Technology is Here to Stay

Considering the fact that this is the last blog post for this class, I would like to talk a little more broadly about technology and the next generation. Has anyone seen the video ‘One year old mistakes magazine for a broken iPad’? The title itself says it all. Most recently we seem to talk about the young kids these days and how they never knew a world when there wasn’t an Internet, or Facebook, etc. Now, we also need to envision a time when young babies will think that every thing around them should be ‘animate’ or swipe able, i.e. ready to be customizable according to their own desires. I’m pretty sure that talking appliances and fully digitized homes are coming to a neighborhood near you. Will these kids in the future be saying, “what’s a magazine”? Or “I don’t read magazines (or books) because they are lifeless, inanimate objects”? Maybe they already are?

Either way, this momentous wave of change is upon us so as parents, teachers and citizens in general, we have to cobble together a plan of how to use this technology in a positive and constructive way. I appreciate the MacArthur Foundation Report on Digital Media and Learning for the fact that it acknowledges that there is a type of learning that happens when one uses social media. I hear most adults point their fingers and say “what a waste”. But it is not the platform itself that is the problem; it’s how people use it.

However, I also feel that, even though it’s up to the adults to figure out innovative ways to use new platforms, there should also be a responsibility for the creators too. For the purposes of learning, I hear many comments about how teachers need to figure out a way to integrate technology into the classroom, and we should certainly do so, but what about the creators of these platforms? Shouldn’t they, as responsible citizens, consider making an educational mirror image of their platforms for use in schools? If they know that children are literally getting addicted to these games (like World of Warcraft) and websites (like Facebook), shouldn’t they step up to the plate and create a “sister” version that can harness content curriculum and join that with children’s interests? I don’t think it’s “anti-capitalist” to say that these companies are making a ton of profits off of children so why not invest some of that profit into the education of the next generation? I’m sure these companies would find a way to profit anyway.

Well, I hope I didn’t digress too much. As a future teacher, I can wish all I want that a company would hand me the perfect technological platform to educate my students but that would be futile. I am fully ready as a teacher to embrace technology and use it to a child’s advantage. This will include iMovie, Garageband, Powerpoint, blogs, wikis, Voicethread, Google Lit Trips, digital story telling, cell phones and much more. Thanks for a great class everybody!