Blog Post #3

A Vision of Students Today is not the first video I have watched that gives shocking static’s and thoughts of college aged students today. It is still shocking to watch no matter how many times you watch. We can never foresee the future and how things will be, technology is the best example. I attended Bishop Community College and South Alabama in 1994-1996. It is very different from my experience this time in college.
Terms papers were written in the library by researching in books, encyclopedias, and spending hour looking through book pages. NEVER now would catch a student looking in an encyclopedia. Most probably do not know what that is. The search engine on the web has eliminated that way of learning. I would be curious know how many students have actually ever typed on a typewriter.
My experiences in college recently have surely been more accommodating with the use of technology. It is so scary to me how quickly things change such as jobs in demand. What if people become as obsolete as some of the learning tools as just have the rate as technology advances?

Kelly Hines wrote "It's Not About the Technology" and every teacher should read it. She explains the importance of teachers being not just aware of technology but being able to use and teach it effectively in the classroom. I agree with her entire story. Everyone is teachers and learners regardless of their age. Many teachers learn things from their students. It is not just the "teacher" in classroom that teaches or learns. Technology is the fasting changing subject in any classroom anywhere.
Teachers need to be aware of what is available to them to be able to teach to their best ability. Teachers also need to know so that they can tell (teach) their students that information and resources is endless for any topic.
Teacher’s knowledge of as many resources as possible will also make their ability to adapt to different teaching methods.

I enjoyed reading the blog assignment written by Karl Fisch, Is It Okay to Be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher? I personally do not think so. In our world that changes almost weekly with new gadgets it is essential that as educators that we are aware of what is available. While we all can agree that everything including technology has its positive and negative issues, we can not deny that the more resources we have available the better off we are.
As teachers, we should be able to enlighten to students what is available and the basic functions. Since technology is changing at an unbelievable pace it is understandable that we may not be able to answer all questions about programs, devices, etc. but we should be at least aware and willing to learn. Regardless of what we think individually it is inevitable that we and children are going to be forced to work on/with them. Perhaps it is that some are scared of what they don't know, but in reality it is what we don't know that can hinder us.


The Social Media Count by Gary Hayes is incomprehensible. I think it would be interesting if he could show the categories increases and decreases. The figures posted could in fact actuality could be true but those figures are not the end of the story. I think it would be possible to give an even greater realization to the
epidemic of technology growth by showing the number of accounts closed, video's deleted, etc.
The web has had such a profound impact on all aspects of life. I think the more technology education taught to students the greater impact it can have as more of a professional/educational resource verse being primarily a social network to many. The perception of the web networks, ex. Facebook and Twitter, as being a negative social evolution could be in part what causes parents to be cautious of their children learning in school. If the functions/programs and resources of computers were taught in school as a necessity to be productive such as being able to read and write then parents may be more acceptable to their children learning. Teachers themselves will be more apt to learn and keep up with the new technology. It is inevitable that children in high school now will have to be computer literate when going into the work force.