Saturday, January 30, 2010

Reflections #2

My reflection this week is based less on my readings for the course than on some of my recent interactions with students. I enjoyed reading the article I found for the journal review, and I probably chose the one that I did because of the concerns I felt from my classroom interactions over technology requirements.

I’m discovering that many of my students don’t know how to use this technology. They at least are saying that don’t have consistent access to computers. I know there are labs at the school, but since I am writing this well after midnight, I’m sure some of my students face the same challenges in carving out time for schoolwork in a very busy schedule.

In addition, the lack of confidence and comfort these students show around technology leads me to wonder if they may not have attended schools where there was sufficient access to technology to come to college prepared to use it. Some are as ready to use the technology as I am to put information online, but there are others who are scared, don’t like it, and don’t feel confident using it for their education.

I am starting to have doubts about the level of technological skills that this “standard” student has when they reach a community college. In looking at the “Did You Know 2.0” video, it is obvious that it is already out of date to some degree in that it uses MySpace as a measure and doesn’t mention Facebook at all. In looking at the shift to Education 2.0, I may focus some of my research on liking into whether or not we could be creating a an even greater divide between those who have access to technology and those who don’t? Those “haves” and “have nots.” I wonder if those laptops every reached any children who were going to have the world in their hands?

I do believe that to prepare students for the future they will face, they will have to be comfortable with technology, and I am more than willing to work with them so that they can use the tools that are accessible to them. My concern is that some of the students who need the most help and access may not have the ability or the perseverance to take on learning what might be a challenging topic right beside learning the new technology.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Reflections on the blog

I think that blogging can be truly horrible form of human expression. It can easily be corrupted into a place that holds all the worst elements of the internet as an electronic dumping ground for ideas.

It also could be one of the best avenues for connection in a world where more and more we are separated behind our keyboards. It offers a place for ideas to be shared and truly explained in more than 140 characters.

Downes’ article shows the potential for blogging in education, but I think it misses one point. Using technology to reach students should be more about putting things were students want them than about putting things together in ways that are convenient for teachers. It should be more about informating than automating, and that means it will have to move forward almost as quickly as technology moves forward.

If blogs are meant to replace a class Web page, then it’s just layering a new technology on an old idea instead of moving forward.

Blogging would be a great way for teachers to interact with one another, for telling our stories as November suggests in his article. But for students, I don’t think it would fit their needs. Today’s students want short, quick bits of information and a blog or a Web page is too dense for the millennials. The potential Downes’ sees can be met with using new technologies like Twitter or Facebook and putting the information in front of where these younger students are, instead of where we would want them to be.

I believe that blogging can be useful, and that it has a lot of potential. I think that one trap in technology is seeing the potential of that thing and never updating its potential as new technology replaces the old. It is the one thing that stood out the most for me from November’s article, that methods have to change and adapt to the new technologies, not that the technologies are selected and adapted to old methods.

Opening thoughts

This first entry is much more formal than I expect most of my posts to be. Maybe it's just the high-brow nature of being asked to expound on your 'philosophy' of a subject. Defining your personal philosophy seems to require a response that speaks to the future in a way that just telling someone your thoughts on a subject wouldn't. There's nothing wrong with that of course, but as an English major and English teacher it seems to draw out my most intricate writing as well as some of my "higher dollar" vocabulary.


Since this is only the beginning of my study into educational technology. I thought it best to start with the most basic definition of my philosophy towards it. A philosophy is defined as the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct. I am really just beginning my investigation into the roles technology can play in education, so my own educational technology philosophy is only in its most primitive state. I also am just beginning as an educator in a professional sense. As I grow as an educator, my goals will include finding ways to share my passion for writing with others, to give students the writing tools they will need for their future and to innovate my teaching with whatever tools are available—both technological and traditional.


Writing as a skill requires both a technical knowledge of grammar as well as an understanding of the writing process—the process of building an idea or argument into a cohesive structure. I will expect my students to learn the rules of proper grammar and to practice their writing until they gain the confidence many in developmental courses lack. Both of these expectations would benefit from the use of technology in practical applications. Grounded in this pragmatic philosophy toward education, I will first focus my investigation of educational technology on the possibilities presented for skills learning that offers students the ability to practice writing in the forms they are most likely to use, need and understand.


My role as a teacher is to use whatever tools I can to impart the skills and knowledge that my students will need. It also is to expand their knowledge of the tools available to reach their own goals. By using technology in my instruction, I can serve this two-fold purpose. The generations that come will use technology as a given in all parts of their lives. Not learning how to integrate technology is not a realistic option for tomorrow’s teachers and all will need to decide how to integrate technology into their educational philosophy. As for myself, I plan to use educational technology to give my students new avenues for interaction, more convenient pathways for skills practice and additional opportunities to understand the role writing will play in their larger lives.