January 24 Blog

Michael Wesch's "A Vision of Students Today" was a pretty accurate look at what college is like in our society. We spend thousands of dollars in tuition and miss half of our classes, we hundreds of dollars in textbooks and barely open them, we buy laptops only to surf the net while we are suppose to be taking notes. This is what college has become and from the looks of it will stay the same fir generations to come. I personally have never been in a class with more than 50 other students but at large Universities students are sitting in classrooms with over 100 students. Most of the students in large classrooms are not even learning, and will never make it in the real world. Though technology advances and can be a beneficiary, it is substituting important skills that students should be learning in the classroom. All together this video was very interesting it made me stop and say "Wow that really is how college is."

Kelly Hines' "It's Not About the Technology" was also insightful. Hines pinpoints on what teachers in the classroom are failing to do. And Like Hines says, yes we all have facebook, skype, twitter, and all the other web crazes but technology isn't replacing real teaching. One of her main points, teachers must be learners, was interesting because it showed how many teachers are not up to speed with technology and therefore cannot understand why their students do not get the material time and time again. The teacher should be up to date on technological advances to help students learn better, and at a faster rate. To be a teacher in some ways you need to be on the students level, you have to understand their world to better teach them properly. Teachers must be learners, was also insightful because it talks about how not only students are learning everyday but how the teacher should also be learning. To become a teacher you have to take a bunch of classes, enter the classroom to get a feel for it, and learn about what your suppose to be teaching, but the teacher also should be on many different levels. Its not about hashing material over and over its about learning what is best for not only the teacher but mostly the students. Each individual student learns a different way, so it is up to the teacher to understand those different ways. Her other topics shared on how learning and teaching are completely different and without good teaching technology would be useless.

The Fisch Bowl was super witty. I enjoyed reading this blog. Fisch has a very interesting way of looking at how technology should be a part of teaching methods. He has a pretty blunt way of saying if your technologically stupid then do not be a teacher. Which I can agree with in some ways but in others not so much. Teaching does not have to be futuristic for children or even adults for that matter to understand. Yes Fisch is right, we do need to keep up with technological advances but just because your not a computer nerd does not mean you cant learn the good old fashioned way. I mean he has a funny way of saying things but I personally do not agree 100 percent. I did like when he said that if a teacher today is not technologically literate, and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more, It is equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read or write. Fisch has a very interesting way of putting sarcasm into words which is somewhat refreshing. His vision is a bit extreme but not completely unrealistic. I thoroughly enjoyed his blog.

Gary Hayes' virtual graph blew my mind. I never realized how much people are on the internet! It is pretty ridiculous. Which got me thinking if it is like this now, what will it be like in the future? I in no way can answer this question but it is interesting to know that millions and millions of people are surfing the web, uploading photos on facebook, and are tweeting on twitter. It is a scary thought to even imagine what those numbers will look like in the future. Career wise, as a teacher this could have a large impact. Who knows years from now there might not even be teachers, students might walk into there living rooms and turn on their flat screens and some robot technological teacher could pop up on the screen. It is a lot to think about. I myself am a facebook-aholic but I did not know that it was so big! It is amazing how technology changes on a minute to minute basis. It is a lot to wrap my brain around.