Whether people like it or not, we are in a digital era. Meaning, most of what we do now is done so on computers and the internet. Fortunately/Unfortunately, depending on which way you look at it, I do not see this changing anytime soon. With that being said it is important for us as educators to not only have knowledge about this technological era we are in, but also teach what we know to our students. Although not many not consider themselves to be "Tech Savy" there really is no need to be! We just need to stay up to date with the latest/coolest trends in order to keep our students interested!
I will be the first to admit that the old ink and paper, book ways are boring to me, but once technology is involved I get excited and very interested. I am always looking forward to new ways of getting myself and others involved with technology. Blog Posts, Animoto, Twitter, e-mail, it's all there to help ourselves and our students. In a perfect world this is supposed to make everything easier, but in reality it can complicate everything. If students are not taught what they can/should use and how to use it as well. Students can become overwhelmed and just lose out on the assignment and the experience.
As always there is a goal, and that is to teach the subject at hand to our students. But why not spice it up a bit and throw in an awesome learning experience with technology and social media! Teaching the students how to use the technology that is available, appropriately, to complete assignments can make learning easier and exciting. Using technology can spark creativity and help the students understand the material more. But it has to be done properly so the experience does not take anything away from the main thing being taught. This also makes everything more exciting for the teachers because we are incorporating and trying new things with what we teach! Learning and teaching should be exciting, not boring.
I totally agree with everything you've said, Flip! I think one awesome fact is that the students we teach today are technology natives. They never lived in a time before computers or the internet. They've never HAD to go to a library, look up topics on those cards with the Dewey decimal system, and then sit and read through encyclopedias and volumes of books. All of that is at their finger tips. Time and time again, I have had students teach me how to use an app, play a game, or hook up technology in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteI think that the biggest challenge, then, is the last topic we talked about in class on Monday: how do we teach our students to utilize these digital texts and resources responsibly and choose ones that are credible? I think that the criteria we came up with in class are great, but, as you said, technology is always changing, and I think that those criteria have to be just as flexible.