Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Blog Post #4
Scott McLeod wants to live in a perfect innocent world. He tries to encourage people to avoid contact between children and technology. He details many of the bad things that children can possibly be exposed to. I think what he is suggesting on his post is very simple minded and not reality. As teachers and most importantly parents we have to decide what is best for our children, often leaving us to decide between the less of two evils. There is nothing I can think of that does not have some kind of negative potential.I could only encourage parents to explore technology with their children in a supervised setting. Preventing children from exploring and learning will cause more harm than good, they will be isolated from the reality of life as we are becoming.
Well... ischool???? I think the concept is quite impressive and overwhelming. I do not think that the idea of "ischool" which is similar to professional networking in ipod, twitter and other technology is very practical in our economy any time in the near future. Our country is not even able to pay teachers in fact they are cutting teachers, sports and many other programs for children, which is heart breaking.
The idea could be cost effective if our economy was booming and profits were allowing for increases in basic school budgets. I understand how it could possibly save money but the purchase,teaching/learning and up keep would also be expensive.
Majority of families in the US live below poverty and can not afford such technology items to be able to participate in the evolution.
I often look at what we push for our children to achieve. Most often it is professional intelligence, monetary gain and self assurance. What is most important is too often assumed or overlooked. The video "The Lost Generation" is about exactly that. We focus so much on moving forward and personal gain that we do not stop or even slow down to see what principles we should be embracing as individuals not just professionals.
The slide was moving forward with words and with only self gain at all cost in mind. Then the slides slow down and go backwards reflecting on what is the base of all good. Time, natural resources and most importantly family.
The Virtual Choir is chilling to think about in depth. ALL those people in ALL those places at the same time with being united as one musical unity is humbling.
This shows the positive,resourceful and beneficial aspects of technology in the art form of music.
Teaching in the 21st Century will surely be different from what we got from educators in school. It will be a teachers job to teach children technology and skills for life. There seems to be such an urgency to fill classrooms with computers and other electronic devises that most of the skills for basic life is being forgotten. One of the most harmful things that technology does to students and everyone else) is take away the practical day to day functioning lessons. People need to learn how to process the information they obtain from technology resources. They will need to be able to know how to get accurate information and the steps to process it to get the best solution for them possible. This is what teachers role will be in the 21st century in addition to teaching regular required materials.
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You make some good points about the iSchool. I really don't know if there is a right or wrong way to look at it. We know that the kids would love it, but is it really practical if the teachers are not willing to learn to use it?
ReplyDeleteGood post Neely,
Keep up the good work,
Stephen Akins