smcnulty – Composition and Writing With Sources

An easier way to learn anatomy

My virtual reality simulation primarily focuses on the functions related to anatomy class. During this virtual reality simulation, you can explore the body and the functions that happen within the body. It is primarily to benefit people similar to myself who have to memorize the different functions in the body, all the muscles, and all the bones. The simulation will be very helpful for nursing majors or pre-med majors as well as anyone who has to take anatomy and learn about the body. Primarily this will apply to college students but could also be beneficial for high schoolers who are taking anatomy. Anatomy is a very difficult subject and many students struggle to learn the numerous amount of information contained in the subject. This virtual simulation will make it much easier to remember the information as it will be interactive which is a hands-on learning which has shown to be the way most people learn effectively. The simulation will allow you to travel through the body and explore the muscles, bones and functions. You will be able to watch the motions and functions of the bone and muscle so it is easier to memorize. The simulation would also have audio in the background if you wanted to listen and have the simulation walk you through the processes and steps related to the particular area in the body you wish to learn. I would allow my simulation to be through the cardboard with your phone so it is accessible for more people unlike the very expensive virtual reality simulators since most college students do not have the money to afford something very expensive. It will allow it to be very accessible so students can simply have an easier and more effective method to learn a complicated subject like anatomy.

Virtual Reality Gives Education Potential

Shannon McNulty

Dr. Licastro

Eng151

November 13, 2017

Virtual Reality Gives Education Potential

Our world is rapidly adapting to new technology being discovered every day. A major advancement that was recently discovered was Virtual reality, which gives users the ability to see the world differently and interact with things they otherwise may never experience. In the book, Ready Player One, Ernest Cline describes a world called OASIS which is strictly online and students have the choice to attend school there. In OASIS, students have the ability to feely express themselves as they can change their identity so no one knows who they are. Virtual Reality has the ability to impact students’ lives and improve education as it gives students the ability to be who they want and offers various opportunities to improve learning by allowing students to experience things and events they would not be able to do in reality.

One ideal aspect that virtual reality offers is the ability to explore the world in a different way. In the book, Ready Player One, written by Ernest Cline, writer of a New York Times bestseller, explains that within OASIS students have the ability to transport to places on field trips during school. This allows students to see aspects of the world they may never experience otherwise and it also allows them to better relate to the subject they are learning. In the book OASIS, cline writes “in my astronomy class we visited each of Jupiter’s moons” (Cline 48). This is only one of the various examples Cline gave when explaining the many field trips students take during classes each day. This particular quote shows that the OASIS offers opportunities that would not be possible in the world we currently live in. Through my own experiences, I have never even come close to experience school in this manner and having the ability to have such a hands-on learning experience. The best field trip I took in school was going to the Franklin Institute to learn about the Cleopatra exhibit we has learned about before going on the field trip. It was not even close to the field trips Wade, the main character in Ready Player One, experiences as he travels through a human heart in biology, travels to Egypt in World History, goes to Jupiter’s moons in astronomy, and countless other field trips her takes to improve his learning within school.

However, the previous paragraph is just one of the many unique qualities OASIS offers, another main selling point of OASIS is the ability to hide your real identity. From personal experiences, I have walked through the halls, especially in high school, and seen people being bullied about their flaws or made fun of because of their actions. People are so quick to judge others and attack others for things that may not even involve them. In contrast, school in OASIS allows students to create their avatars any way they would like without anyone knowing their true identity. In the book, Ready Player One, Cline describes the main character Wade as an overweight young boy with acne surrounding his face, he also lives in a very poor area and has lost both his parents. Anyhow, Wade enrolls in the OASIS school system and it is one of the best things to ever happen to him. He has the ability to be who he wants and to hide his real identity in order to avoid judgement. Wade describes the ability to be anonymous as one of the best parts of school in the OASIS, he explains that no one knows who you are and that is what is basically makes up the OASIS partially (Cline 62). Personally, I agree that identity is a very positive factor that OASIS offers. It allows those who struggle with self-appearance and even those with low financial statuses who think they cannot compete with the way people dress or the items people have at school, to have their own separate world where they can be whoever they want. The best part about it is anyone can have access to OASIS and a console along with the visor head set as long as they are attending school, no matter their financial state.

Furthermore, our world is making technological advances every day that connects most of our daily activities to technology. I find myself constantly scrolling through my phone looking at the various social media accounts I have numerous times a day. It makes me feel connected to others and allows me to see their everyday activities to keep in touch with many friends I may not see frequently. This is only one of the many activities I perform daily that connects me to technology. I also regularly use the internet to do my homework every day or even to look something up such as a sports score. The convenience has allowed me to rely on it more and more. Likewise, this seems to be happening all around the world rather than just with me. In the article, Is Google Making Us Stupid?, Nicholas Carr, a writer for the Atlantic, states “the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind” (Carr). Carr explains that the Net has become our main source of information and is becoming the main thing we rely on when doing any task. This relates back to the VR world in Ready Player One as it shows that the internet is changing the way we learn and inquire knowledge much like how OASIS has changed the lives of many of the main characters in the book such as Wade.

In conclusion, Virtual Reality has the ability to change the world just as it did in the book Ready Player One. It offers people the ability to experience new things that they may otherwise never be able to see or learn about. Our world is already rapidly adapting to the new technology we learn about every day. Technology has already improved our daily lives as it offers convenience and loads of information at a few clicks of a button. I think we are shifting towards the lifestyle of those in OASIS and in the end, I think it is going to be very beneficial especially in education. Virtual reality will offer new experiences, the ability to be who you want and various other beneficial factors.

SEM16

I decided to make my avatar a male because I feel that in Ready Player One , the male gunters come off as more of a threat than the females do. I dressed him in black as I feel that is a more intimidating color than bright colors. I gave him a serious grin in order to look focused and intimidating rather than happy and approachable. I also gave him blue eyes, brown hair and white skin so he looked slightly like me. I designed a blue background as that is my favorite color and it went well with his eyes. I want my avatar to resemble me slightly but a male is much more threatening then having my avatar be a female like me. I also would like my gunter to be different than my actual self because I do not really like people knowing my true identity online unless I know them personally. My avatar would be named SEM16 because those are the initials of my name and my favorite number.

Provocation 1

After defeating Acererak, Wade encounters his virtual crush Art3mis who is searching for the copper keys he has just found. At first, Wade is distracted by her appearance but quickly snaps out of it and responds aggressively towards her. Art3mis, who was a 52nd level warrior, had been defeated several times when trying to find the copper keys, however Wade had been successful on his first try. He ends up lying to her about beating Acererak but she reads right through the lie when the leaderboard is posted. They continue to converse and in the end he ends up giving her the helpful hint of playing on the left side.

Question:

Do you think the Wade should have given this hint to Art3mis since they are competing for the same reward? Do you think he would have given this hint to someone else or he only did it because he had a crush on Art3mis? Do you think this hint will end up benefitting Wade at all on his journey for Halliday’s reward?

Schools are Inhibiting the Introduction of Digital Technology

Technology has been quickly improving as we progress into the digital age. The digital age has introduced many new ideas and more convenient ways of retrieving information. This is leading people to spend lots of time online, whether it be for the purpose of fun or for the need of information for work or school related purposes. However, schools and workplaces have failed to adapt to these changes. Therefore, they are still using teaching methods from many years ago when our great grandparents attended school which is inhibiting children’s adjustment to the digital age we currently live in (Davidson 12). However, many argue that introducing kids to this new technology will cause them to get caught into the trap of multi-tasking which can cause various distractions. When taught properly in an environment such as schools, the introduction and use of digital technology will be very beneficial for students. It is evident that the school system needs to adapt to the digital age as it is a very beneficial source, it is a convenient way to obtain information, and it therefore allows us to see the world differently by avoiding attention blindness.

Multitasking is an obstacle that we deal with in our everyday lives. Within the digital age multitasking is very important in order to avoid attention blindness. Attention blindness is missing out on certain details because you are so focused on a given object or task, multitasking avoids this by allowing you to see everything going on and perceive the world in a different way (Davidson 4). Technology allows us to multitask in an efficient manner limiting various distractions, this should be transferred over to schools so students can learn to multitask properly. Cathy Davidson, who is a distinguished scholar of the history of technology, states in her book, Now You See It, that since attention blindness occurs so often people are unable to see each other’s sides because they are so focused on a certain topic. However, if people learned to properly multitask it would get rid of attention blindness. Technology has helped people to properly multitask and therefore it should be taught in schools (Davidson 13). Personally, I multitask frequently especially when doing homework, I find that switching between subjects when doing homework helps me to stay attentive as I am not solely doing one task. Technology has provided me an easy way of transitioning from one subject to another as they are all listed on the same website.

However, many people claim that technology is a burden to us and causes our minds to wander. Technology has distractions but everything around us is a distraction, everyone experiences distractions with every task they do each day. The digital age has not presented us with new distractions but rather the same distractions we experience already. For example, Paul La Farge, an American novelist, explains that online reading is not the only thing that makes our mind wander but rather reading itself causes the mind to space out. In the article, “The Deep Space of Digital Reading”, La Farge states, “The Internet may cause our minds to wander off, and yet a quick look at the history of books suggests that we have been wandering off all along. When we read, the eye does not progress steadily along the line of text; it alternates between saccades—little jumps—and brief stops, not unlike the movement of the mouse’s cursor across a screen of hypertext” (La Farge). Therefore, those who argue that reading online is a distraction and causes our minds to go off topic are not correct, rather reading itself is causing our minds to go off topic. However, this not only applies to reading but using the internet as a whole, there’s distractions all around us not just on the internet. For example, when I am reading a paperback book I am easily distracted by anything, whether my dog brushes past my feet or there is a lawn mower running outside I look away from the book in front of me and lose my page. We live in a world full of distractions, so the internet is not the only source distracting us.

In the current age kids already use technology on a daily basis whether its watching T.V., using social media or just simply searching the web. Hence, schools should also be providing them with technology is schools in order to succeed. Teachers, especially in high schools, should be providing their students lessons on using library databases, online tools to help students annotate and lessons on using office 365 as it is commonly used around the country. These are just a few of the many tools that should be introduced in high schools so students can use them in college and in their careers. Schools are holding their students back by not keeping them up to date with what’s going on around them. If schools introduced digital technology in their teaching methods it would help to get everyone on the same page. It would allow the world to adjust to the new age more easily and transfer it into the various career fields. From personal experience, I was never introduced to digital technology in high school, therefore within my first month of college I struggled on learning the new technology tools I was already expected to know.

Introducing the digital age to students with in schools is very beneficial as it allows them to adapt and continue to use it throughout their careers and in everyday life. It also allows them to learn the important skill of multitasking in order to get rid of attention blindness. Since schools have failed to adapt and continued the same teaching styles they’ve had for decades, students are unable to adjust to the world around them. The digital age has introduced various new technology that will help students to succeed and find the information they need in a quicker manner. Schools need to adjust because the digital age is not just going to go away rather it is going to keep improving and become a larger part of our lives. Davidson states, “The digital age is not going anywhere. It’s not going to end and it’s not going away. So, its long past due that we turn out attention to the institutions of school and work to see how we can remake them so they help us, rather than hold us back” (Davidson 13). Therefore, it’s essential for schools to adapt to technology or they are going to fall behind which will hold students back from learning.

Works Cited

Davidson, Cathy N. “Introduction.” Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will

Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn, Viking, 2011.

Farge, Paul La. “The Deep Space of Digital Reading.” Nautilus, 7 Jan. 2016,

nautil.us/issue/32/space/the-deep-space-of-digital-reading.

What Does Jabr Really Mean?

Shannon McNulty

What Does Jabr Really Mean?

In the article, “The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens”, Jabr explains that people have become so reliant on the online reading material and ebooks rather than classic paper text. He continues on to say that people are unable to follow the material they are reading and recall where the essential information is placed. He referenced various studies and statistics in order to support his claims. Overall, the article simply explains there is lack of attention while reading ebooks and online material unlike reading printed texts. Jabr provides many studies and statisitics in order to support his claims throughout the article.

Ferris Jabr wrote the article “The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens. According to Jabr’s own website, ferrisjabr.com, he is a writer in Portland, Oregon who works for Scienific American. He has also written various other articles for many other sites such as The New York Times Magazine and Slate. Jabr has a MA degree from New York University in journalism and a Bachelors of Science degree in psychology and English from Tufts University (“About”). Considering all of this background information about the author, I can conclude that this article is a reliable source as he has background in writing and psychology.

In this article the targeted audience is most likely people who enjoy reading scientific articles as the article is on Scientific American. People who subscribe to Scientific American are people who have an interest in science and articles relating to science. Another reason scientific people are targeted is the article states many scientific facts as well as scientific studies, for example, Erik Wästlund conducted a study on whether paper or screens demand more physical and cognitive resources, Jabr referenced this study in his paper. The article could also appeal to people interested in psychology as many psychologists are referenced for certain studies they have done relating to Jabr’s topic. The secondary audience present may be students using this article for school or research purposes, similarly to me.

The main purpose of the article was to inform readers about the difference between reading ebooks and texts online rather than paper texts. It goes on to say that digital texts are increasing in popularity and therefore more people are experiencing effects of reading digitally rather than physical texts. Jabr makes various claims the first one being that people prefer reading paper text but digital reading is a lot more convenient and is available in many different forms so people tend to rely on it more. Another claim Jabr makes considers how paper texts allow us to navigate long readings and comprehend them but in return. digital reading does not allow readers to have the ability to map what they are reading and help them to comprehend the text. Jabr references how the brain treats letters as physical objects in which creates a “mental representation of the text” (Jabr, “The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens”), which in return helps readers focus on a paper back book and easily navigate the book. However, screens do not allow this and rather trouble people by getting in the way of their journey of reading (Jabr, “The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens”). According to a study by Anne Mangen referenced by Jabr, the inability to navigate the text hinders ones ability to comprehend. An additional claim found in Jabr’s text is exhaustive reading, which refers to reading that causes more attention than normal causing a drain in a readers attention span. Unlike text reading, with digital reading comes the aspect of light that may cause glare and cause readers eyes to get more tired during long periods of reading. However, this does not occur with paperback books as they tend to be gentle on readers eyes (Jabr, “The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens”). The aspect of light can be a big factor when reading and can lead to loss of focus and possibly lack of comprehension. The final claim made by Jabr is readers attitudes when approaching their text, he explains that most readers tend to take digital reading lighter and tend to have the mindset to skim the reading. He mentions Ziming Liu who concludes that “people reading on screens take a lot of shortcuts” (Jabr, “The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens”), people tend to browse and hunt for key aspects rather than read the whole article. He provides many convincing claims throughout the article with lots of evidence for persuasion.

The article, “The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens” was published on Scientific American on April 11, 2013. The article is posted on the web probably so it is easily accessible. Readers will probably primarily read this article on a computer when having to do research on the subject matter, others may read it for interest in the psychological and science aspect of the article. It is listed under the sub category of Mind as it references many psychologists and focuses on the mental state of the brain when using different forms of reading.

The article is science based primarily focusing on psychology and research connecting the brain and reading together. Similar articles to “The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens” would relate to our articles having to do with the mind as well as other articles relating the brain to reading or on the subject of digital reading versus paper reading. The Scientific American sub categories the article into the mind category, this is probably primarily due to the article relating to the brain and having so many psychological studies involved. So generally I would say the genre of the article would be related to the mind or psychology, which is where the Scientific American placed the article as well.

Picture of digital reader included in article

When reading the article “The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens” I noticed that it was written in black text with a white background in formal font, possibly mimicking a paperback book. The top of the page has the title enlarged to grasp the reader with a short one sentence summary in small gray writing below. This short summary is followed by sizable picture which is also in black and white, it is a picture of a digital reading device. The picture helps to provide a visual of a digital reader in case the audience is unaware and has never used one before. The only color found on the page is along the side under suggested articles relating to the current article being read as well as the advertisements that appear at the top of the screen and in the middle of the article. Another touch of color Scientific American includes is the big royal blue box trying to convince readers to subscribe now. Overall, the article was very simple and easy to navigate but it lacked intriguing images to drawl the reader in, however it was written in a science journal so that is expected. I would conclude that the article is a very helpful resource and Jabr is a reliable source.

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Simple Steps to a Challenging Journey

Shannon McNulty

Dr. Licastro

Simple Steps to a Challenging Journey

My name is Shannon McNulty and I am just beginning my freshman year at Stevenson University in Owings Mills, Maryland. I am from Newark, Delaware and recently I graduated from the Charter School of Wilmington in Wilmington, Delaware. I am now a student athlete at Stevenson studying nursing while playing on the women’s soccer team. Being a student athlete helps me to better manage my time and encourages me to be a hard worker all of the time. I am the youngest of two kids in my family of four. My older sister is a senior in college studying sports and exercise science, she attends Coastal Carolina in Conway, South Carolina. Both of my parents attended college, my mom graduated with a degree in business and my dad received a degree in chemical engineering. Since I have an older sister and grew up with her, I seemed to learn faster than others because I always wanted to be doing what she was. I was constantly wanting to know what she was doing and trying to do the school work she had as well as read all the books she had rather than my own. However, throughout my many years of school I am typically a person who prefers science and math, rather than English and humanities classes. So, as the years went on I enjoyed reading and writing much less than when I was younger.This is a picture of a Leap Frog.

The year of school that I really recollect is 4^th grade. In 4^th grade I had a teacher named Mrs. Fendell, she was a super sweet teacher that wanted nothing more than for her students to succeed, her smiling face every morning made me enjoy school every day. She got not only me, but the whole class engaged in writing and made us really enjoy it. I learned so much from her, but the most important thing I learned was how to begin writing a paper. She used a special method called the sandwich method to help us grasp the concept. The sandwich method tied each ingredient to a specific section of the paper. The two pieces of bread on each end represented the beginning as well as the conclusion. The middle of the sandwich contained the meat, cheese, and lettuce, they were the body paragraphs. Occasionally there would be tomato added to the middle of the sandwich when we needed an extra body section for our paper. To make the concept easier in the beginning my teacher would give us two brown sheets of paper for the bread, a tan piece of paper for the meat, an orange sheet of paper for the cheese, a green piece of paper for the lettuce, and a red piece of paper if there was a tomato section in our paper. This not only helped my whole class earn to write but was a fun way to get everyone engaged in writing papers. We would turn our colored sheets of paper into a mini book that ended up being our paper. Eventually we got rid of the colored sheets of paper and just began writing it all together on one sheet since we had developed our writing further. It helped us understand the concept of a structured essay and carry that with us in future school years. It got us very involved with our writing, which I had never been able to do before, since it incorporated a fun method into writing and made things simpler so we could learn rather than just jumping into things. I will always remember this memory because it was when I finally learned to give structure to writing rather than just jotting things down on a piece of paper.

A few years later, when arriving in middle school I remember taking nagging vocabulary tests every single week. At that point, I never understood how they were helpful and what they were doing for me. I continued to study for them each week but I never retained any of the words after taking the vocabulary tests. The ongoing vocab tests happened weekly all the way through high school. However, in ninth grade one day we came into class and my English teacher named Ms. Mancari asked us to write an essay using fifty percent of the words we had learned. This seemed to be a very simple task until she informed us that she was going to take our vocab books while we did the assignment. We were expected to remember the words we had learned along with their definitions. This daunting task seemed impossible considering ever since sixth grade I had only ever learned the words for the vocab test and then immediately forgotten them. The whole class seemed to be in the same situation as me, everyone was very nervous for the assignment and we had no time to prepare. She ended up not grading the assignment, instead she used it as a lesson we should learn from. From then on, I studied my vocab words in order to know them for the future rather than just short term for the test. I now am able to use those words every day and use them in my writing. If it had not been for my ninth grade teacher, I would have gone through the rest of my high school career and potentially college just learning various words for tests. Increasing my vocabulary has greatly improved my writing abilities and it was all thanks to the lesson learned in my ninth grade English class.

Many things have influenced my writing and reading skills but these specific examples mentioned were the most influential. They have gotten me to my current level and most importantly to college to further my education. I will continue to use these skills I’ve learned throughout my college career and will also carry these skills into my desired field of nursing. I will need to constantly be writing in patients records as well as reading medical histories. I would never be able to do this without the basic skills I have acquired over the years. Despite that, many medical terms and new vocabulary will need to be learned in this new field of study. This is only the beginning, I have many new things to learn and lots of other things to improve upon both in college and in the medical field. However, you have to learn the basics in order to get to the more complicated stuff. My many years of school has taught me several very useful writing and reading structures and strategies to help me on my journey through nursing school as well as further down the road when I begin my career as a nurse.

“LeapFrog Original LeapPad Learning System from 2004: Toys & Games.” Amazon.com: LeapFrog Original LeapPad Learning System from 2004: Toys & Games, www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-Original-LeapPad-Learning-System/dp/B00003GPTI, September 9, 2017.

“Sadlier School School Catalog.” Products List, schoolstore.sadlier.com/ProductsList.aspx?CategoryID, September 9, 2017

http://nursejournal.org/, 2017 NurseJournal.org |. “The 5 Most Common Mistakes Made By New Nurses.” 2017 NurseJournal.org, nursejournal.org/articles/the-5-most-common-mistakes-made-by-new-nurses/, September 9, 2017.