Today we live in a world where it is almost impossible to get by without some sort of technology. While I don't personally own a smart phone, have a Facebook account, watch TV at home very often, or follow celebrity Tweets, a vast majority of my day is still spent glued to a computer or a phone. This is especially true because of a) my job, and b) college.
Realistically, you cannot successfully go through college without using a computer. Research, writing papers, communicating with instructors, setting up groups with peers-these are all mostly done online. Likewise, I work in an office setting, converting textbooks into alternate formats for people with disabilities at the Disability Resource Center. Since everything we do for that component of my job is done using technology, I am on a computer 90% of the time that I am there.
Besides work and school, I also use email as my main communication device. I really hate it when people call me on my phone. I vastly prefer that they email me, unless it's my mom, dad, or husband-I do make exceptions for close family! I am constantly emailing friends and people for my agility club. I don't have a lot of free time to play around online, but I do like to look at Yahoo to see the highlights of what is going on in the world and get also read random, useless trivia. I do a blog for my Zoomdog agility club as well, so I'm often updating that. I price shop, find apartments listings, extend my knowledge about dogs, and look up business information, all online. In fact, I had to have a root canal last week and needed a dentist to go to. So, I looked online and my first judgement of the dentist office was their website-I figured if they didn't have a good website, how progressive was their dentistry practice? This isn't always a good indicator, but I was desperate and needed to start narrowing down my options since there are a ton of dentists in Cache Valley. What it comes down to, is that I rely on the internet and computers for everything.
The crazy thing is, is that I know there are kids out there who are 100 times more technology savvy than I am. They sleep, eat, and breathe technology to a level that is even incomprehensible to me. So, it is vital that technology plays an integral part in the classroom. There are so many ways to use technology while teaching and learning. I love enriching a lesson with a YouTube video or sound clip to meet multiple modalities. I mentioned in a previous post the site LibraryThing, where students can have their own pages of information about books they've read and interact with others through reviews and other functions on the site. Blogs, wikis, podcasts...these are all things that I can also incorporate into the classroom. Additionally, using databases like EBSCO gives them quick access to critical articlees that they can use in persuasive and/or research papers. If the students don't know how to use a certain technology, I can create an Instructional Architect page for them, do a video, or simply walk them through it face to face.
Teaching without technology is like baking bread without the yeast. Sure, it will work, but it won't help the end product (the students) rise to their full potential.
I really liked your metaphor at the end. :)
ReplyDeleteOne of my friends teaches a film course at Judge Memorial High School, and many of her students have won national awards for the films that they made. When I asked her how she did it, her response was: "I just try not to hold them back." She said that her students knew far more about video making and editing equipment than she did, so she let them teach each other.
Because technology is always progressing, I think that students will often know more than teachers in this area. So part of our work as teachers might be "not holding them back" and being willing to learn from them.
Thanks for your blog. :)