Friday, June 10, 2011

Blog Post Number 4

Don't Teach Your Kid's This Stuff
When I was first reading this post I found myself getting very defensive over the fact that this was a person that didn't want to use technology in schools. I think that Dr. McLeod's post is very attention catching from the way that he writes the post, in short statement form with lines between each, to the message he is portraying. Dr. McLeod's main message is keeping kids up to date with technology will better them in life. The children who do not get to use technology and know how to work it will miss out on job opportunities in the future. Mainly for the fact that as technology is advancing, most companies and jobs are advancing right along with it.
Dr. McLeod is an associate professor at Iowa state. He is a professor in the Educational Administration Program and he also created one of the Did You Know videos! Dr. McLeod has won several awards for his technology leadership work, and he blogs regularly about it!

The iSchool Initiative
The iSchool Initiative is a more ecological way to learn. Instead of using pen and paper, textbooks, and copy machines, each student would have there own iFace platform that would have all the features of an iPhone, just without the cell phone service. There are already plenty of apps that have what each classroom would need, but if just a few more were added to meet the requirements of each school system then this could work out.
I think that Travis has a great idea. Although I don't think this will happen within the next few years, I could see something with this same concept coming into effect. My main concern about this is when will students start using this? Will it be in kindergarten when children are learning their alphabet, or will it be once children get a little bit older and know their basics? I could definitely see this working for college courses at least.

You can't be my Teacher
This video is all about opening teachers and future teachers minds about the way they should teach their students. This little kid is in a way begging to be taught with technology. When I was first watching this I was confused about what was being said. It didn't seem like a real video and I actually thought I was watching the wrong thing! But when the child kept asking the same type of question I realized that this was all being done for a purpose.
Darren Cannell has made this with his son in effort to show teachers that someone has to teach these kids about technology. Children are going to school for a reason, to learn, so why not learn one of the most useful things they could know? Knowing how to use technology will be able to make these students more successful as the rest of the world is advancing with technology.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir
What more can you say than "That was amazing!" To think that all of that was conducted online is hard to believe. None of these people have ever met before, yet they still sing in perfect harmony.This is just another example of the amazing things you can do with technology. Whitacre shows just a brief idea of what you can do with technology. I can't wait to see what he has to show us next!

Teaching in the 21st Century
"Teachers are no longer the main source of knowledge, we are the filter." This was the main sentence that stood out to me in this entire video. Kevin Roberts is very right about this. It used to be that teachers knew it all and they were the ones that taught us everything we know. Now, there are so many different sources we could go to if we have a problem that we need solved. Teachers are there to guide students in the right direction when problem solving.
To teach, means to help students learn, not by themselves but with the help of a teacher. I think this video has a major impact on the way that anti technology teachers view using technology as a tool in the classroom. This video will make them see that they are still useful and needed in the classroom. Technology is not replacing any teachers, it is just helping the students learn MORE. Isn't that what every teacher should want?

3 comments:

  1. Read the post My response to the Comments Left on the Watson vs. Jeopardy Event. In the last half of that post you will find how I did this assignment. Compare it to yours.

    You kept me interested! Thanks.

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  2. I agree that the use of touchscreens in schools won't happen soon. You ask an interesting question about when it would enter a child's educatonal process. I would think middle school at the very earliest.
    About the virtual choir, like you, the only word that came to my mind was AMAZING. And you're absolutely correct in that teachers are not " the source " of information any longer. Our job will be to filter info and help students put it all together.
    Jeff Raybon EDM 310

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  3. How great is it that so early on you found yourself defending the use of technology! Jeff beat me to the punch in affirming your conclusion that we are now the guides and not the source of information.

    Keep up the good work!

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