Blog Post 2

A Vision of Students Today
I think anyone who has attended college can relate to this video in one way or another. This video shows me some surprising facts about students such as: One student would write over 500 e-mails in one semester, and It shows how much more time we spend listening to music and surfing the internet than we spend doing anything else. It's very humbling to hear that over one billion people make less than one dollar a day.

How can technology help students? One way I think is to keep students motivated to do well in class. One part of the video was talking about how students use facebook and other social devices while they were in class. How much more would students learn in a class if the class was incorporated in technology in some way? How much more time would they spend on class work? I think they would spend so much more on something that is recent to the students age or something that could be updated. Maybe students would be more active in a class that was required to share ideas and comment on things in the class, and with technology, this would be an easy way to do just that.

It's Not About the Technology
This post brought forth a new way of thinking to the technology in education idea. I think there are some very good points and questions raised in this post, but i think the benefits of technology in education out-weigh the problems that are addressed. Here is the comment I left on the post.

I really think that students would benefit strongly if a teacher incorporates technology into teaching. I know that this post is saying that it's not "all" about technology but I think it my be a very effective way to get children thinking. Maybe some student needs help from a teacher face to face, or maybe another student is a quick learner. I think the use of technology can accomplish both of those students needs. I did want to comment on one part under where the post said: "Technology is useless without good teaching." I agree that there are so many teachers out there with the technology to use with their class and refuse to use it. I think that those teachers are probably not willing to learn about the type of technology themselves, but I think if the students can use technology with a teacher who allows them to explore on their own, these students will benefit in the long run.

The Fischbowl
What a great post on technology in education! I really enjoyed reading this because it opens up things to me that I didn't think about before. I agree that a teacher should be technologically literate for the sake of the children they teach. I think that so many teachers want their students to do better in their class, but refuse to let them take up the most useful and helpful tools.

I think what really caught my attention in this was when he talked about reading and writing in the 20th century vs. technological literacy in today's time. People sometimes think that it is acceptable to not understand everything about technology and how to use every aspect of it. I'm not so sure that is the right attitude we need to take when we are teachers trying to help students prepare for their future. We should have the attitude: "How can I use these tools to help my students learn more?"

Gary's Social Media Count
This media count is something that you really don't fully comprehend by just looking at it. So many things are happening on the web today that we may never really understand how big of an impact it is having on our lives. If we as teachers can incorporate some part of these medias into our teaching, I think that we would reach so many more students and also have them prepared for a very technologically based work place.