It's Good Stuff

The other week in a staff meeting, a few teachers were expressing their displeasure with problems in class concerning ipods. Students with wires in their ears often seems like a constant struggle in the classroom. Use of such devises is prohibited in our school rules, but it seems like students often need a reminder. This is what leads to frustration.

Before the staff meeting discussion had concluded, our technology guy made sure to voice his opinion on the side of the digital music players. He explained that many Universities are now giving ipods to incoming freshmen, and Professors are using the technology in their classrooms. His point was that instead of viewing the technology as a distraction, maybe these things could be embraced and used as a positive. After all, ipods are not going away any time soon.

My Individual Educational Plan to use this technology in my classroom, and learn about podcasting to the point that I could help teach other staff members how they can incorporate these tools into their practice.

First, I would like to explore the web for lectures and video clips that could be downloaded and used as teaching tools in the classroom. I also plan to turn my own lectures and material into a podcast, putting it on the web for students to view who have been absent. Lastly, as a culminating activity, students themselves could podcast their own work on the web.

The resources are there, it is time to learn them, use them, and pass them on.

I was pleased to read this thesis that computers and technology are becoming a hindrance to education. Educating our students in the real world is like a breath of fresh air to me. I believe that interacting with each other and with the natural world will lead to a more fulfilling education and life than additional time spent with a computer. However, the point of the article is not that technology is bad, but only that it is being stressed too early in a child's education. The author reveals that young students need to interface with the real world and come to a deep understanding of it before gradually moving into the symbolic realm that technology exhibits.

I think that his thesis is idealistic, and here is why:

• If students do not learn about technology in school, they will learn about it at home. By this, I mean that a student might pick up bad habits in use of technology and will develop improper typing skills that will hinder a student in the future.
• In a machine dominated society, it is important for students to learn about concrete, real things outside of technology and what it symbolizes. But in this society, the jobs available cater to just that. Our world wants its workers to be interchangeable cogs in order to best complete the task. As teachers and parents, we should work against that, but as people entering the workforce, sometimes our ideals get pushed aside.

The idea of throwing enough computers at at job in order to complete the task has been employed in education. Because of this, we have developed a dependence on computers and a pressure to teach them earlier and earlier. However, with the advancements made in the technological field, I question if teaching computers at an early age actually puts a student at an advantage. I will always lobby for sending a kid outside to play and learn about its environment over the fun found on a machine. You have to remember that technology is a tool. If it can be used to assist in the learning, then it is positive, but by itself it will not compare to interacting with the real world and developing real world skills at any age.

View the rubric for my Digital Storytelling Project.