the machine is us

From the Computer

Responce

I must agree with all the great points made in this article. However, one question I would have is where is the technology in the classroom? I have two computers with Windows 95 installed on them, and I know that I am not the only one who faces that situation. I am one of the people that would volunteer my time to help those who claim ignorance, however, I have no decent technology to work with. As an educator, is it really possible to keep up with today's technology, based on the funding available to our schools? Some of us are fortunate enough to have extra cash in our pocket and can afford to keep up with our kids at home, but how do we bring that to the classroom? I don't even have a computer that can be left turned on for more than an hour without crashing, or one that allows me to install Flash, let alone allowing the students to use programs such as PowerPoint and Photoshop to create projects... Where do you go from here - willing to learn and teach but not able due to lack of technology for student use...

Digital Natives...

I think that the article has many great points. There is definitely a necessity for the teachers to "keep up with the times", but I think that one must be careful not to forget that teachers are here for a reason. We can't allow the video games and computers to teach the children. Students must be able to use their own imaginations for at least a part of their learning. If a student is plopped down in front of TV screen and told to watch a (educational) cartoon, movie, or play a video game, they are learning. But... they are losing the use of their imagination. Everything that they see is something that came from the creators imaginations. Nothing is being created by their brain. I would be afraid that in the future, you tell a child to draw using their imagination, and they would be expecting to see a video or a movie on what that should look like.

It is the educators responsibly to allow the students to use their creativity to learn. And lets not forget, that not all students are visual learners. Some of them do need the concrete , black and white examples on paper.

No matter where you stand on this issue, I think that the argument can be valid that we need more of this and less of that, but the bottom line is that times will continue to change and the things that were familiar and close to our generation, will soon be long forgotten. One thing remains that we must instill the desire to learn in our students, no matter how it's done. We also must make the student more responsible for their learning. It can't be as simple as a grade. The kids must know that no matter which road they go in the future, it is directly the consequence of their choices and decisions. They must comprehend that using the excuse of "My mom said..." or "My dad didn't know..." is not going to work, especially when most of our students have more knowledge than their parents.