Blog Assignment 3

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today 
Being a college student, many aspects of the video applies to me.  College is a business providing services for a consumer group.  The whole text book scheme, impersonal professors, and enormous debts all point to the fact of college being a business.  But, I am not complaining!  I am comfortable with the system, and enjoy the personal challenge to succeed.  Actually, I'm very fortunate to have grants and scholarships therefore lower debts.
To add to the presentation, I would try and steer it away from a melancholy mood.  A great man once said to me "Nothing is ever as bad or as good as it seems".  College is just an environment.  Like a job, family life, or Disney World are all environments.  But, what you take out of the environment and put into your own personal world is up to you.  Therefore, to experience the environment is personal.  It is up to the individual if the experience is meaningful, useful, or valuable.

It's Not about the Technology
As of right now, as I struggle with linking my URL to Mrs. Hines post, I am frustrated.  But, why am I irritated?  It could be because I’m learning how to do 3rd grade HTML, and not truly sure how everything works yet.

To create modern technology, we had to be very innovative.  We had to think outside the box and collaborate together (for many years).  I think the same is true about using technology in the classroom.  It is going to take many years to develop and mature the right mind set so that technology can be used appropriately and up to its full potential.  I think technology that is used in the wrong ways can cause disorder to teaching.  Also, I think that the technology can be degraded from its potential, like using a computer just for word processing or for rewarding kids with video games.  But if used correctly, we can engage students.  I’ve been one of those engaged students the past few weeks, and I’ll probably be blog addicted by the end of the semester.  Technology has motivated me.  But how?  My teachers are being innovative.  Like them, I want to teach with a new mindset to teach smarter not harder.  Also, collaboration will help us to try new things while still holding on to what worked from the older ways of education.

Karl Fisch: Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?
In one of my classes the teacher uses a smart board.  Well, the teacher had planned for us to watch a video in class.  The video started playing but there was only a murmur of sound coming from the speakers.  Everybody was saying “I can’t hear”, and “can you turn the volume up”.  As he tried to turn up the volume, he accidentally exited out of the movie screen.  He was really confused by then, and he continued to fumble around the screen in hopes of getting the volume and movie going again (did I mention my teacher is an older man).  It was amazing how the atmosphere of the classroom changed into “oh cool technology malfunction, no more class”.  But, a girl in our class got up and helped the teacher fix the sound and she got the video back working again.

The teacher got the student to show him how she fixed the problem.  The teacher asked how she fixed the problem so he would not have these problems later.  In that moment, the teacher was a learner.  I think this is the biggest and most important part of becoming a technologically literate teacher.  I don't consider that particular teacher to be very technologically literate, but he is learning, using, and trying technology.  Also, it is not all on him to become technologically literate!  I feel like to do things with technology we are all in the pool (students, coworkers, parents).  We all have to help and ask questions and contribute to the educating with technology experience.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count
It is odd to note that I felt a lot of anxiety when I first brought up this page.  Probably because the page is lets you see and feel the "exponential growth of technology".  It also helps us EDM students understand the statistical data from the video Did you know 3.0.  What does it mean for me as a teacher and a professional?  We are going through a great expansion in social media.  This is connecting people through technology.  As a teacher I cannot sit on the sideline of this exponential growth.  The more I understand now (and the possibilities of today's technology) the more I will be able connect with my future students.