Week 1 Assignment

Mr. Winkle Wakes by Matthew Needleman

Mr. Winkle Wakes by Matthew Needleman was an interesting concept. Technology has changed the way we live our ordinary lives. Certainly a man from a hundred years ago would barely recognize a hospital or the places we have to work now. Needleman claims that school hasn't changed much in the past 100 years.

I don't agree that schools haven't advanced in 100 years. We've done away with chalk and slates. Students are able to learn foreign languages more easily with cd's and other forms of audio assistance. My high school in Alaska had even started to replace all the white boards with Promethean boards, or smart boards. We had to use the computer on a regular basis to do our work. We watched YouTube videos all the time in class. However, this might only have been because Alaska is one of the wealthiest states in the union. I can't vouch for how much they use new technology in Alabama, Texas, or California.

Did You Know? by Karl Fisch

Did You Know? by Karl Fisch, contained a lot of very interesting facts. They flashed by so quickly on the screen that I had to pause and rewind a few times to catch it all. I have no reason to believe that Karl Fisch would lie to me, but I find it difficult to believe a few of the facts. For example, he said that for a person getting a degree related to technology and computers, the things they learned in first two years of their degree are obsolete by the time they begin their third year. It's unfathomable.

The point of Fisch's presentation was to present us with the unfathomable. 1,300,000,000 people populated China in 2008; China is soon going to be the country with the highest English speaking population; the wire that has the ability to process over 2 million phone calls in one second-- all of these were listed to show us that we are living in the information age and that knowing about the latest technology is important because it's hard to keep up in this fast paced world. I think Fisch makes a good point.

The Importance of Creativity by Sir Ken Robinson

I really enjoyed Sir Robinson's presentation. I thought he made a good point about how all people are different and that our education system doesn't properly address that. We do focus on math, science, and languages and leave those who are more gifted in the arts to fend for themselves and struggle.

The story he told about the woman who is a famous choreographer was a good example. I have known a lot of children who have been labeled ADD who are gifted in sports or music or dance but who perform poorly with their schoolwork unless you spend a lot of time working with them. It's sad that we are putting these children at a disadvantage by forcing students who are right brained to use their left brain. They used to force children who were left-handed to relearn things with their right hand in school because being left handed was "wrong." That practice is now seen as unnecessary and a tad bit cruel. Eventually, educators will realize that forcing children into fields where they don't excel is also cruel.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts by Vicki Davis

Vicki Davis' teaching method seems effective and interesting. Digital citizenship is something we should be teaching our students today because of all the technology that is being developed. Students who have a head start using these technologies before they get into the real world will have an advantage over those who don't understand how to use them.

However, I don't completely understand the need for OpenSim. It sounds to me to be a chatroom/video game. I don't know why the traditional chatroom isn't all that's necessary. Maybe I'm behind the times.