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.

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….

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.

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?

Technology at its finest

Today I experienced one of the Internet’s most annoying features.  You know, when you’re at an important part of your Internet search and all of a sudden that box pops up that says “Internet Explorer is shutting down – – ‘Send error report’ or ‘Don’t send error report.'”  I think that box is dreadful.  I was about 47 minutes through that one hour Will Richardson speech when that happened to me.  Of course it couldn’t happen 13 minutes later when I had finished watching the video.  Personally, I think that the video was very poorly made and I couldn’t hear/see what was going on very well.  So, afterwards I decided to read parts of Will’s blog, since I am more of a visual person than an audio person anyways.  When you click on ‘ed blogs,’ it’s amazing how much information is in there.  This can be so helpful to a teacher who is interested in learning more about how to use technology in the classroom but doesn’t know where/how to start.  I think that every school needs someone like Will to present to the school’s educators and give tutorials on technology in the classroom.  Our society is becoming more and more technology based…why not our classrooms as well?

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.