Final blog post for this quarter - yay!
As I look back over my tech work this quarter, I am quite pleased with the progress I have made. I am now able to do much more sophisticated work on the computer than I was 10 weeks ago.
I looked back over my thoughts after reading Why Blog? and watching Web 2.0 at the beginning of the quarter. I appreciated the arguments raised in Why Blog?, but I wonder whether I will continue to blog when I am not held accountable for it (assignments/grade.) We shall see.
Web 2.0 was a fascinating clip, but honestly, it was a bit scary. A thought of mine from the beginning of the quarter, "I feel a little like the robots are taking over."
Still, with all the arguments for and against technology, technology is here to stay. Many of our students are more savvy and sophisticated in their technologial ability than we are. However, we need to be wary of the assumption that all students have this ability. Many others don't. As an educator, I feel even more of a responsibility toward those students and making sure that they do have exposure to tech and have a chance to cultivate the tech skills necessary to be competitive in the modern job market.
Ya know, it's all about a balance. It all boils down to the kids. They're our top priority. We have a duty to provide them with high quality education. Technology can greatly enhance our students learning, but it must not be used at the expense of good teaching. As my professors keep preaching, "It all comes down to knowing your students."
Agree completely that good decisions have to be made about tech, always. And yes, kids may not how to click around, but they're not always very critical users or very good at seeing beneath the glitz.
ReplyDeleteSo, how will you decide when and where to use which tools? "Tech" is as broad a term as "Paper" -- and we don't talk about using paper, but we talk about what we do with it.
For which kids? When? Why? How will these things affect kids' learning?
Interesting that the clip felt like robots. Almost everything in that clip is about how people can now communicate with each other and collaborate with each other -- the machine is just the tool.
So what communication goals and collaboration goals might be served by some of these new technologies? Or not?