I totally agree with Postman on how students need technology, but they also need school to teach them how to use it. I am 25 so I have been using computers my whole life. Yes they make it so easy to do research but, it took me longer to complete a project because I was not sure if the information was credible. I feel the “time saver” is a great quality of technology and being able to type in a word and find exactly what you want is great. However, what about the quality of libraries and environment like Reigeluth and Joseph speak of? Getting out of the same old environment and looking through mounds of books for one item and stumbling upon heaps of extraordinary knowledge that you might pass up by using the computer. Speaking with people from other cultures can give you such an incite to their life instead of researching it on the computer. I guess it would have to be determined by how much time I have to complete my goal to decide on technology base or library base.
It is a scary and exhilarating thought when you think about changing our system from “time-based to an attainment-based system,” it “would represent a fundamental transformation of our educational systems,” according to Reigeluth and Joseph. All that transforming!!! I have a perfect example from our first day of school this week when our administration announced that we have switched our IEP (Individualized Education Plan) System for the third year in a row now. All you heard from just about every teacher was moans and groans. Yes, I agree it will be a pain, but the only reason we would be switching is because we found something faster, better, and hopefully less paperwork. It is a new thing we have to learn and implement, but sometimes I think educators forget we are educators, and an educator is a life long student in itself. That is a piece of the definition of education is learning, and educators have been learning for years. We just get to be apart of the most difficult and most surreal advances in our history with education. We are the ones who get to mold education and technology together for years to come.
I also agree with Reigeluth and Joseph that technology is helping educators with the question “How can a teacher help 30 children to all learn different things at different rates and in different ways utilizing authentic tasks?” Personal laptops, built in projectors, school wide TV programming, and the newest software is unbelievable at how we can reach each student and what can be implemented. Yes it is going to take time for teachers to adjust but the outcome is greater then what we began with. Being able to reach the different levels of teaching is also going to be a struggle, but the more heads the better and there will be a solution in the end.
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Jacqueline:
Your comment about the authenticity of the information found in the internet (in huge amounts!!) is one of the prophetic warnings Postman made. Fifteen years ago he predicted what he called a dangerous explosion of “context-free information”. I feel this phenomenon (finding any information, about any subject, always available) is promoting some disbelieving attitude towards the information we do not want to accept as true. Even for the adults it is hard to distinguish what we will believe. I must be very difficult and confusing for the youngest. The right use of this powerful tool requires teachers who promote critical thinking about the subjects. Katya
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