Well, ummm, yep... This video captures most of it and I can identify completely with the students in the video. I often wonder who came up with this whole college idea and why it's so expensive, and why many aspects of it seem completely pointless. I personally don't understand why I was able to go to school for over 12 years (including preschool) for free, but now I have to pay thousands of dollars (covered by student loans) for books and classes that I don't even use. When I do make it to class, I find myself barely listening because I'm so occupied with texting and facebooking. I know this sounds like a personal problem, but I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one in this boat.
Like I said before, this video pretty much sums up college life. But if I had to add anything, I would include the number of hours spent partying or being hung over and extra-curricular activities. I would also include the fact that many of today's students have full time jobs, along with spouses and children to take care of. And I would add the number of hours spent worrying about all these problems presented in the video.
2. "It's Not About the Technology" by Kelly Hines
I found this post to be very true and I completely agree with Kelly when she says that it's not about the technology. Yes, technology is a big part of today's world. Yes, many teachers use technology in their classrooms. But just because a teacher uses technology doesn't mean that they are a better or more effective teacher.
Using technology in the classroom only means that a teacher knows how the work the equipment. But what a teacher needs to know is how to make the equipment work for them. If a teacher finds that their way of teaching isn't reaching their students, it doesn't necessarily mean that they need to incorporate technology into their lessons. What they first need to do is reevaluate and improve their teaching, then incorporate the technology. I believe that technology does not have the power to make a teacher effective. They have to achieve this on their own.
3. Karl Fisch: Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?
This blog post is very interesting to say the least. I agree with Mr. Fisch on some points, and I don't on others. I completely agree that educators must achieve a basic level of technological capability. if they don't, then there is no way for them to completely reach students and become an effective teacher. These days students are not interested in listening to the same old boring lectures and having a teacher stand over them while telling them what to do - at least I'm not. I think that students would enjoy school so much more if all teachers were familiar with basic technology instead of being afraid to use it. Teachers should be willing to put together slideshows and videos for their classrooms instead of pulling out 10-year-old projection sheets and lecture notes everyday.
On the other hand, I disagree with Mr. Fisch's comment that people who do not have technological capability should be embarrassed. I'm saying that they should go out and broadcast it to the public, but what I am saying is that they should not be afraid or embarrassed to get help. To me, Mr. Fisch's statement is equivalent to saying that a student who does not have basic reading and writing skills should be embarrassed, and therefore not ask for or receive help for their problem.
Plenty of people don't have technological skills and I believe that it is because they did not grow up with technology, do not understand it, and have no need for it. My parents for example are nowhere near as in tune with technology as they should be and I believe it is because they don't have to be. But me and my siblings are trying to get them to join the rest of the technologically literate world (we just taught them how to text a few months ago). I said that to say that it is my belief that all people, not just educators, need to be familiar with today's technology. But I do not believe that anyone should be embarrassed about not being able to keep up with it.
4. Gary Hayes Social Media Count
Well, when I first saw the Gary Hayes social media count, it was not at all what I expected. I had no idea that it would just be a screen of numbers that were continuously growing. I then wondered whether or not this social media count was completely accurate and if so, how? I then wondered what the heck Second Life. It sounds kind of interesting, and if it's anything like The Sims, then I would like to be apart of it. The number that interested me the most was the number of sms's sent worldwide because texting is one of my favorite things to do, and is sadly my primary way of communicating with the rest of the world. With that being said, I wonder if it would be okay for me to use texting as a way of communicating with my future students. I also wonder how many of social media users are K-12 students, and how much that number will grow by the time I become a teacher. This media count makes it clear to me that I will have to keep up with technology in order to become an effective teacher.
