Don't Get Left Behind!

Chapter 7: This chapter states that “learners finally have a voice in their own learning activities” (pg 205). Today we don’t need specific instructions from teachers to learn about a subject. We can go right to the web and learn about anything we want. We can engage in online videos such as YouTube and Common Craft to educate ourselves in any language we desire. How amazing is that. What was interesting was how one multicultural class was able to display multiple windows of the same video simultaneously in multiple subtitles so that no matter what nationality you were you were able to get the same information as the person next to you. How great would this be to bring into the classroom where not all you students spoke English.

Technology as we are learning can open a huge gateway for learners, but also mentioned in this chapter can make it very “difficult for us to realize who we are leaving behind if we believe in it to firmly without continuous reflection” (pg. 233). Even in America not every child has access to a computer at home. We need to make sure that even though technology is exciting and can help teachers and students learn in a great way; we also need to remember what we teach them in the classroom might not be followed up with at home. We also need to try not to give homework assignments that might require a child to use a computer/internet or at least give those children an opportunity to finish the assignment in class.

This chapter also talks about how much videos and gaming are being downloaded and how much bandwidth is being taken up. On page 209, Curtis Bonk asks the question about the government coming in and shutting down because of all the videos that are being downloaded. (Some educational and some for fun) This made me think about what would happen if the government came and shut down these types of resources such as YouTube, facebook, or even text messaging. I think today this is all kids now. We at least can remember the old way before text messaging and can revert to the old system, but if this is all children now they might not even know where to start. That is why even though technology is a great tool. I also believe that children need to learn to be creative without technology too. What do you think?

References:
Bonk, Curtis (2009). The World is Open: How Web Technology is Revolutionizing Education. San Francisco. JosseyBass.