Blog Post 4

Don’t teach your kids this stuff. Please? By Scott Mcleod

After reading Dr. Mcleod’s blog about “not” teaching your kids or students to use technology, I completely agree with him. I love how sarcastic he is because I too am very sarcastic. Kids need to learn these crazy things about technology and they need to learn as early as possible. This is because technology changes so fast, when something new comes out kids should immediately start to use it. Technology is the key to the future and without learning about it, kids will not be as successful as they are capable of being.
Dr. Mcleod is an Associate Professor of Educational Administration at Iowa State University and the Director of the UCEA Center for the Advancement Study of Technology in Education (CASTLE). He also is the creator of the “Did you know?” video we watched in a previous blog assignment. I actually really enjoyed that video, it had some crazy facts.

The iSchool initiative

Travis Allen is a 17 year old at a public high-school in Georgia. He starts off by saying he has a solution to the problem in public school systems. He asks the question of “Does technology belong in our classroom?” I think he answered his own question as yes and thoroughly explained why. He says it will change the face of public education which is much needed in Mobile County.
He made some extremely ideal points for the idea of an ischool. His estimated amount of money saved is $600 a student. I believe an ischool would actually save more money than $600 a student. All the apps he mentioned on the itouch are great for the classroom. The problem I have with this is that there are thousands of apps that aren’t good for a classroom, but students who are easily distracted can make use of them in the classroom, which wouldn’t be a good thing. Another problem about apps like Calendar or Classics is that many students, like me, are more of hands on. I like to write my assignments and write my notes. I could bring my laptop to class and take notes and I would probably get a lot more written down or typed if I did this, but writing it is a study method as well. The same goes for when I write an assignment down, I tend to remember it more so than when I type it. I think the ischool would be great for many students, but like I’ve said before in other blog posts, not all students learn the same. And to answer the question of “Does technology belong in our classroom?” I believe it is yes, to a certain point. Not an entire school though.

The Lost Generation Video

I agree completely with this video. I think when people tell us things and we don’t try to argue or give a rebuttal, and we just go a long with what they say, that’s how things will be. If we reverse what they say and prove them wrong, we can live our lives how we want rather than how someone else wants us to. I found this video to be very cool. I loved how when she reversed what she said the words stayed the same, but the statements were reversed. Genius.

Eric Whitaker’s Virtual Video

I actually hated this video. I don’t believe this use of the internet is good. If I want to hear this and see this I feel like it would be much more rewarding actually going to a theater and hearing it. Don’t get me wrong, this is intelligent and amazing that technology can actually do these things, but again, I didn’t like it. This reminds me of watching a music channel on TV and seeing your favorite artist in concert. It just isn’t the same actually getting tickets and going to see your favorite artist LIVE in concert. This was interesting, but I don’t believe this is what technology should be used for.