Warning's

Do you ever wonder what a person from the past would think of us today? Lets say someone from 4000 years ago, seeing our enormous skyscrapers, sleek cars, colorful  TV’s. Would they call us gods, or would they call us cursed? Well couldn’t tell you. Although technology allows us to do almost god like things, it also weakens us as we rely on it. Todays technology has complicated our lives, made us lazy and allows us to avoid face to face interaction. I am sure a person from the past would be amazed at what an average american can haul in a pick up truck. But how would that person react when seeing how distracted we are by the complications of our technology.

I know a place where life is simple, a country called Mauritius, its an island off the coast of Madagascar. There you will find the kindest, happiest people. When I was in 5th grade I visited Mauritius, I remember visiting a slum and joining in on a game of soccer with some village kids. I was so amazed at how much they loved soccer. I realized the village only had one ball. That one ball brought the biggest smiles to every little dark face in the village. None of them knew what a N64 gaming console was, let alone seen one. But they didn’t need one, they seemed to have more fun than I did without one.  How could that simple soccer ball be better than Super Smash Bros. The simplicity of their lives harbored more joy than my cluttered complicated life, it was complexity that distracted me from true happiness.

Weeks later I went back to my old life, sitting on my butt throwing fits when ever my Pokemon fainted, while those kids were probably having a blast, scoring goals and staying in shape. There is no question that laziness is derived from technology here in America.  Its a well known fact that we have higher obesity rates than any other country. Average young boys in America play video games and watch TV after sitting all day at school, instead of running around outside. Kids aren’t the only ones susceptible to laziness. With so much on the internet adults too find themselves consumed. Also things like auto correct and key boards do not help us learn spelling or legible writing. In Mauritius I had met man named Jonathan Baillache. Before I had left the island we exchanged addresses so we could write each other. It was common for me to talk to people over the phone but to talk to people over pencil and paper was un-heard of. Jonathan had no phone. Over the years Jonathan was much more diligent to write me than I was. I remember for months I would pretend never to get his letters because I was to lazy to write him. Truth is I wasn’t used to putting an effort in to communicating with someone, I was lazy. Growing up with technology like computers and telephones was the root of my laziness.

Some people rely on Facebook and other sites for their daily social interactions. Doing this puts you at a disadvantage in the real world, especially when trying to find a job. Instead of learning to interact face to face, people learn to interact over keyboards. When talking to a friend over Facebook you type something wrong, no worries, just erase and start over. Along with that, emotion and body language are completely lost over internet communications.  The internet allows us to think out exactly what we want to say before we send it. When talking face to face you do not get this luxury.   When talking to your boss you can’t go back and hit the backspace key. If your looking for a job its hard to win over an employer with the “hey whats up , how are are you doing?”, instant messenger jargon. Practicing face to face interactions could land you an awesome job, so before you log on to Facebook maybe a better idea would be to go to your friends house and talk to them in person. Who knows you might land a job because of it.

Although technology has allowed us to do so much, you can see now that maybe we rely on it to much. But where do we draw the line? I think thats up for you to decided. Technology is a tool, and its up to you to decide how to use it. If you rely on it completely, what happens if its not here tomorrow? People 4000 years ago didn't need what we have today, so why  should you?

Technology In the Classroom

It is no surprise that there is an increase in computer use among American children and teens in the past decade. Computers were originally used for mathematical productivity. Now we see many youth gaming, social networking and aimless browsing, with current access to PC’s and the internet. These activities, in a way, have dragged this generation down. Instead of spending time in other more productive ways we see youth glued to these machines. Noting that, many are hesitant to bring what seems to be harmful into classrooms and academic atmosphere’s. Although technology has been distracting to some, it can be part of the solution to this problem and should be integrated into both k-12 and college classes. 

If you look at the performance of school’s in the United States, schools with more use of technology in the classroom have performed considerably better than those without. This isn’t ample evidence though. Many schools that perform poorly have not the funding for quality resource material let alone technology in the class room. It makes sense that kids with access to computers at school have a better quality education. The internet is full of useful information that can allow students to study and think with a free arsenal of info. But students don’t always use this to their advantage, youth tend to use technology to play games chat with friends etc... At my school near Portland OR I remember plenty of students playing videos games on school computers instead of researching, writing essays and such.

Many fear kids will be distracted and are hesitant to bringing even newer technologies and methods into the classroom. This can be combated however with proper technology education and the right methods. A school in New Hampshire called Amphis proves this stigma wrong by offering online schooling and new methods of “blended teaching” (Blended teaching is simply the concept of  integrating technology with teaching practices). Many attending this school have succeed where at other schools they normally fail. The school’s methods focus on using the internet as an academic source not only for information but for access to instructor help. Student can get online help, via video chat or IM from teachers 40 hours a week, while students only physically attend class two days of the week. The teaching is focused on using the internet as a resource for research and is seen as a valuable tool not a valuable toy. These classes allow student to work at their own pace but teachers are still there to make sure these students are pushing themselves to acquire knowledge. This is a very successful case and certainly no public school could be like this. However this doesn’t mean public schools couldn’t adopt some of these concepts. 

Although paying teachers to chat with students about school work help 40 hours a week might be a little pricy for the government, focusing on the using the computer correctly might be more practical and quite simple. Showing kids a young age how to spend their time on the computer would be most effective. Many studies show that people are more likely to continue habits learned at a young age rather that newly formed habits. Many people say kids are to young to be using computers. I believe this is not the case.

The future is technology and computers are the future.  We should look to the future when raising our youth. When older foreigners come to our country never using computers it is much harder for them to learn these skills. Hence the saying you can’t teach a old dog new tricks. Its much harder for them to learn. I know this from experience. I have volunteered recently teaching foreign immigrants basic computer skills, and trust me it is a struggle. Here in the United States it comes natural. we have been brought up in these technologies. Many of us have grown up learning these skills subconsciously. If we were to take technologies such as these out of schools we would be crippling are youth in the long run. This is why we must keep up with the times. For our future generations to excel we must push them forward and not hinder their learning by steering them away from computer use. We need to teach them what is appropriate computer use while demonstrating how powerful it can be.


Culminating Research:

1. Quillen, Ian. "Can Technology Replace Teachers?."Education Digest. 78.4 (2012): 4-10. Web. 6 Mar. 2013.

The article discusses the educational debate over replacing  teachers with technology, including potential impact on educational quality. It states that there is a perception that digital teaching such as distance education will not provide as enriching experience as face-to-face instruction would. It addresses the increasing prevalence of educational technology in schools. The topics discussed in this article directly correlate with my research question. It not only talks about potential school wide technology implementation but also the impacts it will have on student learning and teaching jobs. The article illuminates how face to face teaching can be more valuable (this is the teacher and many others view) but it also gives good example of how technology could be implemented in the future. These implementations can improve student engagement in ways that wont effect overall student learning. 

2. Fuegen, Shauna'h. "The Impact of Mobile Technologies on Distance Education.." TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning. 56.6 (2012): 49-53. Print.

This article talks about the growing amount of research on using mobile technologies in education. As mobile devices become increasingly more prevalent, it is necessary to study the use of mobile technology and its effect on the growing field of distance education. Flexibility, portability, and accessibility contribute to an overall positive impression on students, while teacher concerns can be met with appropriate training and tailoring to the various teaching and learning styles present in this flavor of distance education.

For my research this article is important because it shows me that there is a movement into more mobile education, it also notes some of the possible impacts mobile education can have. Tangible examples include things like students being able to check their grades and assignment due dates from their mobile phones. But the article infers that this could lead to actual lessons and teaching being uploaded straight to a mobile device.

1. Bostwick, Dianna. "CLICKING YOUR WAY TO STUDENT SUCCESS!." Techniques: Connecting Education & Careers. 88.1 (2013): 28-31. Print.

The article focuses on the approaches of the School District of Philadelphia to improve student participation in learning technical skills and meeting the goals of Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program implemented by Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It says that the program aims to allow students obtain technical competence regardless of the method of instruction. It adds that technology can help increase student involvement by incorporating it into daily learning experiences. 

This article is very useful to my research because it give me some tangible idea of how technology can be implemented in a class room effectively. I am realizing from my research that technology cannot replace a human teacher but it can absolutely improve the learning experience.

1. Lewis, Andrews. "The Hidden Revolution in Online Learning." Wall Street Journal [New York, New York] 27 DEC 2012, a13. Web. 6 Mar. 2013.

This talks about the need for college degree’s and how more and more students are perusing online degrees for the first to terms of college. Why pay more for the same thing. Many don’t see the use of spending so much money on the first two years of college when they can live at home with their parents and get the same education. The article sort of depicts the Online degrees as inferior to an ivy league education, i guess this is probably true. So it is good to note that. i think the most interesting and most relevant part of this article to my research is the role of the instructor. Accoding to the article in coming years the instructor will be more of a communicator. 

“Udacity, one of the three largest providers of online college courses, picks its instructors not on the basis of their degrees or research interests but according to how well they actually communicate.’We reject 98 percent of faculty who want to teach with us,’ Udacity co-founder David Stavens recently told the New York Times. He sees a day when faculty are selected and promoted very differently, with the best ‘compensated like a TV actor or movie actor.’ “