Technology is just awesome...
I am a relatively young guy, and I remember what life was like when I was growing up. I used to get up really early in the morning. (like my son does now.) I would go downstairs and turn on the television. It was a Zenith Color TV and it had a circular dial on the front that would rotate between channels 2-13 and UHF. There was no remote, you had to get up to change the channel...pre "flipping." If it was before 6am, you had to wait for tv to "come on." There I would wait, staring at the color bars on the screen, listening to a mind-numbing tone. After the Star Spangled Banner was played, alas, Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse would come on and all was right in my world.
As I grew older, I watched cable being installed into the street on my block. A few months later, "Cable TV" was in my house. Cheesy television dial no more...now I had a cable box with a 30 foot cord attached to a smaller box with a row of buttons and a toggle switch. HBO, TBS, ESPN and Nickelodeon were among the first cable channels to appear. As time went on, more and more cable networks were added and the rest is history.
Random thoughts...
BetaVision, VCR's, CD's, Satellite television, Personal Computers, Internet, DVD, HD.....technology has moved pretty quickly in my lifetime...cell phones, ipods, Playstation, XBOX, Wii, Sidekicks, text messaging, youtube, Google...wikis, blogs, podcasts, vodcasts, mashups, second life, tagging, RSS feeds....I can go on...
Technology is exploding everywhere around me and I am having a hard time keeping up..."drowning in technology" is a description I've heard a lot.
I consider myself to be pretty good with technology, but I have much to learn...especially when it comes to this new medium of the "read / write web.
How do we as educators and "digital immigrants" begin to bridge the gap between us and the "digital natives" who come before us in our classes?
Welcome to the machine...
3 comments:
I agree with Dayna that concept of teaming is very important in education. Bringing teachers from various disciplines together, allows for collaboration of lessons. Lessons will be designed at a higher level and the constant repetition of the concept will help the student remember the prescribed information. It also allows teachers to reemphasize concepts that were taught in a previous discipline.
Technology can be intense to say the least. Will we ever be able to keep up? The mediums we use and will use to communicate in the near future will transform how we socialize and collaborate with one another forever. When I read the brief list George began of recent technological changes, I started to consider how we as a society are in a transitional phase that has no seeming end. It is exciting and overwhelming all at once. With technology trends being what they are, it's time for everyone to get on the bus. There are no excuses anymore and as educators we should be the first to embrace these changes. We will play an integral role in this transformation.
Jessica is absolutely right, the problem is that school districts and budgeting issues will never allow us to keep up with the new technologies. Corporate America needs to get on board with educators in order to keep schools up to date as technology continues to develop.
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