Capstone Project

Most of Jacksonville State University’s classrooms are still the old fashion type of class that is strictly lecture. This type of learning is not maximizing the students ability to learn because in the 21st century everything in life is starting to become technology based. Strictly lecture classes bore students and every college student now would rather use technology during class than to sit through the regular cookie cutter lecture style class. For the Capstone Project Austin Parker and I focused on the issue of how to integrate technology into the classroom.

In our research we found clickers, Faronics Insight, and Top Hat Monocle. We found that many Universities have already began integrating technology into the classroom recently. Most of these Universities have done so through the use of clickers. Clickers look like small TV remotes with rows and columns of letters. Clickers are used in class by students to answer questions asked by a professor aloud. Then the results are compiled and are available to the professor as stats. This is the only thing that clickers can do and they’re limited to multiple choice questions & only one at a time. Several well-known universities have used clickers. They found that clickers do help students at these universities and even professors like the clicker usage because it engages students more, but they are not the solution to the problem.

The solution to this problem has two parts to help fully ensure that every classroom is fully equipped to use technology to its full potential to impact learning, both equipment and software. With our solution every classroom will need to be equipped with a class set of Apple Ipad Minis (16gb WiFi only) for in class use only and one mounted projector that allows both student and professor to share something they’re working on. Now that every classroom will be equipped for its full technological learning ability we have to be sure that the most beneficial software and systems are installed for use. The best software that we found is Top Hat Monocle and Faronics Insight.

The first software I am going to explain about is Top Hat Monocle. Top Hat Monocle is a classroom response system that's completely web based and is equipped with many features that benefit the student & the professor both inside and out of the classroom. It conducts polls or quizzes where the answers are multiple choice, numeric, or short answer and you can watch the live results come in on any WiFi connected device. This software also runs interactive demonstrations that students can do on any mobile device connected to the internet in class or at home for practice before doing their work. Professors can choose from the library of demos or create a new one from scratch. It also administers open ended questions to students and watch as they discuss amongst themselves in a forum like thread. The teacher can also can give participation points if they want. For the teacher's station it has a file share that can upload and share important documents with students such as class notes and project instructions. All answers submitted by a student are automatically graded and uploaded into the Top Hat Monocle Gradebook which is set up to easily export all data to any spreadsheet. Top Hat Monocle’s unique system of tools and features enable the class set of Ipads to be anything from a live in class poll with results feeding live directly to the professor or a interactive open ended question forum that can stimulate learning and allow students to collaborate to establish an answer in an orderly fashion. Another large benefit of Top Hat Monocle is that the software is web based meaning there is no installation and students & teachers can use any device out of class to access course materials.

Our other recommended software is Faronics Insight. This is a software designed to put the professor back in control of the technology equipped classroom through a main tech console that is controlled by the professor. The tech console has features that allows it to be more easy keeping an entire class of students being allowed to use technology freely on task and learning as intended. The tech console of this software gives the teacher the ability to control to both lock and unlock either specific websites or block the whole internet in general, randomly rotate through the students computers to make sure that they are on task at anytime, privately chat with students, and share & broadcast what they are doing on their screen with the entire class or from the projector. It also allows the students to broadcast their screens as well as the teacher does, but the teacher has to approve it. The tech console sounds like it is going to be something big, fancy, and expensive but it is not. It is all on the teacher's own computer.

We came to a conclusion that we think through our two part solution we feel like students will become more engaged in class which will help lead students to have a better understanding of material. This solution has benefits for both the professor and student. We feel like this will allow professors who have been resistant to integrate technology to do so now easily now because they will have more security of knowing that they will have as much control over their class while using technology. As well as keeping students more involved in the classroom and hopefully help them enjoy being in class more.

This is our power point.

This is the handout.

Blog Reflection

In this blog post, I will be going over three of my previous blog posts. I will discuss what I think are their strong points, how they portray me as a writer, and my personal opinions of them and their content. I hope that I can give words of wisdom to whoever reads them, preparing them for college, and the college experience.

The first post I am going to reflect on is Share or Die: Heartbeat and Hashtags. I am satisfied with this blog post because I thoroughly enjoyed the story, thus making it an easy topic on which to write. This story was inspiring, because it was about a girl who gave up her time to give back to the community, but on the other hand, it was also very eye-opening, because it demonstrated society’s reliance on the internet. Although I appreciate the internet, and what it has done for our society, I personally think that we tend to rely on the internet for too much. We also tend to make snap judgements on companies, just based on something as trivial as their website. I think that we should start making our own opinions based on our own research. We shouldn’t just rely on the internet to do this for us. So, this blog post was one of my favorites because of the points that it brought to the table. To me, I think that while we should appreciate modern conveniences, we should do things for ourselves as well. I also think that in this blog, I demonstrated one of my strengths as a writer, by giving a detailed description of the story, and of my own personal opinion.

Next, I am going to talk about my post: Is College Enough? This post reflects some of my views along with various other blogger’s views about college in general. In this blog, I raised some serious questions and concerns that the average student might have about going to college. Some students have qualms about college because they think that it might not be necessary. Then there are others who have concerns that college just might not be enough. In this blog post I addressed these common concerns. Some people think that college is unnecessary simply because it is so hard to find a job once you graduate. Then there are others who would say that going to college was one of the best decisions they ever made. They think that not only did it prepare them for their career, but it also helped them grow emotionally, and in maturity. I believe that in this blog post, I showed my strength in writing in general, and I used many examples to back up my statements. (statistics, quotes, etc.)

            The last blog post that I am going to review is my blog: What is college for? In this blog I discussed what college is really about. I talked about how you should go to college for the right reasons, and what exactly to expect from your college experience. A lot of people think of college as one big party, and some think of it as a “four-year intelligence test.” There are many misconceptions about college that students need to sort out before they take the leap. I consider this post my strongest piece because I am most passionate about it’s content, and I strongly believe that students should seriously consider the college experience, and what it entails, before deciding to go. A lot of people go to college straight out of high school, not because they made that decision themselves, but because society makes them feel as though they need to. Or because “everyone else does.” College isn’t always the best decision for everyone. Do what you do because you want to, not because you think it is the acceptable thing to do. There are many things that one should consider before going to college. But if you do decide to go, fully commit yourself to it. A lot of people do think of college as a time in your life where you can just have fun. Although you should have fun in college, it is also a time where you should be serious about your studies. If you do that, you will be successful in your college career. Because it just could be the best decision you ever make for your future.

 In conclusion, I personally think that these blog posts were the most pointed and opinionated of them all, and I think they are the most informative.

Share or Die: Heartbeats and Hashtags

In the book Share or Die, Hannah Brencher tells us about her decision to become a volunteer worker for a whole year. She thought it was just going to be a waiting period to get through the recession but ended up being so much more. She was 22 and dedicating her first year out of college (still owing on loans) to being a volunteer for a place in the Bronx, New York. Even though most of her major living expenses were taken care of, she still knew it was going to be tough stretching out her money from week to week because living in New York is so expensive.

When she tells her friend about her decision to become a volunteer she already knew what he was thinking, just like what the rest of society thought. She was crazy. When he asked her why she wanted to be a volunteer she wasn't real sure but that question is what made her want to figure out a good answer. She knew when she told people she was a volunteer they thought of a poor girl with a huge heart and someone who is full of hopes and dreams. 

Hannah was volunteering in a non-governmental organization's office. Just two weeks into her volunteering she was already pressing to find more opportunities to help out in the neighborhood. Her urge to get to know the borough took her to Sister Margret's community life center, which was right near her apartment. Hannah decided she could help out there when her other job wasn't asking for eight hours every day. 

Even though the desk Sister Margret gave her was small, cramped, and cluttered it was warm and felt like home. She helped her update her website so people could learn more about the center. That was where the center was falling apart because before Hannah came along the website hadn't been updated for years. When people was looking for a website for the center they saw it was old and out of date and it was turning them away. 

I read more than one section in Share or Die but this one story stuck out the most to me. This girl, to me, was obviously not that self-centered or really too worried about what society thinks or even how much money she would make being a volunteer. I think her original reason to be a volunteer was to be able to have some experience in whatever she was doing because like we've been talking about no one wants hire someone with out experience. I can see where experience would really be essential for a job in New York because there are so many people that live in that area and so many wanting the same jobs. 

The thing that stood out to me the most was her helping Sister Margaret out when she had time. People these days only want to do things for others if they are going to get paid. It's sad but true. Sister Margaret’s center is a great example of how society is becoming all about technology and internet. Most of the older generation is computer illiterate because they have never had to worry about technology like that until now. They have always been a face-to-face or over the phone kind of society. She had been running her life center for 30 years and now was slowly going under basically because of her non-updated website and lack of information of the place on the internet. Not because of terrible service or anything that she had done it was just something as simple as her website. 

That brings me to the question, why do we rely on the internet for everything that we do and all of the information that we receive? I'm sure that there are plenty of places like this that have already had to give up their business because of the simple lack of updated information on the internet. If people went for so long with out it and made it just fine then, why can we not be more like that again? I’m not saying lets convert back to like horse and buggy time or to like 1999! I just think we are starting to rely too much on the internet as our resource, and I think it might be good if we think about starting to go back to having more face to face confrontation with people. We could even start checking out what we are finding on the internet with our own eyes, and getting our opinion on things instead of someone else’s who might see things different than we do. 

Is College Enough?

People are asking the question now is college enough? Just about everyone is going to college but what is the good of it if nobody can get a job? With the economy being so bad these days it’s hard for anyone to get a job with or without a college degree. Granted having one does help in a lot of ways, but experience has just as big of an impact as the degree its self in some jobs. If there is any way you could have experience and a degree that would put you in a perfect position to get the job you’re looking for.

If you look at some of the weird, probably unneeded or unnecessary classes that are offered by your school you think yeah that would be a neat class, but why the heck would anyone need that for? There are so many classes offered now that just won’t help you in your place of work. You might have to take classes like that even though you can’t seem to understand why. Many people are just taking classes so they can hurry up and get that degree. College: Enough Bang for your Buck said “While I do not intend to argue that we should actually have fewer people going to college, but rather that college students–once they have arrived at the lecture halls, dorm rooms, and common spaces that will fill their days for the next four years–should stop and think seriously about what classes they are taking and why.” Really I think that is a good idea. Why go to college and take classes that are not needed? Make sure you know what classes you have to take and why. Because if you're not careful all your doing is making your college stay longer. 

Even though there is a big percent of people who say college was just a waste of their time and money, but there is just as big percent that disagrees with that. An article in The New York Times talks about how some people say it helped them intellectually, grow and mature as a person, and actually helped them prepare for their job. Most of all they said they thought it was a good personal investment. This makes me think college can be what you make of it. There are so many different opinions of what people think about college and their degree it makes me wonder if their perception of college was how they went about doing things while they were in school. A lot of people say that being involved helps out tremendously while being at college and that people who aren’t involved end up hating it. Being involved helps you be more interactive with people who you don’t know, make a new variety of friends, and keeps your grades up because of some of the requirements that whatever club or association you joined with. 

Today, colleges in America are not living up to the people's expectations. More than 80 percent of high school sophomores plan on going to college. This is more than ever, but what they don’t know is college is not what everyone makes it out to be. There are crazy classes, not a lot of students end up graduating, and poor employment rate even after getting a degree. 

By the way everyone talks about college you would never think that 50 percent of students don’t graduate, or 30 percent of students drop out before they even start their second year! The amount of unemployed graduates doubled from the year 2008 to 2009 not only just that companies are starting to hire 21 percent less of recent graduates than in the past. Even if a graduate manages to find a job they get paid substantial less amount of money compared to the people who graduated in a better economy. There is an estimated of about 2 million people with a college degree who are unemployed today. 

It seems as over the years it has been getting easier and easier to get a college degree. It’s like they will give a degree out to almost anyone. In 1961 the average studying hours were close to doubled compared to the hours students studied in 2008. Over the years grades that are given out have basically been swapped. Our percentages of a letter grade A that are given now are about the same percentage as the grade of a C was gave out in the 1960’s. What has made it seem so much easier to be able to get an A in college classes? Are the people getting smarter? Or are the teachers being more lenient with their grading methods? I think either of these ideas are possible because we have so much technology nowadays that helps us out with our work but in the same way can hurt us by the way it is so distracting. In the 60’s they didn’t have computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets, Internet, or WI-FI to help them look up information. They just had books, pen, paper, and typewriters nothing compared to the things we have today. But with that in mind did they have as much of a distraction as we do these days? It’s not just the students who get distracted by all of the technology it’s the teachers too. 

President Obama stated in a speech what high school guidance counselors in America are telling their students, "In this economy, a high school diploma no longer guarantees a good job." The Governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell responded to that by agreeing and saying, "All Americans agree that a young person needs a world-class education to compete in the global economy." Every statistic shows that he is correct. Even though people do make better money with a degree than without one, should the economy still be pushing all students to attend college even if they are not very well suited for college? Some signs that suggest that they might be pushing too many people is that in 2007, 20 percent of people who had a degree were working jobs that did not require the degree they had. Another one is all they got out of college is debt. The good news is that there have never been more options to the traditional college. Certification tests could be made so that in many businesses bosses could get more useful knowledge about a job applicant than just if they have a degree. Career and technical education could be stretched out to be half of the cost of college. Occupational licensure rules could be more lenient to help create opportunities for people without a higher education. 

Every job wants you to have experience, but how can you have experience if you cant land a job? Industries are so afraid of losing knowledge that they are keeping people well over the average retirement age. With them doing this it’s leaving the younger generation always trying for jobs but being turned down because of lack of experience, or them just not hiring people because all the job spots are filled with the elderly people. Where does this leave us, the younger generation? How will we ever be able to gain the knowledge like the older people if industries never even give us a chance? Jack Vincent says, “Even in industries that are intertwined with rapid technological, legal, and medical advancement, experience is the door opener and closer.” 

Always remember there are people who are out there in the exact same field as you and working just as hard or just as hard to get the same job. So after college it is crucial to set yourself out from everyone else to be noticed so you can find a job. You may think its outrageous that anyone would tell you to this, but after you graduate if you are having trouble finding a job for your degree John Wilpers says to try writing a “passion blog.” He says this method works because it raises your profile in your line of work thanks to all the interviews you’ll conduct with the most important people in your field. The most important people almost always say, “yes” to an interview request. You are providing them with your skills and making business connections. It helps them remember who you are when you call later on because you sent them a link to your blog and then began following them on social media and commenting on their blogs, which keeps reminding them of you and how much you want this job.

What is college for?

College is supposed to be for higher education, and to help you get a better paying job. But what happens if you end up with a useless degree? It’s always a possibility that you can pick a major that doesn't have many job opportunities. So why waste thousands on thousands of your's or your parent’s money just to be in the same place as you would be, even if you never attended college? What you don't know, is that there are so many degrees that can do so much more than just what they are known for. Do you think that your degree doesn’t have many job opportunities? In reality there are plenty of career choices you can have with almost any degree. Andrew Bast says, "It's not a question of, do you have the particular classes,' but it's do you have the mindset, the temperament, the intellectual horsepower to succeed?" I believe that this is a very true statement for just about anything! Your mind is a very powerful thing. If you want to do something badly enough, you can usually make it happen if you put your mind to it. You just have to figure out what it is you want to do.

Some think college can be labeled as a four-year intelligence test that sorts out the smart, and the dumb. But personally, I don’t think any one person can be completely "dumb," and still be able to make it through four whole years of college. Some of my smartest friends, that graduated top of their class, have even struggled at the beginning. You may disagree with that, or you may agree with it, but I have realized that some people have struggles that make college a more challenging experience for them, than it would others: health, financial problems, challenges at home, or maybe their high school experience did not fully prepare them for college. So, in conclusion, I don't fully agree with the “four year intelligence test,” because there are so many people out there who are really smart but never had a fair chance to attend school, or be able to get a college degree.

Louis Menand explains what he feels the four-year intelligence test is by saying that students have to show intellectual ability, over time, and across a range of subjects. If they’re sloppy, inflexible, or obnoxious, they will struggle in school, no matter how high their I.Q. He says college also sorts people according to aptitude. For instance, it helps separate the math type from the english type. Students end up with their score, a GPA, that schools and employers can trust as a measure of their intellectual capacity and productive potential. It’s important, therefore, that everyone is taking more or less the same test.


photo credit: » Zitona « via photo pin cc


To many, college would be considered the best time of their lives, and they don't know what they would do if they had never gone and experienced it. They met so many people that they would probably have never met unless they had gone. But there are some people that would say they think their college years were a waste of time, because they could not find what they considered a "graduate" job, and felt that universities were no better at equipping students with transferable skills than schools or colleges. In certain places it is going to be hard to find a job with what your degree particularly covers, because there might be many others in the area that already have jobs in that particular field. When it's like that, employers are usually join to hire the person who is the best at what they do. So you always need to prepare yourself for that, "what if" situation. Make sure you're doing what you do because you want to, and because you are good at it, not because it's something someone else wants you to. You are the one who has to go to work everyday, for the rest of your life, and if you don't love it, there may be complications later.

To me, what you get out of something is what you put into it. So you can't hardly ever show up to class, or not listen, not participate, and expect to come out of that class with the decent grade. You may not even gain enough knowledge from that class. Even if you end up thinking that college is a waste of time, you still know much more than you would have without going to college. You will have this information and these skills for the rest of your life. Students need to realize that college is one of the most important things that they will do in life. What they also need to understand, is that their most important learning opportunities at college take place not only in the classroom, but outside of the classroom as well. College helps socialize all groups of people: different races, religions, and people from different backgrounds. It helps people get comfortable with being around different people all the time, and learning to talk to, and get to know people, other than your normal group of friends. It teaches you not to be shy, and that often helps you get out of your comfort zone. It helps you learn how to be able express yourself, and feel more confident with yourself. This comes in handy when you are looking for jobs. Many employers do not want to hire someone who is bashful in an interview. They usually want to hire someone who is more out going, and more sure of themselves. They usually associate that kind of behavior, with someone who is confident in their skills.

In today's time, it is a big deal to have a college education. There is really no way around it. There are so many people who now have a higher education, so why would they want someone with only a high school education? People’s support for higher education makes sense only if they respect this academic culture as a necessary part to our society. There could be job training provided. as well as basic social and moral formation for students. This is far more efficient, and it is also cheaper, than a combination of trade schools, and public service programs. This would greatly help people with financial problems that make it hard on them to be able to go to school.


Countless American families wonder whether or not sending their children to college is worth it, if they obtain jobs that pay less than the price of tuition. It makes complete sense for people to be concerned about the economic benefits of college. An author Mark Rose talks about its intellectual benefits: "Not just learning things to make a living, but also learning things to enable you to do things with your life, to enable you to find interests and pursuits that may in some way or another expand the way we see things." There are also social benefits, he says: learning to think together, learning to attack problems together, and learning how to disagree. One of the great things about bringing so many people together in this common space, is that you're almost forced to have to deal with and encounter people who see the world in a very different way from your own. College may be valuable, but it's also not for everyone. A lot of parents do feel different about college than their children do. Parents feel the need to either make their children go to college, or to deny them entry, when actually, it should be the child's choice. There are plenty financial aid options, beside student loans, that can pay for your schooling! You just have to look for all of the scholarships you can, or try to get financial aid that you don't have to pay back, as long as you meet their standards. Instead of people saying yes or no to college, they need to start looking into it further, and seeing if college is for them.


I really feel like a higher education is no longer a choice, but a must have in order to succeed in today's economy. Since society feels the great need for people to attend college, students who can't afford to pay for it, end up having to take out student loans. It is hard for students to be able to pay back their debts, until they have an adequate job, where they can support themselves. With bill collectors hounding them every day, it makes them start to wonder if and when they will ever be able to pay their debts back. This makes people feel overwhelmed, and even depressed. This can sometimes lead people to consider suicide. C. Cryn Johannsen shares a letter from a young man named Jordan:

"I plan to douse myself and light myself aflame on the

Capitol steps, to draw attention to the dire situation of the millions

of indentured educated citizens who, like me, have no options, plus a

predatory banking system coming after us.

There is no political solution to this problem . . . I will be

setting myself on fire, and the student debt debacle will hopefully

come to the forefront of public consciousness."

Even though there have been no epidemiological studies attempted to find a correlation between student loan indebtedness and suicide, or suicide attempts, experts state that they would not be surprised if one did exist. Suicide is the dark side of the student lending crisis, and despite all the media attention to the issue of student loans, it's been severely under-reported. I think it is very sad that people are resorting to suicide as a solution to their problems caused by school debt. Especially when, in the first place, they are just going to school to try to better themselves, but end up in one of the worst situations possible. People need to realize that money is never more important than human life, even if it is a constant struggle.

Why I Chose College

The reason I chose college, besides with my dad there is no other choice, I think it will help make sure that I will make better money in the future to support me then way later on my family. I never really thought about college until the beginning of my senior year! Yes, I procrastinate anything and everything! The more I started thinking about it I started thinking of like how I love the fact that I get to further my education especially since not many people are able to for all different reasons, so if you have a perfect opportunity why not take full advantage of it? If you think about it, now there are so many people without jobs and most of them are people who don't have a college degree. When I get older get married and have kids or whatever I end up doing in life I know I'm going to want the very best of everything. Already in a store I always find the most expensive thing they have and automatically want it! I never try it just happens that way even in the cheapest of stores, my dad tells me that’s the main reason why I need to go to school so I can try to get one of the best jobs so I can afford to buy whatever I want. By the time I graduate college I think it will be even a bigger aspect of any job to have college experience, especially for the big bucks. I personally want to be able to provide the best for my family and me and not have to have time where I’m worried if we will have food to eat or how the heck will I be able to pay for just my very basic bills. I try my best to be a very independent person I never want to have to be a bum or depend on anyone to be able to support myself, no matter if it is my parents or heaven forbid a man! I'm from a very small town and I see people struggling with finding jobs every day and I would rather not have to worry about it. Just about every person who is struggling with no job or a very low paying job always stresses to me how important it is to go to college and get my degree and I think if that many people say almost the exact same thing it has to be true that they just don’t make it up. Another reason is because even though he didn’t attend college my dad is a very successful businessman and I look up to him for that! The way I look at is what all could he had achieved if he had been able to go to college? That made me want to strive to get in to school so maybe one day I can be just as successful or even maybe more than he is, and I know the only way I can do so is to go to school and finish also. I think I made a great decision by choosing JSU its not too far away from home, but it’s far enough to get away. This is going to be a good experience for me to be able to get away from home so I can learn all of the responsibilities that come with the real world. Sure I’m not having to pay bills or nothing big right now, this is just getting my feet wet. But its going to teach me how to be more responsible with my money because anything I want now that mommy and daddy aren’t around to buy it, I have to! If I need drinks or snacks in my dorm room I have to go get it myself on my time. None of there things are a big deal but it does make me realize how much my parents do for me. Being away at college from all of my family and most all of my friends is giving me a new great chance to be able to branch out and to meet new people, that if I had not chose to go to college I would probably never get a chance to get to meet! 

About Me!

Hey guys,  my name is Morgan Ellis I'm 18 years old. I'm from a very small town called Bridgeport, AL. Where I'm from two towns, Bridgeport and Stevenson, come together to create our high school North Jackson. Its a very small school that mainly focuses on football and cheerleading. All four years of high school I was a cheerleader for sidelines and competition, I loved every minuet of it! We're not just a team were one big family, once your in this family your always apart of it. All four years we won 4a Alabama state championship and the past two years we made top ten at UCA nationals which is one of the biggest high school national competition in the Unites States.
 

I have two brothers and a sister, but I'm my moms only child. Shes going crazy because I've left home and trying to drive me crazy right with her! My two cousins are more like my brothers instead of cousins, most of the time we introduce ourselves as brothers and sister. Jeremy the oldest is my rock I go to him for anything and everything! I have two dogs and a godson named Caiden, he is the absolute cutest little boy you will ever see! To find out a little more you can add me on facebook.