Networks and Communication

There are may ways that asynchronous and synchronous communication may be utilized by an individual or group. Some forms of these communication tactics can expand our understandings of distant lands and the life forms which reside within, while others may assist us in taking an unexpected swim while we are fully dressed. In the article "Skype in the classroom, from York to Antarctica", We learn about an inspiring classroom and a teacher who attempts to prepare her third-grade students for their technological futures. This teacher utilizes Skype in the classroom as a medium to prepare for whats ahead. On this specific lesson, the students were able to conduct a Skype session with a scientist while she was studying penguins in the field in Antarctica. The students will then take their "field notes" and post them into a class blog. I think that this is an amazing use of technology in the classroom by the teacher. It not only provides an amazing field trip for the students but it also exposes them to the rapidly expanding technological era. By being exposed to these programs early, students will be able to maintain a level of tech-savvy as they grow, if they so choose.
While this form of synchronous communication is being utilized in a positive manner in Amy Musone's third grade classroom, there are other forms of instant communication which are being proven a little more dangerous than we initially thought. In the article "Study: Texting while walking affects your balance", researchers at Australia's University of Queensland explain how texting on a cell phone impacts "gate performance and kinematics. They are the first to scientifically measure these effects and they have received relevant results which prove the dangers of mixing the two(walking and texting). I'm sure we have all seen the YouTube video of the women in a mall texting while she walks right into an enormous water fountain. But how many of us pay attention to how many people have gotten seriously injured or even perished because they payed a little to much attention to their phones rather than what was in front of them? This study aims at pointing out the dangers of something we should already know, pay attention to what you are doing when you are in motion, not your phone.