Intro to Tech

To quote a great movie: “I guess that’s what happens in the end, you start thinking about the beginning” (Mr. & Mrs. Smith). I find that to be true with every course I take. And not just because most professors ask for your thoughts on the course as a whole, but because it helps me reflect and discover any paradigm shifts that occurred in one single semester. Upon entering this class, I will admit, I thought I might be slightly bored. I know more than the average person about technology and I was hoping that “Intro to Technology” wasn’t another name for “Computers for Dummies.” Surprisingly, not only did I learn A LOT more than I thought I would, but even if I already knew how to use something, I was able to learn how to utilize that tool in a way that will benefit in a classroom. There were so many things that I will be able to take away from this course and actually use in real life. One thing that I have realized, oddly enough because I did my research paper on the topic, is that through this weekly blogging, my writing has gotten better. My grammer, punctuation, capitilization and short hand words have all improved. I can actually hit spell check before posting a blog without having it underline tons of stuff in red!!! Yay for me!! 

Connect

My favorite part of technology is the fact that it helps me connect with people. I just finished having a conference/3-way call with my old roomates from college so that we could all be updated on each others lives. Last week, my friend informed me that she bought a Mac computer and now has iChat. I’m contemplating buying a webcam just so I can chat with her from across the country.

My parents don’t understand instant messager at all. They think that it is a waste of time. “Why not just pick up the phone and talk to the person,” is what my father always says when he sees me typing away. What he doesn’t understand is that I can be talking to half a dozen people at one time from different parts of the state or country. I can stay in contact with people that I wouldn’t normally call on the phone. The Internet makes things more casual, more realxed, and easier to connect with people.

Facebook. Myspace. Blogs. Personal Webpages. All things that make your life more visibile to the world in both a positive and negative sense. Ignoring the negative effects, these types of websites are another way to connect with old and new friends. Despite the creepy fact that people who you normally wouldn’t share personal info with now know every detail of your daily life, it allows acquaintences to get to know you better. As Dr. Ransom pointed out that these blogs allow him to know us on a more personal level outside of class, technology has allowed us to skip the meaningless chit chat of playing “catch up” and read those details online.

Podcasting

Podcasting was another one of those terms that I had yet to hear about before entering this class. I saw the word “Podcasts” in my ITunes, but I never knew what it meant, never cared to explore it. Then I realized the educational benefits to it. For example, when students write a research paper knowing that the only person who will read it is their teacher, they will not put as much effort into the paper as they would if they knew it would be broadcasted online. All people, children included, take pride in their work (or at least, they should). Knowing that something could be seen (or heard in this case) by millions of people, including family, friends, peers, other teachers, and complete strangers makes you want to work your hardest on whatever the task is. Another way that podcasting could be beneficial is that it could help cut down on plagerism. How likely is a student to buy a paper, copy/paste without citing, or steal someone else’s thoughts/words when they know that it will be podcasted? I have a feeling that knowing it will be podcasted online will make students think twice before cheating.

**Using Garage Band was probably the highlight of my week. Not having a Mac computer, I have never experienced Garage Band. I know that if I did have a Mac, I would probably have made my own mix tape using Garage Band by now though….

Can you hear me now?

I’ve noticed lately that a lot of people complain about the amount of time spent using technology. Some people think that we have become reliant on it and that we spend much more time than necessary using it. My problem isn’t how much time we spend using it, but simply howwe use that time. For informative and educational purposes, I think that technology is a great tool to use. I’ll be the first to admit that I run to the computer anytime I need to look something up, whether it be a recipe, a news story, or a historical fact. That type of use of technology isn’t taking away from our social or educational lives, as some may offer as an excuse for having a negative view towards technology. However, using the computer to sit in front of for hours to play on-line games, or “surf the web” isn’t healthy. That’s when we need to be outside, socializing, or educating ourselves.  Today, I went to have a consultation to get my wisdom teeth out. I met with the dentist for approximately 3 minutes. The other 35 minutes of my appointment were spent in front of a television watching a DVD with all the facts on wisdom teeth. Even the dentists are too busy these days to actually sit down one-on-one and do what they get paid to do: talk teeth. Also, have you ever found yourself in a situation where everyone (minus yourself) in a group is using their cellphone and it seems completely normal?  Since when is that normal? How is completely ignoring the people you are with to talk to someone else ‘more important’ an acceptable thing to do? Before cell phones, people would have to excuse themselves from a group or situation to make a phone call. Now, people just whip it out and text away, or talk without thinking its rude. Well, it is. Someone should teach a cell phone etiquette class.

back in the day

Times were simpler in the days before technology expanded to the extent it is now: computers, cell phones, ipods, etc. Now, I didn’t say easier, or more fun (because that certainly isn’t true). But times were definitely simpler. Aspiring teachers took classes based upon the basic skills of teaching; behavior and strategy wise. Nowadays, it is a requirement for teachers to take some sort of technology class…and for good reason too. Since students’ lives are so technology based, we need to keep up in order not to lose them. Unfortunately, that means learning complicated computer based programs that our students could probably do in their sleep. The funny thing is, this will never change. Even the students in school now, that know so much about technology (and probably make fun of us teachers who seem so computer illiterate to them), will have to start at square one when they begin to learn “how to become teachers.” Technology is growing at such a rapid rate, that the programs they use now and the strategies that we spend so much time learning, will be out of use before you know it. As I was saying, times were definitely simpler. No learning about computers, wikis, blogs, podcasts, ipods, or smartboards. My only concern is that teaching will become less about learning and more about being able to use cool ‘technology toys.’ We need to make sure that we are still attracting the right group of people to teach our future children of America; those who love to teach not those who love to teach technology.

p.s. Although this blog may seem anti-technology at the moment, I am very much for the intergration of technology into our school system. It was just one of those pondering moments.

PowerPoint us in the right direction

As I have mentioned before, PowerPoint is one of my favorite programs on the computer. The reason for that is probably because I know its potential. I took a class on Microsoft PowerPoint as a sophmore in high school. Each week we created a PowerPoint presentation and then presented it every Friday on the various topics that were assigned to us. It was then that I learned how to: use animation, use little wording and not read off the slides, make slides visually appealing…basically all of the things that we discussed in class that teach you how to present a PowerPoint, not utilize PowerPoint for your teaching. It wasn’t until junior year of college that I learned there were other ways to use PowerPoint rather than just putting info on slides and standing up to discuss your findings/information. That is why, for the past 3 or 4 years, PowerPoint has been my favorite program, because I learned how to use it in a way that was helpful to teachers, not business-folk. It is a great way to show your students that PowerPoint is not just “presenting,” since that is the idea that most students have come to believe. I absolutely love using PowerPoint for Jeopardy, it is such a creative idea. Especially if you have the blank template, that makes things easier. I am excited to see what other fun and useful things I can do with PowerPoint in the years to come.

how much more advanced can we get?

My parents are pretty much complete opposites in their view of technology: my mother just learned last year how to turn on the computer and types at approximately a speed of 5 words per minute; my father builds computers for fun and spends more money than necessary on any new technological ‘toy’ we can afford. I guess I get my love for technology from my father. My mother, as well as many of my older family members, believes that she doesn’t “need” a computer. “I didn’t have it for the first 50 years of my life, I can live without it now,” she says all the time. Its not a matter of needing, its wanting it. On a weekend, or day off during the week, I probably check my email (numerous email accounts) more than 2 dozen times a day. Yes, I know, that probably sounds excessive. I think I’m addicted.

*Hi, my name is Chrissy, and I’m an Internet-addict.*

My concern is that I (we, as a society) am so dependent on the computer. What will we think of next? How much more advanced can we get? Will I become like my mother and stick to the computer that I grew up using instead of the new technology that my kids will be born into? Probably not. Most likely, I will be like my dad and buy one of the first flying cars and robots. We’ll see….

Research Paper

The title of my research paper was:
“Internet English: How Computers Have Impacted Students’ Writing Skills”

I chose this topic because I think that computers have had a HUGE impact on writing skills. Just as I found in my research, these impacts can be both positive and negative. From using IM and writing e-mails, my typing skills have improved greatly. That’s a whole different topic though, because typing skills have nothing to do with writing skills. I do notice, however, that using the computer I can write a whole paper using my own lingo/spelling and then go back and fix stuff afterwards. With paper and a pencil, I have to stop writing (and my thought process) and erase my mistakes. Paper and pencil to me is like a traffic jam; your brain is on overdrive, wanting to zoom on by and get all of your thoughts down, but we have to keep stopping and going. A perfect example was writing this research paper. I typed the whole 10 pages without fixing the spell/grammar check. Only after I finished did I reread the whole paper and fix everything. This allowed me to go at a faster pace and stay in the “zone.”

On a negative note, I can completely understand why teachers are becoming frustrated with the IM-lingo being infiltrated into homework and essays. I remember when I was in high school (circa 1999-2003), my grandma learned how to use IM. It was so weird talking to her on-line because she actually used proper grammar. I would type: “hey grams, whats up?” and five minutes later I would get a message back that looked like this: “Hello, Chrissy! How are you today? Are you having fun in school? I went to Bingo today and won $6.00!” I’ll admit that I have fallen into the IM lingo. Lol is probably my most used phrase on-line. I’ve omitted the ‘-ugh’ from though because ‘tho’ is easier to type. Although I’m not victim to the ‘rofl’ and other unrecognizable acronyms, I don’t use proper capitalization, spelling, or grammar on-line. The difference is that I know when and when not to use this language. I will send an email to friends using IM-lingo and maybe slip up in an email to a professor with the occasional IM lingo, but I would never turn in an assignment or write a paper with that language in it. Students may be using this lingo now in elementary, middle, or high school, but as they grow older, they will know when it is appropriate to use it, as I learned. This is the type of language that this generation grew up with. We will never be able to stop them from using the language on-line, and it would take a lot of work to completely erase this lingo from schoolwork. We can, however, teach students in a way that minimizes these errors. We cannot complain about a few IM typos in papers when in reality, computers have allowed our students to write outside of class, in a way that they have come to love.

technology and its usefulness

I work at Rush Henrietta as the general education representative at CSE meetings. At these meetings, I have been able to learn about how technology is used from a special education standpoint. Students that can barely talk will attend these meetings and present a Power Point project to us describing their lives/likes/dislikes/and goals for the future. It is great that technology can help students with special needs do things that they normally would struggle with. These students are such visual learners and technology expands their learning spectrum. The program we learned about earlier in the semester where it will read back your writing was just an afterthought to me. I knew it existed but I had never seen it used. Going to these schools/meetings and actually seeing technology used for a beneficial purpose, to help these children succeed in life, as opposed to its normal purpose of making life easier for people like me, was very touching.

catch 22

Well, I just finished installing the del.icio.us buttons on my computer at home.  This is something that I can definitely see myself using in the future.  There have definitely been times in the past where I have wished I could somehow get a hold of my “favorites” bookmarks.  Something I noticed on my delicious page is that under your link it tells you how many other people have tagged that page.  At first I just thought it was funny it said that because I could see that 4 other people in our class tagged the EDTS523 web-page.  Then, I began to see the usefulness of that feature.  You can view the people who have tagged the same website as you, and those people probably have similar interests and other useful websites.  If a math teacher has a particular website tagged, it might interest them to view the people who have also tagged that page and the other websites they use. 

I never even knew something like this existed.  That is one thing that scares me about learning all of these new “tricks” on-line.  Technology has expanded so quickly that things go in and out of “style” so fast.  There are millions of things out in ‘cyberspace’ that I have yet to learn (and I’m a fairly tech-savvy person).  I could be using a program that I think is great, but there could be other programs out there that are so much better and helpful to students.  How do we find these programs?  Through conversation…through blogs…chats?  It’s almost like a catch 22; in order to become more tech-savvy, you must search the web.