Blog Post #3

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today
In some ways this video accurately describes my college experiences but in some ways it did not. For example, since entering college I have only had a handful of teachers who did not know my name. Also, I have only had two classes that had more than a 100 students in the class. Furthermore, I rarely ever bring my laptop to class and when I do I always am working on something that pertains to that class.
However, in some ways this does accurately describe my college experiences for instance, I cannot count how many times I have bought a textbook and never opened it. Also, I have been in many classes where somebody would pay for the class and only show up once or twice. In addition, as depressing as it is I too will be in at least $20,000 dollars in debt, if not more.

It’s Not About the Technology
I completely agree with this article teaching in the 21st century is not all about the technology. Using computers in a classroom is not necessarily going to help students excel. However, how a teacher uses technology does matter and could help students excel. If you give a teacher a smart board that does not know how to use it and does not care to learn then nothing much is going to happen and the technology is useless but if you give such technologies to a teacher who knows how to use it and is creative with it then there is multiple possibilities.
Moreover, I also agree that teachers need to be learners. In addition, it is very important that teachers keep up to date on trends, research, and tools. Also, we must really learn who are students are in order to become a successful teacher. Teaching in the 21st century is not about the technology it is about how one use’s it.

Karl Fisch: Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?
First let me just say that I loved this post, my favorite blog post assignment yet. I am in complete agreement Mr. Fisch’s standards. I especially like Mr. Fisch standard #6, “Schools, Universities and Teacher training courses who turn out students who are technologically illiterate should have their right to a licence and/or funding questioned.” Quite frankly I think it is absolutely preposterous that universities today are to turning out graduates, in general not just future educators, who are not technology literate. However I do think that it is particularly imperative for soon be teachers to be technologically literate, after all they are the people who will be teaching our children. In my opinion, every university should have to have some type of class to prepare students to be technologically literate in which ever field they choose. Such as, USA has EDM 310 for education majors.
Also, I liked Mr. Fisch’s standard #4, “Headteachers and Principals who have staff who are technologically-illiterate should be held to account.” However, I would like to add something to that not only should they feel blame for their staff being technologically illiterate they should also have to find training and/or classes to help their staff to become technologically literate. Furthermore, I too would like to know an answer to Mr.Fisch’s question,” How long does it take for someone to wake up to the fact that technology is part of life, not an add-on?” because I cannot begin to count all the people that I know that do not think of technology as a part of life but rather as, as Mr.Fisch said “an add-on.” Wake up people technology is a part of life and it is only going to become a bigger part of it as time and technology progress.


Gary Hayes’ Social Media Count
It is very alarming how fast the statistics are changing. I think this means various things to my career. First, the astounding number’s related to social-networking will eventually change how teachers professionally network. Teachers will soon all be using social networking sites, such as Facebook or Twitter, for not only entertainment but professional networking as well. Although, some teacher’s already are doing this, professionally networking on social-networking sites will become even more popular.
In addition, the number of iPads bought per second was very surprising. I do hope that one day not only will every teacher have an iPad but also every student. There are so many reason why students having iPads is beneficial. But, most importantly students could download smart board technology on their iPad and then use the technology as they would in class. Therefore, teachers could create smart board assignments then send them home for the students as homework. As a result, the students would be learning interactively, which will hopefully help them retain the information. Moreover, the number of minutes of calls on Skype was surprising as well. I also hope that one day students will be able to regularly use Skype in the classroom.