Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today
In this video I thought from my perspective that the students behaviors were similar but that the Universities that we attend are different. The University of South Alabama has small enough classes that teachers do know our names. However, The University of South Alabama does require over priced books that we never use. The worst part about the text books is that it seems almost every semester a new edition comes out so that the book stores won’t buy back our books. This is clearly a scam to make more money.
The college education system is a business and they will do whatever they can to make money. College is a major money making business. I know from my interactions that it seems a little under half of the enrolled students do not even care to show up for classes they pay for. I think this is the result of the mentality that we should be indulgent today and believe in the American dream. We buy our education and books with money we haven’t even made yet. Most people I know are 30,000 or more in debt when they graduate and are unable to even find a job to repay the loan. It is all too possible that this cycle will lead to the detriment of this country.
College students today care more about living the relaxed good life than getting involved. Part of my college experience has been learning about how good we have it and just how unfair the world is. We take for granted all that we have been offered on loan. I am one of the lucky ones and I plan to give my pursuit to higher education everything that I have and work hard to try and change this world. I will do this even if I have to do it one student at a time and accept little pay. If 1,000,000 people live on less than a dollar a day, then I think I can do this.
"It's Not About the Technology" by Kelly Hines
Kelley Hines made many great points in her blog about the evolution of the classroom, teaching and technologies role in the 21st century. While most would say without hesitation that teaching in the 21st century is about the technology Kelly Hines begs to differ. Teaching in the 21st will be about a new evolution of understandings in the conception and curriculum of the subject. In order for technology to be an effective tool in the planned curriculum it must first be supported by a strong foundation. This foundation should be made of teachers who approach education with an active, engaged and current frame of mind.
It is easy to just let technology take the lead and over power the classroom. Technology shouldn’t become our crutch as teachers. Teachers need to learn how to customize the learning experience with integrated curriculums. Technology is a part of our current world and is exponentially becoming more engaged in every aspect of life. In my classroom I hope to facilitate learning using technology as a tool and not as a primary controlling factor.
Gary’s Social Media Count
Gary Hayes Social media count is an amazing Flash App that is counting every aspect of the world’s current technological activities. I am astounded how many people and growing each minute is blogging (900,000 today). I guess I am one of them today. As a matter a fact I have added myself to the count on almost every aspect daily now for many years. When I think about it, those astronomical numbers, it kind of makes sense but I still can’t help but be over whelmed when I see the numbers rapidly adding up in the moment.
After seeing this App I immediately wanted to know how many people live in the United Sates just to get a better perspective. Thanks to Wiki Answers I learned that 307,006,550 people live in the United States. This number gave me some perspective that almost everyone in the United Sates is doing their part in this exponential technological growth. What I wondered next was how much of these actions were from the Unites States. I never found an exact answer but I did learn that only 2% of the world population even has regular access to the internet. I wonder if the rest of the world will ever catch up and if so how tremendous the numbers would be if so?
As a future teacher I must take into account that technology is a tremendous part of my student’s current lives and futures. I would like to instill the understanding that technology is inexplicably a part of our world and should be understood and respected. Also I hope to inform students of their fortunate place in this world and to not take things for granted.
Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?
After Reading this award winning blog I began to wonder what it means to be technologically literate. I agree that it is unacceptable for a teacher in these times to reject the use of computers and technology but I can also feel compassion for those older teachers who feel left behind in their own education. I wonder how many schools in the past decade have had required seminars on how to use and incorporate technology in the classroom. I can understand how easy it is to reject something so overwhelming. I ,however cannot understand how a person can call themselves a teacher if they are unwilling to be a continual student themselves.
I found particular interest in the comments to this blog which included an array of opinions and personal stories. The communication that this blog alone has caused is a great achievement in itself. Clearly though all that have read or responded are technologically comfortable. Those that commented all seem to agree that teachers need to be technologically literate. Also, that those who have the skills should be advocates and compassionate towards educating others how to use and become more comfortable with technology. There were many different ideas on how to go about this. Is there a difference between being technologically comfortable and literate?
I agree with you on the point that books are so expensive and that in some classes, they aren’t even opened. Books are just one way Universities make money though.
ReplyDelete“In my classroom I hope to facilitate learning using technology as a tool and not as a primary controlling factor.” I love this. I plan on doing the same thing. Yes, technology is important and should be used and taught. But like you said, I think it should be used as a tool, not as a primary controlling factor in the classroom!
The social media count, I agree was incredible. It was very over whelming to see actually how many people are using everything!