Social media is an amazing tool, but it’s really the face-to-face interaction that makes a long-term impact. Felicia Day

 

Do you feel you can’t stop checking your social networking sites as Facebook, Vkontakte, Classmates  profile every 5 minutes? Are you irritated when internet is not available? Congratulations! You are “lucky” to be among those who suffer from reliance on social networks.

Social networks firmly entered our lives. Kazakhstan is not at the top of the world internet users yet, but, it seems to be simply matter of time. Just look around, I am sure you have got many friends or relatives who are engaged at least in one account in social networks which is used every day. For many of us social networks profile is like the reflection of our personality, it is like our parallel life. It is impossible to imagine us without this virtual life.

Psychologists raise alarm that more and more people spend their time in social networks. At the beginning they think they are just hanging out, further it develops into pathological dependence. As a result a day passed without internet and social networks seems to be an icky day.

A lot is said and written about social networking sites potential harm and risks, and not only to the health. An online user looses contacts with real life. The more time he spends on these social media sites, the less time he will spend socializing in person with others. This certainly reduces his communication skills. He will not be able to communicate and socialize effectively in person with others. However, these social networking sites can be very beneficial for keeping up with family members, friends, colleagues, etc. who live far away.  So they can then experience all the things that someone does, and comment on them. Then, they share in the experience, rather than just being “informed” about them during weekly phone calls. Although social media can be great to keep in touch with friends and family, it is still really important to have live in person contact with your friends and family.

So in short, a social networking site has innumerable pros and cons. What is needed is awareness among people about the cons while enjoying the pros of it, I think.

 

 

 

‘Head Fake’ of Master’s Degree

We are approaching to the end of one-year intensive program of Educational Leadership. This academic year has passed extremely quickly and productive. I would say, that I have learned a lot about education and leadership consciously, but there are number of skills and knowledge that I have learned unconsciously. Unconscious learning coincided as head fake in Randy  Pausch’s  “Last lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”. In that lecture he gave an example, when parents send their kids to football pitch not to make them professional players, but to provide them an opportunity to learn perseverance and ability to work in a team. As it is, during this one year, my head fakes of Master’s degree were establishing critical viewpoint, developing of network, and understanding the value of life- long learning.

Before starting master’s program, I was questioning myself about critical reasoning and how to apply it in our daily practice. For my luck, I could learn critical thinking skills through readings, class discussions and via constructive feedbacks of our professors. Now I can use critical thinking to any life situations that helps me to be objective and to look at the things from different angle. I would thank my professors and groupmates who always ready to listen to me and share their opinion and their support follows with building strong network.

Development of the network is one of the essential achievements of this year. I am very proud of my friends whom I found through the program. Even though we will pursue own ambitions after graduation, but we always share common values and memories of Master’s degree for the rest of our life. Beyond that, they are ones who can always give a piece of critical advice and excellent candidates for future partnership or collaborative works in education sphere. Moreover, our faculty members and my friends make me understand the importance of life-long learning.

Life-long learning is the most critical element in this information era. Innovations penetrate to our life with the speed of light, in order to remain as a competent worker, researcher or whatever roles we try,   we should carry out learning till the end of the life. Life- long learning makes to stay updated and critical as well as to be creative that helps us to find extraordinary solutions for various problems.

To sum up, Master’s degree was a solid foundation for achieving self-actualization, applying critical thinking, collaborating with peers and life-long learning. I believe, that seeds planted in our souls and minds will flourish in my future practice for making positive contribution for the development of our society.

 

 

Reference

Pausch, R. (2007, December, 20). Randy Pausch Last lecture: achieving your childhood dreams. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo