Final Synthesis Project

2nd Grade Monarch Butterfly Lesson using a Blog
http://2ndgrademonarchbutterfly.blogspot.com/

Week 7 Activity

Review two applications:
I explored Google Documents and found it to be similar to Microsoft Suites. There are many new features to Google Docs that are useful for many different types of projects. One of the great features is it is free! Speaker notes can now be added which enable you to add the audio to your visuals. Relating back to Chapter 30 this is an effective way in delivering a lesson. The collaboration tool is very cool, where you can collaborate with others from different locations. This is a application I need more experience with, but from viewing it and playing around briefly it seems as though it will be a powerful piece of technology to incorporate into lessons or use for other purposes.
The other application I reviewed is Phixr. I don't do the photo editing. From previous experience I typically make the picture worse and can't ever seem to fix it. I played around a bit with Phixr and found it to be okay. I am more of the type of person who would do better if I had someone to go through it with me. I can easily become frustrated with type of task. I usually leave my pictures alone and print them the way they were taken with the camera. A goal of mine for the summer is to get my family pictures in order so I may look further into one of these applications and set forth on my journey to organzing photos. I look forward to reading about others reviews and see which will work best for my needs.

Chapter 31 R/D 13

What most made you say (or think) "that's so neat!" Why?
My that is so neat moment was the AI The application of Articificial Intelligence. That is pretty amazing to think about instructional systems meeting the individual academic needs of the students. I like this part "At the individual level, future instructional systems will diagnose learning needs, learning aptitudes, and styles; develop instruction tailored to identified needs and aptitudes; modify the level and type of feedback and instructional strategy based on learner responses and progress; and implement best practices guidelines based up-to-date research findings" (Reiser & Dempsey, p. 326). I feel as though this would be beneficial to all students to have something that is accurate and allows the teacher to construct lessons that will exactly meet the students' needs. To keep the students working at a pace that they can handle and be continously learning and adding onto their prior knowledge, I can't help to think that this would help assist in discipline problems as well. I have learned especially from this last school year how much low achievers are affected behaviorally by their assignments, having to give them grade level work when they are not there is difficult. My concern would be how closely this would match state standardized testing. Because of this extreme change in teaching would the tests then be changed in some way to accomodate for the way learning changed. For schools to take to using instructional systems it would have to not only meet student needs but follow state standards and benchmarks as well as GLCE's and district standards. To me this all sounds very cool!

RD/12

Describe two tangible take-aways that you think you could apply in your work. In other words, what are two ways you believe you can apply ideas in this chapter to improve your teaching/instructional design work?

I found this chapter interesting on the studies conducted for what works better. Although it seems directed towards adults, I am curious if the same outcomes hold true for the younger generation? I often found myself thinking about PowerPoint while reading chapter 30. When adding to a lesson and giving prior knowledge PowerPoint can be a very powerful tool. When I am creating a powerpoint I will be conscious of the pieces that are overloading and stick with the important information. I was suprised to read, what the book refers to as seductive details, were not helpful to the learner. I thought about how I use "seductive detail" I use them to pull the listener in, I like to give those "wow" pieces into a lesson. I always felt that they made information stick with a person longer, but not according to Harp and Mayer (1997) who conducted a study that the seductive details suppressed learning dramatically.
I will also take away from this chapter the the effectiveness of having visuals with audio narration. This would be beneficial in science and social studies lessons, where difficult concepts and be further explained using visuals with audio.

Website Week 6 Activity

I chose to put a web page together for my daughter for over the summer. She will be in Kindergarten in the fall and I thought this would be an easy way for her to get on the computer and be able to choose from some educational games I have selected.

http://darcykline2.googlepages.com/home

I found a great virtual tour of the Underground railroad that is a great piece to the social studies curriculum when study it.

http://darcykline2.googlepages.com/undergroundrailroad

Screencasts

After reading the Udell article, viewing the screencast example (and others if you choose),and the Camtasia tutorial, you should have a decent sense of what is generally possible in screencasting.
Based on this, develop and describe (in detail) an idea for a screencast or set of screencasts that either you would develop for your students or that your students would create for each other (or the general public or some other audience).
Describe how this would fit into a larger lesson and why it would be an essential part of the lesson (and not just window-dressing).

Two years ago I attended the MACUL and was able to go through a class on Camtasia, unfortunatly our district didn't have the funds to purchase this powerful tool. I was able to create a quick tutorial during the class. This could be used for many things in school. I was sitting through a math workshop today and discussing areas students struggle with, if I could create a screencast on for example fractions maybe that would be an avenue for help in students understanding of fractions. We have started a new math curriculum series that seems to speed right through many of the unit and doesnt' allow ample time for student mastery, it would be very helpful for the students to have screencasts to go to and use when they find they are struggling with an area. I realize this would be a time consuming task, but it would act as supplementary material in assisting with the curriculum. From this school year we just completed, I know many of my students would benefit from a learning resource like this. They want to be on the computer and they also get very excited when they are watching something that fits right along with what they are learning. A screencast could be created for each grade level matching each unit of study. This would also be across the district, so for students transferring within district they would already be familiar with the screencasts. It would also be beneficial for the students to create a screencast on what they have learned, strategies for solving math problems. I have to complete more work with our math curriculum and will keep this in mind and explore the capability of providing this in my school.

RD 10 Chapter 22

Since you have now read for the past few weeks about instructional design/technology in three different contexts (business, P -12 & higher ed), identify 2 or 3 significant themes or differences you have noticed across these contexts and describe them. Is there a particular area or way that you believe your current professional working environment could learn from the other contexts described in these chapters?

The themes among the chapters I found significant are the collaboration and process. Everything is put together by a team of members whom collaboratively work together to complete a process of steps to obtain a specific goal. Ch. 22 refers to the five stories shared about the common roles of becoming a full professor. Again these are two process where each individual is working for a goal that can only be met through collaboration. Ch. 21 discusses Product vs. Process approaches (Reiser & Dempsey p. 211). This approach to change must occur with collaboration, research teams are actively working towards a better understanding of the process and how schools should be transformed.

I believe my professional working environment could learn from the Step-Up-To-Excellence piece on page 213. Our district is going through drastic changes that need to follow a systematic approach to ensure a design is implemented that will positively affect the families, students, and staff. I have faith that the administration department followed some type of process that they collaboratively worked on to choose the best decision for everyone. It is difficult to watch all of this happen and not know what is actually happening to the schools. Everything is planned out through meetings and so forth, but it is not until a decision is made that faculty finds out information regarding their jobs. For me, this feels as though it has some gaps in the plan for smooth tranistions. Hopefully with practice, but not too much, the district will have implemented a well developed process for conduting business such as school closings.

RD/ 11 Chapter 27

reflect on what you perceive to be your own areas of strength and what competencies you feel you need to work hardest to develop given your professional goals. State and describe at least three competencies you’d like to develop and why. I do understand that most of you are school teachers, not ID&T professionals, but certainly there is plenty overlap between these different types of roles

Right of the bat the definition of competencies is the quality of being competent; as having suitable or sufficient skill, knowledge, experience, or being qualifeied to perform a task (Reiser & Dempsey, p. 272). Thus far in my career I feel as though I have been tossed around due to budget cuts I have lost out on the experience. Every year I am learning a new schools expectations and new curriculum. I feel like a first year teacher every year. On the other hand, this does give me strengths as well. I am familiar with several curriculums at various grade levels and subjects, such as Physical Education and Enrichment (technology). As well as, I adapt well to new surroundings and can work collarboratively with staff members to best benefit the children. I would like to develop further in analyzing data, designing and developing instructional methods and strategies. With more experience and time I will feel more competent in these areas, but would like to focus on creating data I can interpret and go back to the classroom, teach, reteach and go from there. I know it is key to have many instructional strategies, it keeps things interesting and hits on the different learning styles of people.

R/D 8 Chapter 21

Well, I finally did have a chance to get the correct book! I'm glad I had the opportunity to read this chapter. The district I am working for is going through a district wide systemic change and I was pleasantly surprised with the reading. There were definitely some things our district did in comparison to the reading such as "some "discrete events" a chronological series of activities for engaging in systemic change" (Reiser & Dempsey, p. 211). We have put together many activities for staff, families, and students to adjust to the upcoming facility plans of merger two schools into four different elementarys. The pre-planning for all of this was not handled as well as it could have been. The chapter refers to "one of the most common reasons for organization transformation to fail is lack of good preparation and planning (Reiser & Dempsey, p. 214). Once the staff took action about the matter the district chose to be proactive and listen to us. Which I felt fit well with continuous events. We have now had direct contact with the assistant superintendent as well as the superintendent, while things are still in progress many of the matters are now being handled. I think it will be interesting what next year will look like for all of us with these mergers. I can envision most classes with about 30 students in them. I am curious how this is helping our students and what is best for them. In addition, what will the district look like in 5 years, will their plan hold true of remodeling and building new elementarys? Only time will tell. This reading was very interesting in learning more about what is entailed with all of these changes that can occur.

R/D7 Chapter 18

What are, in your mind, two unique or interesting or different or noteworthy ways Instructional Design/Technology has been used in business and industry that you believe could be usefully applied to your won professional work? Explain.

I found the technology-based training to be interesting and pertain to the educational field. Not only does the technology based training save on costs but it also can involve more professionals that couldn't attend due to budget constraints. This seems to be a never ending battle for many educational facilities. Everyone wants highly qualified teacher, to meet the "No Child Left Behind" law, but to what extent is this being meant. I feel if we incorporate more training using technology more educators could be reached. Pod casts, Web casts, discussion boards, blogs, and so are all ways for people to gather information, reflect on it, discuss the benefits and weaknesses and move forward and apply what they have learned. It could then be revisited to obtain feedback for what went well and what didn't. People could also choose professional development that pertains to what he/she is teaching. I personally have been to numerous pd's that have no bearing on what I teach and I'm only there to get my training done. That is not what training is, if it doesn't pertain to my subject being taught why am I there?

Another interesting instructional design is that of globalization of training. I would be very interesting in what is being taught in other countries. How are we as a country comparing to other countries. Through the software the developers are creating on tackling the language barrier, all kinds of new doors could open with communication across the globe.

I find it very exciting to learn about ideas and concepts from anyone whether they are teaching next door or half way around the globe that I can take and incorporate into my teachings. Using technology will have a new affect on the way training is conducted. Hopefully, many schools in the area will take advantage of these incredible tools and allow teachers quality training.

Week 5 Task 2 Activity Google Maps

My lesson is geared towards 2nd grade. Sometime in the beginning of the year I would have them start pen-pal letters. The 2nd graders would find a state they would like to learn more about and select a city within that state. At that point we could pull up Google maps to explore any interesting facts about the area. The student's would then start to create their letter writing skills. As a class, we would make a plan of interesting places in Battle Creek, such as Kingman Museum, Leila Arboretum, Post Elementary, Post Cereal, and of course somewhere fun like Full Blast. I would create a Google map of the places we came up with and the students would incorporate the map into their writing. (If I were doing the pen-pal letters with upper grades I would try something an online pen-pal site). This activity could continue all year and students would be able to share what they learned about their state with their classmates. We could continue to develop the map all year as well.
http://maps.google.com/maps/empw?url=http:%2F%2Fmaps.google.com%2Fmaps%2Fms%3Fie%3DUTF8%26msa%3D0%26msid%3D101122621346498101082.00044ef489ea6723ba861%26ll%3D42.31617,-85.18022%26spn%3D0.008169,0.018711%26output%3Dembed%26s%3DAARTsJpeHyDLiCHGZN7ojSOJA1e-UDtXkQ&hl=en&gl=us

R/D9 Course Reflections

I have found in the beginning many things were confusing. I never use the wmu e-mail, so I was behind from the start by not looking there for information. In my previous classes everything was done on blackboard, I liked that. All discussions, posts, and assignments were put in the drop box, and for each grade I was given comments ( That was a big motivator for me)! So far, the blog is more of an inconvenience than a helpful tool. I have always wanted to set up and use a blog. I thought it would be something a class could use, until I found that it is blocked from our server. The wiki again glad to be able to create one, but not sure if I would ever use it. I really enjoyed using Google maps I can invision incorporate it into my lessons. One thing I struggle with is I don't feel like very much of what I am learning geared towards elementary level. That is how I try to put things into perspective, since that is what I teach and plan on continuing to teach. Also, the requirements for responding to posts. If 4 responses need to be made than that is the minimum requirement for full points. It was not clear on how many should be made how would we know you didn't want 3 or 5 I didn't find it stated what we should be doing until after the fact. The book is okay, again my experience using blackboard's discussion board seemed to be a better means in having meaningful discussions it was set up as more of a dialogue. Overall, I have learned new information, which is always a good thing, and was exposed to new technology I haven't used before. I can't wait for summer break to start and really play with some of the technology like the photosharing!

R/D6 Chapter 14 Adoption, Diffusion, Implementation, and Institutionalziation of Instructional Design and Technology

What are some ways the ideas/concepts/principles discussed in this chapter could be applied in your professional work? Do you see opportunities where these ideas could help you or your students?

In the district I work for they seem to do a lot of piloting of software and/or equipment. The (LoTi) Levels of Technological Implementation seems to fit with this work. There are the "researchers" checking out the different technology available at this point they are the nonusers and are becoming aware. They then move into exploration and infusion the product to find out if it suits their needs or the needs of the students. If it is meeting their needs or they find the product needs further testing they can integrate with other fitting areas, where then they may want to expand and finally refine and tweak to make a successful product implemented. Piloting programs and software seems to be the solution to providing further opportunities for teachers and students to use technology.
I enjoyed reading the eight facilitative conditions that contribute to implementation. With the school I currently work at closing I am shaking my head and relating to what I am reading. We as a facility have been dealing with the eight conditions and problem solving to resolve many unsettling matters. For us, these issues need to be dealt with before we can move on to implementing the new plan with merging our schools.

R/D5 Chapter 3 History of Instructional Design and Technology

Indicate whether you think the Internet and Web will have a major impact in one or more of the following areas:

a. Educational programs at K-12.
I feel K-12 education has many restrictions when it comes to technology. There is access to numerous things on the Internet, but teachers have to be cautious of what is out there and plan very carefully of student activity on the Internet. I believe this plays a key role in the resistance or hesitation to fully climb on board and really fuel our K-12 students with many interactive Internet experiences. I like what Reiser and Dempsey wrote about technology in the schools "...an increased presence of technology in the schools does not necessarily mean an increased use of that technology for instructional purposes" (pg. 35). Once teachers have a strong grasp as to what is appropriate, enhances the curriculum and makes learning more meaningful will we see a major impact on those students. The high school students have more leeway than the elementary and even secondary, but there still are many restrictions as to what teachers and students are able to accomplish. Eventually, over time we will see the Internet playing a larger part in the education of K-12 students.

b. Higher Education (Community Colleges, Colleges, and Universities)
The internet is a lifesavor for college. I couldn't imagine not having readily available access to the internet during the course of my studies. There are many courses now available online as well as Online Universities, it makes life easier. People are put under so many demands when you can complete the same course online as driving to a university, it is a no brainer that the online course is going to win. Students save on gas, commuting time, they have access to work on their assignments when it fits in their schedule, there are countless advantages. The Internet has already made a huge impact on higher education and I can only see things soaring from here. Reiser and Dempsey share successful statistics, "In the past few years, interest in using the Internet for instructional purposes has also been rapidly growing in higher education and the military. For example, between 1994-95 and the 1997-98 academic year enrollment in distance learning courses in institutions that offered distance learning..nearly doubled" (pg. 35). I would be curious what 2007-08 academic school would compare to 1997-98. In my personal experience, I have had great success thus far utilizing distance learning. I can't imagine what will come in 10 years or even 5 years!

c. Adult Education (in business, government, and military)
Training seems to be one of the reoccuring pieces in addressing the impact on adult education. Training for the military and businesses. The Internet has dramatically changed business' over the past decade. There are numerous online business that are very successful. As I was reading through the chapter I was thinking about gamers. 15 years ago gaming is not what it has evolved into today. I was watching something on t.v. where gamers compete against other gamers all around the world for quite a bit of money. Who would have thought gaming would be able to pay the bills. Wasn't it our parents that told us to stop playing all of those games they'll rot your brain. This industry wouldn't exsist if it wasn't for the Internet. All the time there are advertisements on television for online businesses promoting working from home and showing testimonials of people living on the beach of California in a beautiful house making $10,000 a month. Again, this something that 10 years ago we wouldn't have seen. The internet has become a fundamental tool in adult education. When I need to find out information, I surf the Web as do many others.

Educational Podcasting

This site allows you to search many different educational podcasts to view. I viewed School Improvement Industy On Teachers Accountability...very interesting view on how things have changed since "No Child Left Behind" and how this has affected looking at teacher accountability. There are many other podcasts. Take a moment and explore.http://www.epnweb.org/index.php

Mom tips Podcasting

Sometimes every mom can use a few tips in handling the unexpected things kids throw at you! You can choose from several podcasts discussing all kinds of things dealing with your child/ren. Click to the right to view the podcasts.
href="http://www.mediafly.com/Podcasts/Feeds/The_Mighty_Mommys_Quick_and_Dirty_Tips_for_Practical_Parenting">

Google Maps

View Larger Map
Here is a view of Battle Creek, Post Elementary...this is the last school year for this school (where I currently work). It will be closed due to finanical reasons after this year.

R/D4 Reflections of Chapter 2

Towards the end of reading chapter 2 I was already thinking about how similar this was in creating lessons. The chart on page 20 is layed out very nicely. It follows how quality lessons are developed. Assessing the needs of the students, analyzing the learners and contexts, writing objectives, developing your assessment (rubrics), instructional strategies, and then going back and revising (what can I do differently to make this work even better), and evaluating student achievement and finally reflecting on what went well and what needs work (Reiser, Dempsey, 2002, p. 20). All of this holds true for most anything being taught The figure on page 18 also does a nice job of displaying the elements that go into instructional design. I like how revision is labeled on all connecting parts. I find I am constantly revising the work I am doing to improve on my own teaching.
The difference I found was that in actuality I don't go through all of the steps for every lesson. Much of this work has already been done for me. I have science and social studies kits, as well as a developing math curriculum, so the bulk of it has been done for me anything extra that I find is supplementary. Assessments are also already created leaving me with implementing the lessons and revising to meet the students' needs.

R/D3 Reflection on Trends and Issues Chapter one

Honestly, I have never really thought about the definitions of the field. I found it interesting the view taken on instructional technology. It started being view as media, then a process, then in the 1970's they developed a definition that was more than 120 pages long! (Reiser, Dempsey, 2002, p. 7-9).
I am exploring where this degree might take me. I am constantly looking for ways to add more technology into my everyday teaching. As of right now, I am a new elementary teacher and would like to stick with this for awhile and use what I am learning to enhance the curriculum. In the future, who knows what lies ahead. I believe technology will be growing substantially as it has been since the 1990's.
The most surprising part of this chapter is the fact that defining a field can be this difficult. Reiser and Dempsey have developed a definition that will be used for the purpose of this book. This book was written in 2002, I would bet that the definition is already in the process of being changed once again. The definition needs to keep up with all of the changes taking place in the technology world, just as it has done in the past. As of right now with the current knowledge I have I do not see anything missing. Once I have acquired further knowledge in the field of study my view may alter, but for now the definition is clear and concise.

Reflections on delicious and photo sharing

As far as I can tell from what I have read and the little bit I have experienced with the two online tools is they could be useful. I do have a concern about the flicker. When I posted I guess I had it open to the public and had posted it to delicious. Within four minutes 43 people had already had access to it. First wow that was fast and second why would they be interested? It makes me a little nervous why someone would just be searching for pictures like the ones I posted. I put pictures of my family for that was all I had. I thought I might have to make them public for others in the class to see, but I am going to change the setting to private unless otherwise told different. As of right now using this in the school, I can't see myself doing this especially if it can be viewed by anyone and everyone. Parents and the school would not approve of their child's picture being posted on the web. My guess also is that this site would be blocked from our server. I will be interested to hear others uses and play around with this for the next couple of days.
Social bookmarking could be a valuable resource for research projects or finding information on specific topics. I look at this being used more so in the upper elementary rather than the lower due to lack of computer skills. At our school district I am learning that the elementary schools like to be on the same page and having similar discussions. During our professional development meetings we have been working with other elementary schools. I could see using social bookmarking as a way to help communicate information we have all gathered on a specific topic we are discussing. It seems as this would save time and allow for more quality information being found. Again one of my concerns would be the security issue of students stumbling onto inappropriate tags, I would need to further research on the security part of social bookmarking and finding out if it is blocked from our server.

Week 3 del.ici.ous

Social Bookmarking and Photo sharing:

http://del.icio.us/DarcyKline
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26695771@N06/

Week 2 Reflections

Week 2 Wiki
This is my first time creating a wiki. I have read about and explored other wiki's. To finally put it into action was nice. It was very helpful to work with other knowledgable classmates. I found it to be a great way to share information which was rather easy to put together. I teach 2nd grade and we are studying the life cycle of a butterfly. It would be fun for the students to create a wiki on the life cycle where they could each add a piece of information they have learned and put in links and so forth. I believe I might actually have time to squeeze this in place of creating a paper pencil report!

RSS Readers:
Again my experience with RSS readers was the same as with creating a wiki, just the reading part. According to the cone experience I didn't have a direct personal experience with using either of these two tools, which lead me to reading about the tools, but not actually moving past that and using them. After having to incorporate them into my blog, I have found them to be quite interesting. It is helpful to pull up your blog and have the things I enjoy right at my fingertips, instead of searching for it. I do find that I could spend too much time reading through and keeping up with all of it, but summer is 17 days away!

Impressions of using a blog:
I first actually heard of blogging from the soap that I watch Days of Our Lives. I had no clue at the time what it was, but it caught my attention and I was curious. Nonetheless, I still wouldn't know unless my last class didn't have us read an article about it. Again this class is having us actually put this into place and play around with it. I am now enjoying blogging. I could see myself creating a personal page to keep up with family and friends whom I don't get to keep in touch with as often as I would like. Education wise, currently there is nobody at the school I work with that is very computer friendly and I was asked to start a blog for our school. Unfortunatly our school is closing. I will hopefully be able to do this for the new school I will be teaching at in the fall. I rather like the thought of blogging and getting other teachers on board and incorporating the RSS Readers into it will be a plus for everyone administration, parents, and teachers.

How will Blogs and RSS Readers fit under Dale's Cone of Experience?
They both fit under many of the experiences listed in the cone. I don't really see them fitting under the Direct Purposeful Experience so much because that is dealing with life's actual experiences. Pretty much everythingelse seems to be able to have a correlation with the blog and RSS readers.

Reflection on Falling Asleep at your Keyboard; Martin Siegel:
I felt this article held good insights on e-learning. So far into my e-learning career I've enjoyed my experience. Although, I have often wondered am I getting as much valuable information as I would if I were in a class? I have experienced time where things could have been cleared up faster if I had someone sitting with me and physically showing me how to do something. I have enjoyed the extra challenge of figuring things out and working collaboratively with others in the classes. I like having the freedom of communicating through blogs, e-mail, and the discussion board. I do agree with Siegel that the lessons need to be imaginative to keep from falling asleep at the keyboard. There have been just a few articles I've been required to read that are beyond my level of computer knowledge they literally put me to sleep! All in all an interesting take on looking at e-learning.

EDT 5410 Week 1 R/D1

Technology has become a necessity in our everyday life especially in the last three decades. We now have cars equipped with navigation systems, coffee makers with programmable brewing times, and the ability to take digital photos and print them immediately. I believe it is time to delve into transforming education through the use of technology. Reigeluth and Joseph have comprised information pertaining to attaining this new way of thinking.
Although I agree with the idea of transforming education I can’t envision how it will be implemented. Having the capability to manage meeting every student’s academic needs through customization with having 30 students in a classroom sounds like a miracle. “We should hold achievement constant at a master level, by allowing children as much time as they need to reach those standards. This would mean allowing children to progress at different rates and therefore to pursue different goals at the same time…a learning-focused educational system” (Reigeluth & Joseph, 2002). In theory this sounds pretty good. In reality how can this be possible? Teachers would be looking at a classroom full of technology that Reigeluth and Joseph refer to as soft technology such as “simulations, virtual reality, expert systems, artificial intelligence, electronic performance support systems, voice and optical character recognition, among others.” Developers are working to make this a reality. There are schools piloting these technological tools Coles elementary school in south side Chicago took on this adventure.
On the other hand, Postman reminds me of a saying if it’s not broken why fix it. I see much technological advancement as an enhancement to what we already have; whether discussing the medical, business, or education field. Education is constantly being scrutinized, it seems as though we keep trying to do new things in old ways. For example, the school I work at the language arts teachers have the equipment to use computers to create blogs for student writing or use ePal for access to pen pals across the world, but they are still using just pencil paper or putting them on the computer and using Microsoft Word. The students could benefit from receiving comments on their blogs or sending their writings to their ePal and getting feedback from a whole different perspective. This is just a small example of what is out there to enhance teaching. Postman’s view seems to be that the students will be lacking the socialization, being able to work in a group. I view technology as a tool to enhance the students’ educational experience. It is not to replace social interactions and learning to work collaboratively. Using tools like Web 2.0, which is a collaboration tool will give the students a different look at collaboration not just within classroom, but also on the internet.
Postman also points out that “If a nuclear holocaust should occur some place in the world, it will not happen because of insufficient information; if children are starving in Somalia, it’s not because of insufficient information: if crime terrorizes our cities, marriages are breaking up, mental disorders are increasing, and children are being abused, none of this because of lack of information” (Postman, 1993). All of these things are happening, did happen, or could happen, but if we are prepared with knowledge and information we will be better equipped to handle the future. I think our children are worth taking technology on and embracing what is to come. We must move forward and learn how to solve the upcoming problems that are here and not going away. We always can ask the question like Postman “What is the problem to which ‘cruise control’ is the answer” (Postman, 1993).
Postman, N. (1993). Of Luddites, learning, and life. Technos Quarterly, 2(4).Reigeluth, C.M. & Joseph, R. (2002). Beyond technology integration: The case for technology transformation.Educational Technology, 42(4), 9-13.