Hopefully the relationship between technology and education will become clearer through the course of the IT&DML program. It is a fluid relationship as both members are changing via their interactions and on their own. Maybe this is as good as it gets. Maybe technology will take education to a more global endeavor. Maybe government standards will be put in place to regulate students’ use of Internet technologies in school. I wish I had a more concrete answer to the question, “Where do we go from here?” However, the rapidness of the advancements in technology and the element of the unknown are what make being an educator in an age of heavy regulations, exciting.
There is a great deal of research and therefore many differing opinions about the future of education in regards to technology integration. Where do ICTs fit? Is online reading comprehension a separate or embedded skill? What avenues of online communication should be employed for educational use? Who is responsible for teaching online inquiry and safe Internet use? To put the connection between education and technology in terms of a Facebook relationship status, it's complicated. Learning, Teaching, and Scholarship in a Digital Age: Web 2.0 and Classroom Research: What Path Should We Take Now?, by Greenhow, Robelia, and Hughes (2009) views the future of education as dependent on the “participatory media” and “relationship” technologies known as Web 2.0. The authors advocate using social media practices for educational purposes as today’s students already know how to use them for personal interactions. I do not agree with this idea. In fact, it took me several tries to read this article in its entirety because I questioned so much of what was presented. While I agree with the use of Web 2.0 tools to teach students content creation, remixing, and inquiry skills, I am not comfortable with endorsing the broad publication of these endeavors by children without further information and consideration. I am an adult, so I question the safety and longevity of online content construction. I do not believe students, whether elementary or high school, possess the maturity to understand the gravity and vastness of online publication. Throughout this semester of the IT&DML program I have blogged, posted videos to YouTube, Tweeted, and been put in circles on Google+. If you had asked me to do any of these things outside of this program I would have emphatically said, “No.” However, teachers are the best students and want to please, so I went along with these assignments. I felt a lot of pressure while blogging knowing anyone could find my posts and form an opinion on who I am based on only one-side of my persona. I am not comfortable being “favorited” by people I don’t know and I don’t enjoy people I have no connection to putting me in their circles. I prefer the reciprocity of Facebook relationships and the use of closed groups on Google+. Perhaps my views are jaded due to bad experiences with putting myself out there on the web, but having nasty personal comments made about you on an Amazon product review and being the target of threats from a group of co-eds in Australia for simply sharing a similar web address, will do that to a person. What I do agree with is the importance of teaching online reading comprehension skills as presented in, Comments on Greehow, Robelia, and Hughes: Expanding the New Literacies Conversation by Leu, O’Byrne, Zawilinski, McVerry, and Everett-Cacopardo (2009). This is where I see the future of technology and the use of online learning in education. The Internet is a vast source of ever-changing knowledge. A person can learn a lot through the use of a personal learning network, as I just did while learning how to make cake pops. This required me to find the information I needed, evaluate the usefulness of the content I read, and produce a final product given the knowledge I acquired. More and more we turn to the Internet for answers. For instance, I ask my Amazon Echo what the temperature is rather than checking a thermometer, I rely on Google Maps when travelling rather than using a printed map, and I recycle phone books before they even make it inside my home because the Internet has made them antiquated. We know children are going to use the Internet, and they should, but they need to be taught how to use it effectively and safely. Therefore I agree with the authors’ views on integrating technology standards into all subject matter, and charging all content area teachers with teaching online information and communication use.
Hopefully the relationship between technology and education will become clearer through the course of the IT&DML program. It is a fluid relationship as both members are changing via their interactions and on their own. Maybe this is as good as it gets. Maybe technology will take education to a more global endeavor. Maybe government standards will be put in place to regulate students’ use of Internet technologies in school. I wish I had a more concrete answer to the question, “Where do we go from here?” However, the rapidness of the advancements in technology and the element of the unknown are what make being an educator in an age of heavy regulations, exciting.
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Keely
8/12/2015 02:11:24 pm
Erin-
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Erin Berthold
1st grade teacher, former special education teacher, Zumba Fitness instructor, graphic designer, cupcake baker, wife, and pet mama working towards a 6th Year Certificate in Instructional Technologies and Digital Categories
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