K-12 Generation

Students should demand inclusive, goal-oriented, and objective-based lessons that include technology.  If kids are going to be distracted by video games, music, movies and Facebook, why not find a way to integrate them into the classroom? Technology is a great way to grab students’ attention and can be used to engage students in active participation and higher-order thinking.

What bothers me about the videos is I feel it is being implied that technology is the only way to teach children. Perhaps the videos should have stressed the importance of teaching students how to use technology. Facebook, cell phones and video games have their place, but spending two hours on the phone, playing three hours of video games a day, or surfing over 1,200 profiles isn’t “productive” unless they are being taught how to use that time using technology to an advantage.

            This brings me back to the point of technology supplementing learning and not becoming the focus of the lesson. Students are easily distracted by technology (1,200 profiles? Really?) and as teachers we really need to monitor what students are using technology for and is it really adding any value to the lesson. It’s going to be up to us to make that distinction and teach students how to make it as well.

            But that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities to use entertainment-type technologies to teach. As a friend of mine once told me, “I learned more about World War 2 playing Call of Duty: World at War, than I ever did in a classroom.” That got me to thinking; why not use a video game with a historical background to reinforce learning? I f allowing students to blow up a few tanks helps them understand what is going on in the time period, well, more power to them!

            Facebook could be used as a tool to help students learn how to do searches and research on the internet. Maybe have them come up with a list of 25 people with the name “Greg” and see if they can find where in the world they live.  There are learning opportunities out there, as future teachers we just have to create them.

            Technology isn’t the wave of the future. Technology is now. Teachers need to embrace this fact instead of resisting it. We need to find ways to use technology to supplement content, yet also teach students how to use it responsibly.

           

Web 2.0

The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web.

There are a lot of amazing applications and potential benefits to Web 2.0. However, I think at the moment the risk to privacy outweighs the benefits because so many people are unaware or don’t know how to minimize the risk to their private information. For example, most of the default settings on Facebook are designed to share your information with advertisers so they can market to your perceived needs. Unfortunately, anyone tech savvy could also pull your information and use it to compromise your identity.

Another issue I have with Web 2.0 is that anyone can post information. This can be a good thing; however, most information that is posted isn’t verified or accurate. I think about blogs and Wikipedia as examples of “too much of a good thing.” High school students have the tendency to ask if they can use Wikipedia as a source when doing research. This shows the vulnerability of allowing anyone to post anything they want because there are people who do not understand that what they are reading isn’t necessarily the truth. CNN.com is another transgressor I believe with their iReporters. These people aren’t real journalists. Yes, they have something to add to the topic or discussion, but I feel as if they are being relied on or misrepresented as actual journalists.

For Web 2.0 to reach its potential, users need to know the risks and potential pitfalls. Teenagers are showing they don’t have the cognitive ability to make informed decisions about the pictures they post or what they post on Facebook. They may think what they are doing is harmless, but can’t comprehend the self-inflicted damage that can be caused by posting or sending nude photos to boyfriends or girlfriends or posting that someone hopes their science teacher dies.

I’m actually all for Web 2.0. However, I think it is dangerous to release something like this on the world without some kind of basic training and knowledge of how it works. No, we can’t predict every contingency, but I do think we can predict things like “sexting” and inappropriate Facebook comments and help students (and other users) understand the dangers and consequences of their actions.

Teaching Technology

The best way to get students (or anyone else for that matter) to be able to use technology effectively is to walk them through the steps and then have them use it repeatedly so they become comfortable with the capabilities and limitations of the technology. A hands on experience is the best way to have someone learn about new or existing technology and put it to work. After becoming comfortable with the basics, letting students explore the technology on their own is how they become proficient.

When I was in pre-press, I would walk a trainee through the basic steps of whatever software we were using. They needed a basic framework of how the application worked before I could present them with advanced information. For example, in Photoshop, I need to show someone what each of the basic tools are and what they are designed to do before I can show tem how to alter pictures and do more creative or artistic things.

After I felt they understood the basics, I would give them projects to work on to help them develop their skill. For instance, I may give a trainee a picture of a tomato and ask tem to duplicate the tomato. Then I would have them change the color of the duplicated tomato to yellow. This gave the trainee hands on experience with the software while also getting them to think about how they were going to accomplish the task. If a trainee had questions I could ask them guiding questions like, “How are you going to select the image of the tomato?” Sometimes the trainee would make the leap and use a lasso tool. Other times they were blank and I knew I needed to go back and reinforce previous lessons.

Becoming comfortable with technology can only be achieved by using it a lot and consistently. For instance, I’m much more comfortable with layout programs like InDesign because most of my tme in pre-press was spent altering layouts. I wasn’t as strong in Photoshop because there wasn’t a huge demand for photo manipulation. When I was required to use it however, I really had to stop and think sometimes because it would be months between needing to use the application.

As far as the NET-S standards, the standard of modeling digital-age work and learning is the standard I’m most familiar with. As a trainer, it was my responsibility to be as familiar with the software and technology as possible. I was never certified by Adobe, but I knew the programs well enough that I oculd help new employees get out of the application what they needed to do their job effectively. I always encouraged trainees to “play around” with the applications when they had the chance. Chances are they would discover something new and maybe it oculd be useful in helping the rest of us do our jobs.