Sunday, January 24, 2010

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.










2 comments:

  1. Great job Arthur. You write very nicely. Keep up the good work.

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  2. Hey Arthur, my name is Heather and I’m in class F. I agree that teachers today and future teachers should not just teach but be learners as well. I’m a special education major and I was able to be in several special education classes since starting school and none of those classes used any type of technology. Just think of the possibility that awaits these students.

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