Assignment #3 Purpose

For this assignment I am going to argue that our environment plays a role in our imagination. My production will be a digital image, made using Illustrator.

America: A Love Story

The presidential debate is a perfect example of argument and rhetoric which are described in the Wysocki/Lynch Article. Rhetoric is an important aspect of these debates because the candidates will change the ideas of what they talk about depending on their audience. For example, if they know that their audience contains many single mothers then they will speak of things which pertain more directly to them. It is also applicable in the presidential debate as the debate is used to persuade their audiences.

Argument is also directly related to the presidential debate as that's what the debate is; two men arguing.    The presidential candidates often have different views on issues, and therefore they argue their view and what they find most important. They use their arguments to persuade their audience to vote for them, tying itself in with rhetoric.

cats < jaguars

Heaps of information on many topics can be found on the internet, thus making the internet a college student’s most valuable resource. People around the world rely on the internet daily; if you have a question or are curious about something it’s easy to get out your smart phone, tablet or laptop and search for your answer via the web. But what use is all of this information if it is inaccessible? This year (2012), Michigan Tech University has implemented a new wireless system, putting wireless routers throughout the buildings on campus including the dorms. Since implementing this new system, many students have been incapable of consistently accessing the internet using their preferred wireless devices.

In order to understand how this intermittent availability of access to the internet is problematic we must first define what access is. Access is the ability of one to properly use, preferably without interruption, what they wish (here, regarding wireless internet). Students at Michigan Tech have access to wireless internet throughout campus, available for use on any of their compatible devices. This access, however, does not always work as it should or even at all. Being a prominent technological university campus, this poses as a major problem for many students. Many classes require access to the internet, as assignments are posted online and a majority of class information is kept online as well. If students do not have wireless access, they cannot be expected to succeed in their studies.

Another problem with the poor access of wireless internet is that there are students who are not computer literate and/or do not have the technological fluency to resolve problems that may come up when trying to access the internet. Fluency, as described in Literacy and Computer Literacy: Analyzing the NRC's Being   Fluent with Information Technology is,

“Generally, computer literacy has acquired a skills connotation, implying competency with a few of today is computer applications, such as word processing and email. Literacy is too modest a goal in the presence of rapid change, because it lacks the necessary staying power. As the technology changes by leaps and bounds, existing skills become antiquated and there is no migration path to new skills. . . . To adapt to changes in the technology . . . involves learning sufficient foundational material to enable one to acquire new skills independently after one is formal education is complete. This requirement of a deeper understanding than is implied by the rudimentary term computer literacy motivated the committee to adopt fluency as a term connoting a higher level of competency. (NRC, 1999, p. 2)”

/end paper

Computer Literacy

Technology plays a large role in our everyday lives, fact. As a student at a university, I am expected to have an understanding of computers, their programs, and how to use them. Throughout elementary, middle, and high school I was required to take classes dealing with computer literacy, teaching us to be comfortable using different programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, as well as improve our navigation skills [of computers], typing, and general comfortability using such. This learning of technology, especially computers, is ongoing. Here at MTU we are part of the STEM Education Coalition, which is a coalition which presses the issue of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math education. For most, if not all, degrees, students are required to take 16 STEM credits; classes which are meant to improve students' knowledge of computers and technology. They push for more people to be more computer literate, or fluent as the text, Literacy and Computer Literacy: Analyzing the NRC's Being Fluent with Information Technology, says.

I feel that computer literacy is a good skill to have, though it is not an essential part of our lives. There are those who will understand and use computers, those who will not understand and use computers, and those who will not understand and not use computers.