Literature Review - How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember
The main purpose of my application (SmartByte) is to encourage a new form of learning in a digital environment. Every individual has an alternative way to learn, but through personal experience working with an eLearning company and scrutinising a variety of academic literature outlining the benefits of bitesize learning, I aim to implement these findings to my product. I have started by looking into the means of the internet and how it has played a large influence in modern society.
Carr (2011) has focused on the internet as a mass medium and how it is a hugely disruptive force that is changing the way we think, read and remember. Being in a digital era surrounded by the internet, the smallest tasks are now becoming digitalised, as Carr notes that "the Net has become my all-purpose medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind" (2011). He mentions how he uses the internet to complete the majority of his daily tasks, such as, online shopping, online banking, paying bills, scheduling appointments, etc. The introduction and rise of mobile technology has only made these tasks more accessible.
All this is relevant to SmartByte. eLearning has already proven to be a successful form of learning, but SmartByte aims to provide the opportunity for users to learn and collaborate with each other without being restricted to a time or place. As Carr (2011) expresses the ease of accessing the internet to perform tasks or access information; SmartByte will encourage users to access learning with a similar amount of ease. The internet not only provides us with information, but also "connects us with one another" (Carr, 2011), with social media being very influential. I envisage SmartByte to develop on, and have a similar feel to a social media platform so that it encourages users to interact and share content. Combining the ability of people interacting, with people being able to "distribute their own digital creations, in the form of blogs, video, photos, songs, and podcasts" (Carr, 2011), can produce a very powerful social environment as the likes of Facebook and Twitter have already proven. This spurred the motivation for SmartByte as I believe there is an abundance of information to be shared between colleagues in which a collaborative learning app would encourage learning within a business.
Carr also mentions how "the Net has become essential to [peoples] work, school, or social lives, and often to all three". An example of this is that school's, colleges, universities and many business have utilised online portals/platforms to share learning materials and can also be a place for forums where students/colleagues can discuss and ask questions. However, these platforms can be very formal or even create a negative connotation as it reminds people of work/learning in their free time. I aim to implement the functionality of a work/learning portal but with a social and user-friendly feel. This will hopefully encourage users to openly access the app to share content and for it to become an app that is frequently used at any point of the day. I aim for SmartByte to become 'one of those daily tasks' that Carr mentions and not seen as a laborious task to conduct.
One of the projects main intention is to revert the user away from large amounts of information, and replace this with short, bitesize amounts of text accompanied with visuals in order to enhance the users learning experience. According to Carr (2011), "education researches have also found that carefully designed presentations that combine audio and visual explanations or instructions can enhance students' learning", therefore developing the application to use audio and instructions is likely to make the app more engaging to the user.
As Carr (2011) mentioned, the internet provides us with a more accessible way of conducting many tasks, in which SmartByte will also provide it's users with a more accessible, user-friendly and social way of learning.
Bibliography
Carr, N. 2011. The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember Main edition. London: Atlantic Books.
Carr (2011) has focused on the internet as a mass medium and how it is a hugely disruptive force that is changing the way we think, read and remember. Being in a digital era surrounded by the internet, the smallest tasks are now becoming digitalised, as Carr notes that "the Net has become my all-purpose medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind" (2011). He mentions how he uses the internet to complete the majority of his daily tasks, such as, online shopping, online banking, paying bills, scheduling appointments, etc. The introduction and rise of mobile technology has only made these tasks more accessible.
All this is relevant to SmartByte. eLearning has already proven to be a successful form of learning, but SmartByte aims to provide the opportunity for users to learn and collaborate with each other without being restricted to a time or place. As Carr (2011) expresses the ease of accessing the internet to perform tasks or access information; SmartByte will encourage users to access learning with a similar amount of ease. The internet not only provides us with information, but also "connects us with one another" (Carr, 2011), with social media being very influential. I envisage SmartByte to develop on, and have a similar feel to a social media platform so that it encourages users to interact and share content. Combining the ability of people interacting, with people being able to "distribute their own digital creations, in the form of blogs, video, photos, songs, and podcasts" (Carr, 2011), can produce a very powerful social environment as the likes of Facebook and Twitter have already proven. This spurred the motivation for SmartByte as I believe there is an abundance of information to be shared between colleagues in which a collaborative learning app would encourage learning within a business.
Carr also mentions how "the Net has become essential to [peoples] work, school, or social lives, and often to all three". An example of this is that school's, colleges, universities and many business have utilised online portals/platforms to share learning materials and can also be a place for forums where students/colleagues can discuss and ask questions. However, these platforms can be very formal or even create a negative connotation as it reminds people of work/learning in their free time. I aim to implement the functionality of a work/learning portal but with a social and user-friendly feel. This will hopefully encourage users to openly access the app to share content and for it to become an app that is frequently used at any point of the day. I aim for SmartByte to become 'one of those daily tasks' that Carr mentions and not seen as a laborious task to conduct.
One of the projects main intention is to revert the user away from large amounts of information, and replace this with short, bitesize amounts of text accompanied with visuals in order to enhance the users learning experience. According to Carr (2011), "education researches have also found that carefully designed presentations that combine audio and visual explanations or instructions can enhance students' learning", therefore developing the application to use audio and instructions is likely to make the app more engaging to the user.
As Carr (2011) mentioned, the internet provides us with a more accessible way of conducting many tasks, in which SmartByte will also provide it's users with a more accessible, user-friendly and social way of learning.
Bibliography
Carr, N. 2011. The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember Main edition. London: Atlantic Books.
Comments
Post a Comment