some reasons behind tailgating behavior.
Kathy's was the easiest to follow and understand at my ability reading reports on the web. Some sites contained too much graphics which turn me off. It's distracts the importance of the information being presented.
I selected Dan?s report because I was interested in views about the web. I wanted to learn more about how the web works, what is on it, and how people can access web sites. I came across Dan?s report in a later generation (G5) and I liked his work. Out of curiosity I clicked on Dan?s G4 report which was included in the Awards Page for G4. I wanted to see if there were students that had extraordinary talents from early generations.
I did go directly the the Special Awards Page for my last selection for my generational report. I browsed through the best of the generations to see if I could find students that were "repeat" students. Students that have engaged in this course more than once. I wanted to check level of experience using the internet.
Dan?s report on Web Operation gives a brief explantation of what the Information Superhighway is and he gives an analogy of the web to actual higways. He compares engines of automobiles with the modems of computers. He explains how we can speed on the higway with a big engine and how we can speed on the internet by utilizing a fast modem. He makes a point about a person?s skill driving on the road. Just like on the highways, navigation is also important on the information superhighway. You must know what you?re doing, where you are going, and you must know where your destination is. There is so many places you can travel and you can get lost. Lastly, Dan comments that the internet doesn?t have "road signs" that let you know where you?re headed. Dan talks about search engines and about organized and disorganized sites. I really appreciated the comparison because it was a good visual example.
To be honest, Dan's report was "SHORT & SWEET". Other reports said the same thing with just more words. For beginners, Dan reports is a good report to get inspiration from. It's simple and contains enough variety for the report to be considered something decent.
Future students can advance this topic by writing a report on how the web operation is changing. They may state what it is now and what it may become.
