As I read this chapter my mind was spinning. I can remember how quickly technology changed from the time I ended high school in 1993 until I went to college in the fall of 1994. It was amazing how much it had changed in that year. Today it changes everyday but we tend to keep up with it more because we use it everyday.
On page 81, it states "All learning is social." Students today keep connected through technology. They learn about technology through interaction with each other. It surprises me often about how much they learn about it from each other. But it is also amazing how by interacting with technology in the classroom you often find them more engaged.
It is amazing to me how many students find away around the filter and how they spend hours trying to figure it and once they do they share it with everyone. It seems if we could find a way to engage them in our classrooms the same way they would learn the content we want them to.
I have started a Wiki page for my Intro to Social Studies Class. It amazes me how some student check it everyday and if I haven't updated it they let me know. Others though care less and won't look at even when you ask them to. The Wiki page though helps me to make the students more independent. They can now start to take some of the responsibility for their learning.
Your students accept the technology as it is...they are used to it...expect it...and sometimes take it for granted (what it can do for them and how they can use it). And sometimes we forget that they need to be instructed ABOUT its use (not so much how to use it)...how to use it responsibly, safely, and ethically. The question is where will that instruction happen? Where will it come from?
ReplyDeleteOf course, some kids will push the boundaries when they aren't taught responsible use.
I really feel as if it is my responsibility as a teacher to make sure I talk with my students about what is acceptable and what isn't.
ReplyDeleteThe internet is definitely a piece of social learning. The wiki page is a really great idea. The next question is how do we get those students who have no interest in it, to take an interest?
ReplyDeleteThe kids really learn this stuff at a break-neck pace. I sat down with my 11 year old daughter this morning thinking I was going to teach her something about google docs and she ended up teaching me. It makes me proud how quickly she learns about technology, but I also know she is not unique. Students are becoming as comfortable with a keyboard as their grandparents were with a ballpoint pen. I say HURRAH! It may be naughty of them to get through the filter but it proves they are thinking!
ReplyDeleteKarla,
ReplyDeleteI learn so much from my students about technology. They seem to understand the the generation gap with technology and are always happy to help me.