In this article Mrs. Hines talks about the push of using technology in the classroom. She talks about how beneficial these services are. She says using blogs, podcasts, and wikis are innovative tools for learning and teaching, but they are not the first things needed to initiate change in the classroom. She presents that in the bigger picture teacher need to teach students to be learners. Teach them to think critically and solve problems first. She also charges teachers to be learners as well. She says that with all the technology available, that technology in the hands of a bright, innovative teacher can make amazing things happen. But, the teacher must be willing to learn how to effectively use these things. She says a computer can be used in two ways in the classroom, as an effective tool for learning, or a word processer and game system. As the title suggests it really is not about the technology. Putting smart boards in every classroom will not change the public school system, but where it starts is with the teacher. If the teacher is not willing to be a learner and keep up technologically and intellectually then technology is not the answer.
I can say that I really got a lot out of this article. It really does reach, in my opinion, to the heart and core of this class. Learning, on our own, about technology and using technology in the classroom is an almost limitless resource. I mean information is much more readily available to us than it ever has been and utilizing that in the classroom can do nothing but good things. Like the article suggests though it is completely up to the teacher to use the things made possible by technology to the best of their ability. The real questions to me is why wouldn't you want to do that? I mean me personally, I want to be the best at whatever it is that I am doing. Using technology effectively and teaching students to learn how to use it can only make me better at what I do. Great article!
Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?by Karl Fisch
This article by Mr. Fisch was written about four years ago. He talks about how it is not okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher. Taking the information we learned from his "Did You Know 3.0" video technological information has doubled and probably doubled again since he first wrote this post. Lets hope that the number tech savvy teachers has at least doubled since then. Despite it's age the article raises a number of good questions and charges educators to keep up with the times. He says that technology is a part of life now, there's no way around it. He compares being technologically literate in the twenty-first century to being able to read and write in the twentieth century. In the early part of the twentieth century you could get away with not being able to read and write and still be successful. But by the end of the twentieth you could not be successful at all. He says the same is going to be true for technological literacy in the twenty-first century. You can get away with it for now, but eventually you will have to be technologically literate or be unemployable. He then says this "If a teacher today is not technologically literate -and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more- it's the equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read and write." which is the jest of his entire article.
I can say that I do agree with a lot of what Mr. Fisch is saying in this article. I mean he's not saying lessons need to be like Steve Jobs introducing a new Apple product or anything like that. But he is saying that educators need to use technology in the classroom and teach their students how to as well. I think he is speaking in the same vein as the first article. I don't think he's saying that technology is the answer, but teaching critical thinking skills and problem solving integrated with technology is how educators should be teaching. Using the technology as another way, or the primary way to convey information.
Gary Hayes Social Media Count
This is an awesome website! It is absolutely amazing to see how much information is processed through all these different avenues of social media and social networking. It really does blow my mind to see that in fifty four seconds forty four hours of video was uploaded and that six hundred new people joined Google+. This really does show you how much technology is a part of our society.
As much as our society is entrenched in technology educators should use this as an advantage in the classroom. I mean it is a medium by which everyone already receives most of their information these days. People don't read newspapers, they use their computer for the news. If people are learning about the world using technology should educators use it to teach students about the world? It makes all the sense in the world to me. Check out the link for that website! It's pretty incredible.
A Vision of Students Today by Michael Wesch
This is an awesome video made by students in an anthropology class at the University of Kansas. In the video it talks about how people are spending their time and how they are learning in America and in some instances world wide. Two hundred students submitted responses to a set of questions in a Google Doc about how they spend their time, money, and resources. The camera bounces around to different people in the classroom and they hold up notes about how their time is spent per day. Three hours in class, one and a half hours watching television, and so on. They all added up to twenty six and a half hours and concluded with one student holding up a sign that said I'm good at multi-tasking, and then another that said I have to be. Then the video addresses bigger concerns. One student holds up a scantron answer sheet that says (I'm paraphrasing here, its actually a number of cards) filling this out will not help me get to where I'm going or help solve the worlds problems. Saying "I did not create the problems, but they are my problems." and giving examples like war and poverty. Lastly it poses the thought that some have suggested that technology can save us, then some have suggested that technology alone can save us. It concludes with talking about the chalkboard and writing on a chalkboard, it questions what is missing? Pictures, video's, networking?
I really liked this video, i was able to relate to it in a number of ways. This semester I am also taking a sociology class and the part where it's talking about not creating the problems but they are still my problems is a great connection for me looking the the eyes of the sociology class I'm taking. thinking about how much of my life is determined by what everybody else does really brings some new perspective. I believe my generation views it more as an us problem and wants to find a way to fix it. I believe my generation to be a more self-less generation than maybe some of the previous generations. I mean take TOMS shoes for example. They are ugly, cheap shoes that fall apart after about six months. But I have had three pairs of them because the idea behind it is one for one. For every pair of shoes bought another pair is donated to a child who does not have shoes somewhere in the world. My generation loves gimmicks like this. They are spreading like wildfire.
It is exciting to see how much technology is going to influence the educational system into the future. It will eventually replace chalkboards and whiteboards instead everyone in the class will be drawing on their iPads and have it networked to display on the wall. I mean think about it, I can learn so much just using the interent. Whole libraries can be saved onto my hard drive. I can't wait to see where we're going to end up with all of this.
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