New Media and The Effects on Education

Huffington Post just released an article about a new app that has come out for Apple and Windows products, though an android version will be released soon. It is called PhotoMath and is a free app that solves math equations for you. All you need is to take a picture of the problem and it solves it and gives step by step instructions on how it got to the answer.

This sounds awesome, right? I bet you're thinking, "Why didn't they have this when I was in school?" But here lies the problem. With media changing and making these new apps the education process is changing as well. We are becoming fully relient on our computers to do our school work. When we were in elementary and middle school, we were taking basic typing lessons and majority of us did not have cell phones, let alone smart phones. Now kids that age already know how to type, can use a smartphone or tablet better than some adults, and even have one of their own. Though this app is meant to help kids who are stuck with a problem, kids are just going to use it to get the answer and move to the next question to get their homework done faster.

Eventually kids might not even be able to do basic math problems anymore. Though it is neat to see how much software has changed and everything it can do, we need to be able to do this ourselves as well.

Hope you enjoy the article and my thoughts!
Emily Moedl

Sarnoff's Law and Information Retrieval

One of the laws that I agree with is Sarnoff's Law. Sarnoff's law says that the value of the network increases linearly with the number of people on it. This can be traditional broadcasting such as TV and radio networks. The reason that I chose this law is because you can see this on TV for special programing. This is why TV networks can charge so much to air a commercial during high traffic programming such as the Superbowl or the Olympics. According to USAToday the cost of a 30 second commercial could easily rise to $3 million next year. Since the number of viewers is increasing the value of the network is also increasing. Even Facebook advertising is increasing due to the CPC (cost per click) or the CPM (Cost per mille, or thousand views). If you want to advertise using CPM you can place a bid on how much you are willing to pay per thousand views in a distinct region. Since Facebook is becoming one of the easiest and top forms of communication the value of Facebook is also going up.

In five years from now I think there is going to be an easier way to streamline all of the information we are receiving. We can already post one update and link it to our other accounts but I think eventually there will be a "dashboard" where you can view each of your social media platforms together and combine them. Information is already easily accessible but I think 5 years from now in schools, there won't be a need for text books as frequently. With the rise of tablets and e-readers I think many teachers will opt to view the textbook online. Though five years doesn't seem like a long time I think that a lot can change in networks due to the rise of communication on the internet.