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.

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….

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.

Who is teaching?

Something that was mentioned right at the end of class during our discussion of Web 2.0 really struck a chord with me.  Instead of the teacher standing in front of the classroom and lecturing, we are now presented with all of this new technology.  Is this really a good thing though?  If we don’t know what to do with it, it can be a very dangerous prospect i feel.

Though I rarely knew a student who actually read the ENTIRE textbook (even what wasn’t required), textbooks have an ending.  They have restrictions as to what you are learning.  For a child to be able to explore whatever most interests them about a topic is great.  Then again, it can be dangerous.  Say for example, in a high school or middle school class the students are told to research a particular person in history.  After writing a paper, the students will include their resources on where they retrieved this information.  The information that the child is learning could be completely false.  Unless the information they are writing is completely obvious (like the lice/holocaust situation) the teacher will most likely have no clue.  Her students could be walking away from class with a bunch of incorrect information.  Don’t get me wrong, I am all for integrating technology into the classroom.  But until we can figure out a safe way of controlling what our students are researching (possibly giving them certain sites that they are restricted to when doing research that we know contain true facts) then I think the Internet shouldn’t be used as a research tool.  If we continue to use the Internet as our only source of reading/researching, what will happen to the thousands of books in the library?  Why would we even need a library; why not just have a room filled with computers and call it the Research Lab…?  Books may be restricting, but is it better to be restricted to accurate information or given an unlimited source of questionable facts?

Day One

After last night’s class, I started thinking more and more about how technology has changed over the years.  One statistic that really caught my eye during the video we watched was that a very large percentage of children by the age of four have already used a computer.  I think the reason that statistics like these, and others that show how young children are accustomed to technology these days, are scary is that this type of technology was not around when we were young.  On the other hand, I have had a computer in my home ever since I was born, and my parents tell me I used it as young as four or five to play games; since there was no such thing as the internet yet.  My earliest recollection of using the internet comes at about age 12 or so, which is a lot older than children these days that use the internet, but probably a lot younger than the age other classmates may have began.

Computers are not the only technology that has expanded over the years.  Cell phones, for example, are something that continue to surprise me.  I got my first cell phone at age 17-18, and it was one of those pre-paid TracPhones.  I didn’t get a Verizon cell phone plan until I was 20.  It is semi-understandable for my 14 year old cousin to have one, so that he can call his mom after sport’s practices to pick him up, but my cousin that is 7? Why does she need one?  Who is she even calling…Bert and Ernie?  When I was 7, I played with a $12 set of Lincoln Logs, not a $200 IPod or a $300 cell phone.  It’s things like this that scare me to think of what 20 years from now will be like.