Our first session has planted lots of little seeds in my mind that I'm excited about developing over the course of the year to come...
What is technology? Watching the clip from the 1940s ('47?) hygiene film, we talked about (that is Jeff pointed out that) film was an early educational technology; Kristen and Jeff mentioned a colleague who studies regular cell phones (that is, not smart phones) as a classroom technology... "Technology is the making, usage and knowledge of tools, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or serve some purpose. The word technology comes from Greek τεχνολογία (technología); from τέχνη (téchnē), meaning "art, skill, craft", and -λογία (-logía), meaning "study of-".[1] The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include construction technology, medical technology, and information technology." (Ha--guess where that quote came from! Go ungulates!) How can what we define as technology change the way we feel about its role in the classroom?
Talking about our memories of technology made me a) feel really old and b) begin to think critically about my own experience with technology and what I have found useful. For instance, I had one particular teacher who used power points in basically the way that Kristen demonstrated that our students probably will--that is, with lots of random bullet points and without any clear logic or order. I had another teacher who used power points in a way that was actually really compelling and thoughtful. Which makes me realize that perhaps we can't argue that any given technology is necessarily just GOOD or BAD but rather we should think about how any given technology can be used in a productive way or in a way that is not productive and even disruptive or detrimental. I love that we are going to be questioning the use of technology rather than learning about technology IN teaching without that critical context.
I really liked the slides that demonstrated how you have to know your audience (was that the point of those slides? I don't honestly remember the exact context!)--for a student to get a joke--or more generally to make meaning of something, you have to know what the students know or it is meaningless to them. This reminds me of a problem I have read about with some kinds of standardized testing and how they privilege certain students by making references and analogies that are more easily understood by certain classes of students.
But now I'm just rambling...in short, I'm really excited about this class!
I was also surprised to think of film as technology. I guess as soon as something becomes commonplace, we just think of it as a tool. "Technology" makes me think of things that are new, but thanks to your definition that you obviously got from an excellent source, technology has no expiration date!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to hear from the person about using regular cell phones in the classroom (especially since I have held off getting a smart phone to the point that my current phone's battery life is less than a day). It's good to know that non-smart phones still have some purpose!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, Diane, I LOVE your discussion on the Greek etymology behind "technology". It made me desperately miss my Greek and Latin classes, and extremely excited about getting into the classroom and imparting my love for languages on my unsuspecting students. LANGUAGE LOVERS UNITE! Wow I'm a nerd.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, your blog was very helpful for me as it filled in some of the blanks of what I missed on Friday. It sounds like I missed some interesting stuff. I also appreciated your point that perhaps it is not accurate to think of any certain technology as necessarily good or bad. To be honest, I've been struggling a lot with this Twitter account thing, so that was a good reminder that perhaps I shouldn't freak out about it before giving it a chance. So thanks!
I agree with Mary in that I like how you included the etymology for "technology". Etymology is fascinating and can be so useful in teaching languages! ...and I guess technology (in the form of the internet) makes it way easier for us to find etymological information.
ReplyDeleteI also liked you comment about powerpoint. I, like you, have had teachers who rocked at using it and others who should never have had access to it (way too many animations and red font on a bright green background...yuck). I also like that we're going to be thinking about technology critically - I think it will help us from getting too excited about the new tools we'll have and make us think about their actual value in the classroom.
Dear Diane,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I'd like to say that I find your site very pleasing to view. Nice choice of colors, fonts and graphics. Next I'd like to say that I relate entirely to your feelings about aging with technology and learning to deal with the good, bad and ugly of powerpoint users and the like. I know I have a lot to learn and adjust to in this fast moving world of communication technology if I ever want to keep relevant and at least partially hip. It all sort of reminds of when I was about 13 years old and I asked my mom what she thought of my new Who poster I had taped to my bedroom wall. She took a slow look around at the collage of other posters that covered the room and said, "Oh what does it matter, they're all on drugs." She would only hear the music blasting out of my room but could never be bothered to ever listen – too busy dreaming about Sinatra and sipping on another Canadian Club. I don't wanna be like my mom.
Thanks as well for the kind thoughts and comments on my very own blog. Being my very first ever feedback commenter, you forever have my upmost appreciation.
Wow. I am sure those are real giraffes. Because I saw them. On Wikipedia.
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