In my previous post I began to complain about how people are far too attached to their mobile devices. As an example, while I'm writing this blog post I am sitting in a living room full of my friends watching football. How rude am I?
It has because the norm now a days to constantly be on your cell phone in public, write emails or text messages rather than letters, and to communicate via the web rather than in person. While I do indulge in these conveniences, I think that some of the advances in technology have hurt us as a society. How often do you find yourself running into someone because they aren't looking where they are going? They are looking at their cell phones! Whether it's texting or looking at Facebook, people are constantly hooked to their phones. Cell phone use in public can also be dangerous. Many car accidents have been caused because someone was talking or texting on a cell phone while driving. What issue is so important that we feel the need (or right) to endanger ourselves and the people around us? In my opinion, nothing is that important, and if it is, you should pull over and deal with the problem.
I send roughly about fifteen to twenty emails on a daily basis. I'm not sure how many emails the average person sends day to day, but how many hand written letters do you think they have sent in the past year? My Grandmother used to send me a note in the mail at least once per week, just because she was thinking of me. Today's "thinking of you" letter is now a "thinking of you" text message. I know that I am 100% accountable for doing this, but it's embarrassing to know that we have been degraded to communicating in such an impersonal way.
On the other hand, technology in schools has lead to so many more learning opportunities. Ten years ago, this online class wouldn't have been possible, but today it's almost the standard. We are able to share information, whether it's visual, audio or streaming media, new information is available to people all across the internet. The fact that we have created a community learning environment completely online is astonishing to me. I would even venture to say that technology that we are using in this class has even improved in the last three years. If I'm being completely honest (and I can't help it ... especially since this assignment is a blog), I took this course, CURR 316 a few years ago and didn't pass because my understanding of these new technologies was limited. I spent a few years away from MSU and now that I'm back I was TERRIFIED to take this course again. I can honestly say that the course now is so much better than it was a few years ago, and it's all because of Dr. Domine's ability to show us the newest forms of technological communication. Dr. Domine, thank you for updating the course and including videos explaining our assignments - it's helping me tremendously. I'm excited to learn about all of the new technologies available in classrooms that can connect students and teachers in class and via the web!
Rebecca-
ReplyDeleteI have the feeling that many people of our generation share this love hate relationship with technology, considering that the majority of us have grown up on the cusp of technology being something we could not lead a normal life without. The constant connectivity is something many of us have been without in our younger years, but our future students will not know this life, while they have been acquainted with technology before many of them could even speak. For this reason, while I also have a qualm with the social norms which have become acceptable in terms of technology use, it is vital that we are able to understand the technologies our students are familiar with, so as to be able to relate and integrate them into our classrooms.