Scott McLeod is an Associate Professor at Iowa State University. He is the Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education, also known as CASTLE. This is the only organization that educates schools and teachers about technology. Mr. McLeod is one of the leading academic experts for school technology issues.
I enjoyed this post made by Mr. McLeod and he made some great points. First, when I was reading I thought he was serious, but as I got to the end, I saw his sarcasm. Technology is becoming more advanced, which is a great thing. I believe that technology can have a bad influence on children, but the wordly things can to. We should not let the negative issues of technology hold us back from all the great things that technology can provide. I believe the good outweighs the bad.
The iSchool Initiative
This was a really great video. I personally like the idea of having an iSchool. It would allow chiildren to have access to great tools in the palm of their hand. It would also cut down on the use of paper, which is great for our enviornment. I also like how you can have access to textbooks on the itouch. This would be a great benefit to our students because they would not have to carry around heavy bookbags that can actually cause shoulder strain!
The only problem that I have with the ischool is sending emails to the parents about homework and assignment due dates. Sending emails to the elementary school aged parents is ok, but not to the older ones. The only reason I say that is because when they graduate from high school and they go to college, the Professor's are not going to send parents emails about assignments. So, I think it needs to be the student's responsibilty in remembering and doing assignments. Other than that, I think the ischool would be ideal. It would have such a positive impact on our students.
The Lost Generation
I thought this was a great video. It is sad, but a lot of what she was saying is true. Their are many parents who put there job, before their children. I personally believe that family should come before anything else. It was cool though how she made something negative into a postive. I think she had a great approach to it. It surley caught my attention.
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir This was really amazing. You would not have thought that everyone would sound beautiful together, considering they had never met before. This just shows what a great benefit techology is. Technology can be used for so much, but I have to say, I have never seen anything like this. It is crazy to me that these people used the internet and formed something so beautiful.
Teaching in the 21st Century
This video was inspiring to me. One thing that pointed out to me was that students do not need to be entertained, they need to be engaged. I thought that was very well put. Entertainment is short-lived and engagement has long term results. Isn't that what we want for our students? We want them not to just memorize information, but learn from it also. Our goal as teachers should be to provide our students with meaningful and powerful engagement.
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteI agree that technology does have some negative aspects, but I believe everything does. It simply depends on how we use it, and technology can definitely be an amazing thing, especially for school. I am glad you agree that we should not let the negative things hold us back. You are absolutely right that the good outweighs the bad.
It is also important to engage our students, and for them to actually learn the information. We should do everything we can to help them be creative, and if that is using an iTouch, we definitely should. Technology can really change the way a school operates, and I think it could really benefit the students.
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteI also a agree with you and Jamie Lynn that there are some negative aspects but that the goood does out weigh the bad. We should educate and be aware of the negative aspects of technology but not let it keep us from using and exploring technology.
I like the idea of iSchool and think that it is an amzing tool to keep teachers, students and parents connected. I don't completely agree about the email being a bad thing even with the older kids. Whether or not the parents get the emails about assignments nd projects, it is still the students reponsiblity to do the work. It just allows the parents to be involved and aware of what their child/s are doing in school.
On the teaching in the 21st Century, it is very important that students stay engaged in learning. If the students are not paying attention and really absorbing the things they are taught they are not going to learn anything from it. Ideally, we as educators want to teach our students information and skills they will use later in life not just memorize for our class then forget.