Blog Post # 4

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?
Dr. McLeod is Associate Professor od Educational Administration and the Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE). I think that it is important for kids to be exposed to technology, however I do not think that it should be our primary focus. If we do not expose children to things such as social networking, online chat etc. then no one is going to show them the proper and safe way of using those tools. Just because we do not expose them to it ourselves does not mean they will not explore it on their own. Thus, we might as well expose them to it and allow ourselves to teach them of the dangers that are involved in it. I do think that the phrase "we can't trust them" was a bit extreme, not all kids are going to get on the computer and do evil things. We have to allow each student to build up his or her trust with the teacher individually and not just assume that no children can be trusted.
The iSchool Initiative
In this video, a 17 year old high school student from Georgia argues that the future of American education lies in iSchool. The iSchool is built on the iTouch platform and would be a school with no books, paper, expensive copy machines and no number two pencils. There are already many applications available for the iTouch that would benefit schools and eliminate paper materials. For example, Chemical Touch is a virtual periodic table of elements, U. S. Constitution is a digital copy of the U. S. Constitution, WorldWiki could replace all school maps and globes, Starwalk is a virtual tour of our universe and there are many more. The iTouch in its present form could already save students six hundred dollars each. I think that the idea behind iSchool is a really good idea, however there are some flaws. First off would be memory space, there isn't enough memory on iTouch devices to take on all of that responsibility. Also, the iTouch is simply too small to be used as a text book and a notebook. In order to read and take notes at the same time it would be very difficult. I think that it would eliminate paper and pencil supplies to an extent but not completely. I definitely think that with a little tweaking this could be a genius idea and something definitely worth looking into!
The Lost Generation
When she first started reading this poem-like piece I found it to be depressing. What she was saying was not anything my generation had not already heard, just hearing from a younger person was only reinforcing what the elder communities had already said. Something about people my own age admitting our demise made it much more life like. However, when she started reading the piece backwards it was very enlightening. It was more comforting to hear someone willing to fight back the assumptions made about today's youth.
I Think I Have Become A Blogger/ Virtual Choir
In Jennifer's blog she introduces a choir ensemble of 185 people performing Lux Aurumque. What made this piece unusual was that none of the members of the choir had ever met nor did they perform the piece together. The performance was put together through the internet. The singers represent twelve countries. Watching this performance was really awe inspiring. It really shows you just how much power the internet has and what it is really capable of doing. It was so incredible to just sit and watch and think about the time that was put into the performance. Watching it it almost did not even seem real. Even though so many people put down the internet and have only negative things to say, this video goes to show that when put to good use the internet can really do incredible things!