Unit 2 Post

The article Understanding Health Literacy by Zarcadoolas article proposes a health literacy model that is characterized by four domain. The four domain are: Fundamental literacy, science literacy, civic literacy and cultural literacy. When I look at the definition of each of these domain that is mentioned in the article, I conclude that all four domain are of equal importance in increasing the health literacy of an individual or the society as a whole. I think its important to be educated and familiar with all aspects of the four domain because it just makes the process of communication between patients and health care provider for example a lot easier, than if a person is illiterate in any of the areas. In addition to making the communication between patients and provider easier, it also makes it easier for the people around the patient, like the people who support, live, and transport them. For example, my parents do not speak english well. As we are immigrants from a very different culture and language. So they do not even have the "Fundamental literacy" domain because my parents speak a different language than the language of their physician. My parents also have limited access and knowledge to the technology we have now a days, and that makes them also illiterate in the "Science Literacy" domain. And they also lack in the other two domain due to language barriers and different cultural upbringing as i mentioned before. So as their daughter i have to be the bridge between my parents' physicians and my parents. And this makes the process longer and not so easy to say the least. Because instead of working with only one schedule, we have to work with 3 different schedule. So if my parents were literate in all of the four domains, it would have been a lot easier and more convenient to all of us who are involved. 

Unit 1 post

In the Sharif articles about social capital and health in a Digital Society, he talks about the positive and  negative aspects of technology in our society. In my opinion all of the technology we see today has a positive and negative side that affects us all.  Having lab tops and wireless connection everywhere has increased the chances to keep in touch with friends and loved ones anywhere in the world like he mentions in the article. And with just one click we are able to talk to them, see them and with that we are able to feel their presence. I think this is one technology that has a positive impact on us. As an immigrant i am able to relate to this, i am able to keep in touch with my close friends and my relative even when we are thousands miles away, and that in return has helped me to stay healthy and not lonely because i am able to speak to them anytime i need them to help motivate me or push me to do well, and to keep my spirit up not go into depression trying to adjust to this new style of living and fast pace world. But this is just one positive aspect of computers and wireless connection as there are many. 

Seeing people listening to their ipods, talking on the phone or sending text messages to each other like every second has definitely increased since i was in high school.  I saw this more in my undergraduate school, because being in new a campus no one wants to feel alone or left out so instead of smiling while walking on campus to each other and try to communicate and make friends, we instead take out our phones and call our family or friend that we already know to keep us entertained until we reach our destination. And that takes away from our social relationships with others and make people feel left out even more, due to 2 reasons, one someone might not be able to afford text messaging or even a phone, and two what if they have a phone but have no one to talk to.

In the Bardzell et al. article, the development team used the ADDIE Model to create a distance learning environment. The part that I found interesting in this article is when they integrated both the technology and face to face interaction between other students and also between instructors. I found that interesting because you can pace yourself and learn anywhere through your computer about this particular class, but at the same time interactions and discussion of the topic is not totally wiped out. And for me as a student i learn better when i read for myself first, figure out what we are learning, and i retain it by talking about it with other students, so for me this is the best way that I learn. 

I think all the technologies we see today are great ones, but it depends on how we use them and how they shape our daily lives.