Have you seen this YouTube video?
(side note* forgive whether the stats are exact or not, and that it was produced in 2006 - the main ideas/concepts are what I want to focus on)
As we begin to consider alternative texts and an expanded concept of literacy next week this slideshow of how technology is shifting culture, learning, ways of being in the world, what does this all mean for you personally or professionally? What does it mean to be a teacher in these shifting times?
13 comments:
Technology has been shifting the world for decades upon decades; it is not as though this is a new phenomenon; however, it is occurring at such a fast pace that it is almost impossible to keep up with. Shifting technologies is something that teachers should be aware of and take into consideration. I often hear “why re-invent the wheel,” which in some instances I agree with, but just like this video says, “we are preparing students for jobs/technologies that aren’t yet created,” so then how are we effectively preparing our students today? I do feel that student exposure to technology should surpass the traditional computer applications that are commonly used, still, in public schools, such as “Number Muncher.” As technology advances along with human intellect, why don’t school applications?
First and foremost, I love number munchers! My practicum kids played it last year...and so did I, when I was in grade two.
It's amazing to think about how much technology is changing. I often think about what would happen, if I was on the highway and my car broke down, and I didn't have a cell phone. What did I do? Or, how did I find out what movies were playing if I couldn't look them up on-line?
I feel that it's incredibly important for teachers to keep up with technology and to expose students to it in the classroom. However, I feel that it needs to be balanced too...it's definitely a complicated issue but I think it's important to be aware that technology is changing our lives, and therefore our teaching and learning practices.
I have seen this video a few years ago i think and it definitely gets you thinking. I am a pretty strong advocate for technology in the classroom. Technology is a huge part of our lives so students should have opportunities to work with it and learn how to use it whenever possible. However, the rapid pace at which technology advances, and how dependant many people become on it kind of scares me.
This reminds me of this last New Years Eve. I was at a wedding and had to call for a ride around 1 am. I took out my cell phone and dialled but the call kept cancelling. I couldn't figure out what was going on. I borrowed three other people's cell phones and had the same problem. I finally managed to track down a land line and got through. I think the problem was that the network was too overloaded with phone calls at that time which made me think... what would happen in a large scale crisis? Our cell phones that we have come to depend on wouldn't work. We wouldn't be able to reach anyone when we needed to most.
I think it is useful and engaging for students to have opportunities to be exposed to, and work with various technologies in the classroom, but I also think that they need to be aware of the negative aspects to technology as well. Its definitely something to think about!
I think technology and moving forward with technology is incredibly important. Just today, Mac released the new iPad. This piece of technology is being said to take over lap top computers and completely change computing. An article I read said that cutting edge computers of today will become archaic. We have to bring in technology in the classroom in order to help prepare our students for the future. While what we may be teaching students now about technology may be obsolete in future, I think it will still be beneficial for students. Technology is key in any field of work and that is what we are trying to prepare students for. As well, to keep students engaged I think they need to be exposed and challenged by different types of technology. I love technology and as a teacher I want to include as much of it in my classroom as possible providing the resources are available!
Watching this movie I had to laugh when Google came onto the screen and the question of who did we go to before google? I google everything. Just a couple hours ago my printer was on the fritz so i turned to google to fix my technology problems. Like the other ladies commented, we do rely on technology and its advances way more than we think. We are the new generation of teachers, but our students are even more advanced with the technology than we are. I think of the windows commercial with the 5 year old girl explaining how to take a photo, download it to the computer, touch it up, then send it. I think for teachers we need to balance our teaching between the technology and tradition way of doing things. Technology is important as we are, as the video stated, teaching the students to deal with problems we cannot even know about with technology that has not been invented. But I think that critical thinking is the crucial skill that needs to be taught. If our student can think critically and we are exposing our students to as many tools and startegies avaliable as possible it will build them to be strong individuals; with or without the technology. Who knows, maybe one of our students will be the inventor of the super computer...
The timing of this blog post is perfect! Just today one of my managers was asking me what movie a certain scene with Michael Douglas came from. He tried really hard to describe the scene, complete with traffic jams and killings, but I had no clue what he was talking about. I responded that he could just go to www.imdb.com and search Michael Douglas and surely it would come up. He said that was cheating. I then suggested using Google instead (I really had no clue what movie he was talking about!). He said that he feels we've become so dependent on technology (and the internet in particular) that soon we won't be able to think for ourselves. I didn't think much of it at the time but after watching this video I am a little bit more reflective. The super computer they talk about that will out-perform the human brain (near the end of the clip) fits right into what my manager was talking about. It will be even easier to create such a 'super computer' if we are becoming more and more dependent on technology to think for us. I have always felt that techology of all varieties is important in our classrooms. There are so many valuable things we can do with videos, chat functions, audio recordings, etc. that enhance the teaching and learning experience. At the same time, however, perhaps we need to be cognisant of whether we are using technology as a tool or a crutch.
(In the end, my manager DID use imdb.com to search the movie and it was one I had never heard of before and don't remember the title of now.)
I watched this video in a media studies class. Another students also showed a video of a person using a cellphone implanted into their arm. It was sick to think that this is how ridiculous technology is controlling our lives and taking over our bodies. I think it can be fascinating because with technology advancing, we will be able to do more things in life. I see it as a good thing; even though, yes I can understand how it can be a bad thing. There will never be an end to technology... it's like that song "it keeps getting better" Christina Aguleria
I must admit that I have mixed feelings about technology and how much we rely on it. I agree that as teachers we need to stay on top of current innovations as our students will be using them and it will aid us with connecting to the students and teaching to their learning styles and needs. What I am worried about is that our future students will rely on technology too much. Instead of working through a problem they will automatically google how to fix it without trying to problem solve. I am also concerned (and so are many others) about students not being able to have face to face conversations. Texting and instant messaging take away the facial emotions and body language that go along with conversations. I believe that this will leave future students conversations emotionless and desensitized.
I'm not quite sure what they're trying to say with their computer prediction at the end. Exceeding computational powers of humans shouldn't be terribly hard as computers are much better at crunching numbers. But as human brains are considerably more than number crunchers, I'm a little underwhelmed.
I would agree with Anna's opening statement, except I'd change decades to centuries. It may be that the change is more rapid. But I think Gutenburg's printing press, the shift to steam engines, discovery of electricity, etc were quite possibly bigger shifts then we experience. I see a lot of the stats in the video not so much as radical shifts to another mode so much as doing more of the same, only more of it and better. (Those super crazy optical cables for instance- same as current cables, only better.) Or there stats of how many books written- that's not so much a fundamental shift as is it simply volume in shorter periods of time.
So I guess personally and professionally, I would take things in stride and not freak out. (1.5 exabytes of information generated/ year doesn't really overwhelm me because I don't even have to know it exists until I need to. I can't read it all and I won't.)
To me, technology is a tool to be used. It does not use us and I see little reason to panic over it.
Technology has defiantly evolved rapidly since we were all in school!! I remember first hearing about e-mail..and the internet! Its amazing! This also makes me think about how the students we are teaching are "tech" kids! They have never known life without the reliance of the internet, google, etc. What I wonder is: How can we, as educators keep students interested in our lessons, when they are constantly bombarded with sensory information. Nowadays, you can be writing a paper, then take a break and have a chat while listening to music and searching for information! Students are multitasking all the time. No wonder they think school is "boring". In class the stimulation is nothing in comparison to all the technology of daily life. Which brings me to my current frustation. Why don't schools have the funding to provide the technology resources for every classroom?? If in fact there are millions of laptops sold daily (I can't remember the stats) and we are preparing students for jobs that aren't even invented yet (based around technology I assume), how is it possible education cannot afford to provide resources so teachers can do their jobs properly. In the classroom, not having access to the internet and a projector screen frustrates me beyond words. It feels as though, I am not doing my best job as a student teacher because my lessons are from the dark ages. I am sick of the overhead!!!! I would never, ever, have my own class without a projector and the internet. We, as educators are not connecting or preparing our students for the real world if we are not using, including and teaching technology. Even though, there is debate that technology has its downfalls, the reality is: we are teaching "tech" kids and their world is surrounded by technology.
I think I just had a rant! Sorry!
I know that I’m going to date myself by this comment, but in the last thirty years we have gone through unbelievable changes concerning technology, and here are some examples:
-Banking machines
-Fall of the Berlin Wall and communism
-Cell phones and personal computers
-Internet
-Online banking and paying bills
-Basically, we live in a cashless society (interac)
I just named a few, but I know that I had to adapt to these new ways of doing my life. So, to bring it back to teaching, we need to bring technology into our classroom to best meet the needs of our students. Our students are surrounded by technology and their future careers most likely will involve technology. When I see a teachers not using computers, PowerPoint, YouTube and videos it makes me feel that these teacher are ripping off their students. It’s like the video clip showed that this new age is changing fast and we need to change with it!!!!
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