Saturday, January 23, 2010

A Movie and Some Blogs

Video: A Vision of Today's Students

This video was right on in the portrayal of today's student, college or otherwise. I know it's how I feel from time to time. Do I deny the importance of reading and taking notes in class? Absolutely not. I know they have their proper place in the education process. However, I do think it is wrong to base a class purely on this method of instruction. A hybrid course such as EDM 310 provides the best of both worlds. You get to learn things "by the book" so to speak, and then you get to actually DO it and see how it can be applied to life.

As a future teacher, I think we need to keep this in mind. Students aren't going to always want to just sit and read and take notes. They may want to, and should be allowed to, interact and share ideas. Technology plays a huge role in this process. They can branch out to the world and see what others think about things, and then they can form more well-rounded opinions. Who knows? They may even contribute to someone else's knowledge...or even our own.

Blog 1 - It's Not About the Technology

Kelly Hines makes some wonderful points in this blog post that I absolutely agree with. It's not all about the technology. She emphasizes that teachers should be learners and grow and adapt to changing practices. And they absolutely should. Teachers who have been teaching for a long time have seen many things come and go, and I think they sometimes struggle with new technology that they just are not familiar with. She makes the point that teaching and learning are two very different things. Teachers may have one way they wish to teach something, but a student may not learn that way. They may learn by a different method. Maybe technology has the key to that.

The point that stuck out most to me is that technology is useless without good teaching. It doesn't matter if you have all the technology in the world. If you can't teach a particular point or somehow help a student to learn something, nothing matters. She gives some very good and practical strategies for teaching in a 21st century classroom without the technology. I think if we follow those guidelines, we as teachers and our students will be much better off.

Blog 2 - Is It Okay to be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

The answer to this, obviously, is no. Some of the points the author of this blog makes are pretty harsh to me, however. It really does make you think...how many teachers do have basic levels of proficiency? According to the author, those in education who are not technologically literate should seek other employment (or become technologically literate). THAT is really harsh. While technology is a big part of education, I don't think that it should be a determining factor in the job search and hiring process. Teaching skills and qualifications should weigh heavier. Technology can be learned through time...teaching skills are a LOT harder to do that with.

He takes a strong stand on being proud of your technological ignorance. While I agree that not being computer literate and proficient is not a good thing, I disagree with it being compared to not being able to read and write. I don't understand all the ins and outs of computers, how they work, and the many things that can be done with them. And truthfully, I am okay with that. If someone offers to show me something or I am taught something (such as the many programs in this class), I am more than willing to learn and use them. However, I am not going to always push the "latest and greatest" forms of communication on my students. I will present a wide variety of things. And in so doing, I hope to train my students to be prepared to communicate in a wide variety of ways.

Social Media

This thing made my head hurt! It is absolutely astounding to know all those various statistics and how quickly they are happening. As a future teaching, it makes me wonder how I can incorporate these things into my classroom, since they are obviously so very popular.

1 comment:

  1. I actually know someone who is 25 years old, and is proud of the fact that he has never even touched a computer. It is crazy.

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