Collaboration Technology

For this blog I feel that it would be most appropriate to use personal experiences to discuss the use and application of today's collaboration technologies in classroom group-work. You know, it's so commonplace now, but text-messaging is a very effective collaborative tool. In the process of setting up group meetings, attempting to make small changes while not in the group setting, or for simple questions, text messaging has been the perfect solution. In the actual process of sharing information and the compilation of our group's separate efforts, e-mail has been paramount. It's so simple to just do a portion of the work, and then via e-mail, put it all together. In today's culture it's hard to imagine how group work was ever accomplished, pre-technology, we'll call it. However, for all its vaunted convenience, it cannot replace the need of actually getting together to work. That, I believe, is still essential, but, as it pertains to college students and their use of collaboration technologies in the classroom, with all of us, the students, having conflicting schedules, it is the only way to get it all done.

Two Tips to Presenting Well

First, prepare. Prepare once, twice, and thrice. Then prepare again. Preparing as thoroughly as possible can eliminate many of the problems that people face with presentations. Much of the nervousness, stuttering, filler words, or the lack of confidence that many of us feel before a presentation could be eliminated by understanding everything about a topic. Next, it's always helped me to try the presentation on someone before giving the final presentation. It's basically like having someone proofread a paper you've written. A fresh set of ears can help to point out anything that may need tweaking.

Looking for the Good

With the difficulties and struggles of the U.S. economy, it's important every once in a while to look on the bright side. One of the things I've learned through a bit of light reading recently is with regards to the weakness of the dollar compared to some foreign currencies. Raphael Amit, a professor of entrepreneurship at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania said, “It is one of the things that will help prevent a recession. When the dollar is weak, imports are more expensive. So relatively speaking, domestic production and services are more competitive. Simple as that.” Sure, the weak dollar lessens what can be bought within the global market, but it does serve to stimulate our struggling economy by putting American businesses on a more equal footing with cheap foreign competitors. It's just one of many bright spots forming in what has been a dark landscape of national economic woes.