Week 3: Introduction to the World of Podcasts, Mrs. Cassidy's Class, and a One Year Old with an I Phone

So far through my journey and examination of 21st century media and technology in EDM 310, I have yet to encounter a form of media that I have no experience with. This week, that changed. With the help of iTunes, I have discovered the wonderful world of "podcasts." A wealth of helpful educational podcasts are available for free on iTunes. These podcasts seem to be an innovative tool that educators can utilize to help their students share information world-wide. Podcasts are a way to create and share audio clips that can be listened to by others spanning the globe. Teachers of today are beginning to examine the use of these podcasts with their students. Podcasts are a new form of media, and there are quite a few different styles of creating them.

Many of the educational podcasts on iTunes are just audio clips of people speaking and conducting interviews. These seem to be aimed towards a more academic audience, but they offer some very interesting ideas for 21st century teachers. David Warlick conducts a very lively discussion with teachers and librarians about the uses of podcasts. This podcast points out that the most interesting part of podcasts, like many other new technologies, is that they allow students to connect and learn with students in classrooms miles away. Ben Hazzard offers some great information about Smart Boards (another new technology available to teachers today) and ways that teachers can utilize them in their community of learners. Hazzard's goal is to connect teachers everywhere, which is a very exciting prospect.

Podcasts are not simply audio clips of people talking, many of them on iTunes use music and sound effects as well. This music seems to liven up the mood of the podcasts, and could definitely be a way to get students to more actively engage online materials. The "Kid Cast.com" podcast channel offers a wide range of podcasts created by young students. These podcasts give students a chance to have fun while actively learning new tools that are available to them. Many of the pod asts have students book reviews, readings, and reports on current events. These podcasts provide an example for future educators to consider, they could become a very successful tool in the classrooms of tomorrow.

Podcasts are so interesting because they supply a platform for people to be a part of the collective learning community. The "EdTechTalk.com" podcast spoke about the need for teachers to create this learning community within their own classrooms. Students of today feel at home with technology, and podcasts are not something that seem foreign to them. We, as educators, need to evaluate the potential benefits of these podcasts in our own pedagogy. The goal teachers have is a common one, to help each of their students reach their maximum potential in life as well as school. Podcasts are innovative and could be innvaluable for teachers to get their students engaged with class material. There are so many different techniques for making them, and allow students to collaborate in the material they are learning.

Mrs. Cassidy's Class

Both of the videos entitled "Media Literacy" and "Little Kids...Big Potential" show a view into the window of Mrs. Cassidy's first grade class. This class is a technological marvel, her students participate in the learning process in ways that no other students have before them. They Skype with other elementary school classes, use Wikis, and blog about what they are learning. I was most interested to learn that these students like blogging the most out of all of their activities. As someone who plans on teaching English, I got really excited when I heard these students talking about how blogging has improved their writing. Now, I can begin to examine blogs as a potential tool to be used one day in my classroom. Children living in the world of today are able to learn how to interact with new technologies at an astounding rate. The ease that these students have with using computers as part of their learning is quite a sight to see. They are the future, and technology seems to be an inseparable part of their lives.

IPhone and an Infant

Seeing a one year old successfully navigate through the interface of the Iphone was really thought provoking. The child basically had a rudimentary grasp of how to unlock the phone, bring up the main menu, access apps, and go back to the home screen. This is just further evidence that technology with be a huge factor when this generation grows up and begins participating in society. Children of today have an almost intrinsic fascination with technology. They are also incredibly quick to learn how to use technology. I had not really thought about how advanced my future students will likely be in terms of technology. All educators should start thinking if they really do have enough knowledge about new innovations to keep up with modern students.

Week 2: The Discussion Continues

Michael Wesch and the 21st Century Student

"A Vision of Students Today" by Michael Wesch delivers some very interesting statistics about modern students living and learning. It was really surprising to see that students today spend so much of their time interacting with technology. While the statistics Wesch presents show that students are spending time doing "traditional" assignments for classes, they spend even more time on social networks, listening to mp3 players, and texting friends and family using cell phones or email. The video also did a good job of showing that today's students do not feel like they will use most of the things they learn at school in real life. I think this could eventually become a very important component of how educators develop their curriculum and teaching philosophies. The ultimate goal of schools is to prepare students for adult life; therefore, they must be equipped with knowledge that will allow them to succeed in these modern times.

Michael Wesch manages to definitely hit on some very interesting thoughts and concepts for educators to consider about their students. Some of the aspects of life as a student in the video, however, were focused on college students. High school students in public schools do not have to pay for textbooks, nor do they go into debt while in high school. Moreover, in the state of Alabama at least, high school students do not face issues of extreme over-crowding in school. Statistics can always be used to support one argument or another as well, which simply means that all of Wesch's statistics should be taken with a grain of salt. All in all, the video is very thought provoking, and supplies plenty of points for educators to consider. I believe that videos like this beg the question: can we more effectively reach our students and engage them in the learning process with the help of technology? Hopefully the near future will provide us with the right answer.

Kelly Hines, Teachers, and Technology

Kelly Hines blog post "It's not About the Technology" is a call for all teachers, not necessarily to use technology immediately, but to fundamentally change some of their foundational approaches to education. She highlights the idea that technology itself is not the only issue that some teachers today are ignoring, they are also refusing to develop their pedagogy to meet demands of the present day. Some teachers are close minded and have the idea that their learning days are over. Hines calls for teachers to be open to the idea of being "life long learners" who have constantly evolving intellectual ideas and perceptions.

Hines contends that in actuality, technology will be useless in 21st century classrooms without a fundamental change in the way educators think. I think this is a very good point. The fact is that there are many educators out there who have been working as teachers for many many years. I have no doubts that they are somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of having to learn a whole new set of skills involving technology, but to teach is to be a person who learns their entire life. Teaching truly is not the same as learning, which Hines also asserts, but no matter what we must always consider the best ways we can help foster success in our students. As technology continues to improve it will become more and more difficult for educators to avoid using it. It is probably a good idea for this generation of teachers to begin preparing to welcome these new tools.

Fisch: Can Teachers Really be Technologically Illiterate?

In his blog post "Is it Okay to be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher?" Karl Fisch ponders the idea of what standards teachers should be held to in terms of their technological savvy. Fisch contends that all teachers should have a basic rudimentary knowledge of technologies. I feel like this is a fairly reasonable request; technology will only continue to be a bigger part of people's everyday lives, therefore it will inevitably find its way into the classroom. Fisch also calls for a change in people's common belief that they cannot or will not use technology. I also think this is a good point, technology can truly be like math and people readily say "I just can't do it" in relation to both. For technology in the classroom to grow, this stigma must be neutralised. Technology is not some overbearing monster to be feared, but an increasingly user friendly wealth of tools and information.

Another one of Fisch's key points is the analogy of a tech-illiterate (and unwilling to learn) teacher today is the same as a truly illiterate teacher thirty years ago. This, for me, is a little bit too much of a leap to make. Teachers by and large have been literate for longer than thirty years. Technology is only a tool that can advance the core material that students learn, reading and writing is that core material. Without this material, technology is useless. Even though this particular point may be a bit far fetched, this post is definitely one worth reading and considering. Teachers really should not have to be forced to use and learn new technologies for their students, rather they should want to with a burning desire. Many of these outlets are very exciting and allow teachers resources that no teachers in the past could have ever dreamed of.

Gary Hayes: The Social Media Count

"Gary's Social Media Count" by Gary Hayes offers truly profound evidence of just what a huge factor social networks have become in today's society. As soon as I clicked on the link to this site, the numbers began racing upwards. In 100 seconds there were over 1000 blog posts and over 5000 Tweets alone. This evidence only proves the fact that our society is truly enthralled with social networks. As educators, we must consider that networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Delicious can more than likely be used in some capacity to serve students . They are a new phenomenon but the magnitude of people's use of them cannot be understated. Infusing these networks in the classroom will take some creativity, but it may be a worthwhile endeavour.

Perhaps the biggest drawback that scholars would comment on with social networks is their lack of actual scholastic information. This is something that has definitely been true, but it is also something that can be changed. If these networks are to be used in classrooms of the future, it will be up to teachers and students to merge scholastic thinking and technological media. This would create and even greater range of ways scholars can exchange thoughts and information. Just because social networks are new does not mean that they are intrinsically bad. It will be up to educators and students of the future to turn these networks into a viable tool that teachers can turn to.

Week 1: The Technological and Intellectual Revolution Begins

Mr. Winkle's Awakening and Thoughts on Did You Know? 3.0

The film "Did You Know? 3.0," by Karl Fisch, is a wonderfully entertaining and well designed presentation of the unique nature of the information age in the new millennium. The video does an amazing job of highlighting the ways in which the present is unlike any other time in the history of known civilization. Ultimately, the video effectively portrays the sense that we are truly living in an age and time when the limitations of human connectivity are being redefined. Information is more readily available, and direct communication anywhere on the planet is now an everyday part of life.
"Did You Know? 3.0" provides a thought provoking look at modern day statistics and facts. Perhaps most interesting of these facts is the idea that teachers are training students who will have jobs that do not even exist yet. The limits of technology have become more and more boundless; the idea that computers will have more computational abilities than the entire human species is simply mind numbing. The population growth statistics were also very interesting, because this generation of children will have more access to each other and information than anyone before them in the history of the world.
"Mr. Winkle Wakes" by Matthew Needleman offers a unique view of the modern age and its impact, or lack there of, on education. Needleman convincingly highlights the lack of modernization in education by setting it against all of the other technological advancements in other fields. This provides a new line of logic and thinking which makes non-tech-savvy education seem fairly archaic. In the film, Mr. Winkle awakes to a world which has been revolutionized by advancements in technology. He finds this new world to be quite frightening because he does not understand any of these new developments. Of course, he wanders into a school and feels right at home because development and change have not affected education.
"Mr. Winkle Wakes" sheds new light on education and its near phobia of technological evolution. It forces educators the consider if they are truly providing the best standards of pedagogical thinking. If virtually every other profession has accepted technology with open arms, would education not benefit as well? These are somewhat complicated ideas, and we are the first people to ever really be faced with this dilemma. This means that finding the ultimate correct answer could take time. Films like "Mr. Winkle Wakes" are definitely going to play a major role in redefining how educators achieve their goals.

Sir Ken Robinson and Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson's speech for TED on creativity and modern students definitely provides some interesting food for thought. Robinson asserts that children are often discouraged from engaging in creative activities as youths in school. Many people tell them that they will never be able to make any money as an artist, dancer, or musician. The creative and artistic areas do not receive the privileges that subjects like math do in schools. Robinson is also a believer that creative subject areas need to receive the same emphasis as any other subjects. He maintains that incredibly talented and smart people are having the creativity educated out of them.
Ultimately, the line that educators must walk can be quite tricky. All of the areas of focus in an educational program can be difficult to determine. Robinson's point must be considered though, it would be a shame if we were in fact losing countless great creative minds because we discouraged them away from their talents. Any responsible educator should attempt to determine what each of their students are best at, and foster their abilities as well as possible. If a student has an affinity for a certain thing, even if it is artistic and creative, they should at the very least get some sort of opportunity to explore that subject.

Vicki Davis and her Impressive 21st Century Classroom

The film "Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts" is a really groundbreaking view of opportunities educators have in the twenty-first century to teach their students. Mrs. Davis teaches in a highly rural area in Georgia, but manages to have her classroom connected with students world-wide. She teaches students to "learn how to learn," a skill that will help these students throughout their lives. Mrs. Davis teaches her students digital citizen ship through an international program called "Digi Teen." They learn collaborative skills, and are able to access information from their counterpart students spanning the globe.
Vicki Davis is really part of a revolutionary group of educators. I was blown away at her students ease of accessibility to a wealth of information and knowledge through digital means. Students being able to connect with other students throughout out the world is really quite exciting. People being able to share information so readily, can easily lead to major increases in the speed in which we are able to make advancements. The children that are being educated now need to be able to use technological digital medias and forums to share their information. Educators like this are really on the cutting edge of how education is performed.