Hi Observers,
Ah, technology… as all the articles this week make explicitly clear, there’s no escaping it. For the record, I’m not a technology person, but technology doesn’t care how I feel or that I spent an hour crying while trying to set up my wireless router. Technology keeps progressing despite my trepidations, despite how I say, “Whoa, technology, let’s take things a little slower. I’m not that kind of girl...” Technology doesn’t stop, doesn’t slow down. So, despite how it pains me to say this, I’ve got to start thinking about how technology will impact my classroom.
Fine, I’m thinking about it. And this is what I think: Technology plays a large role in all our lives whether we like to admit it or not. I’m typing on my Macbook Pro, my Blackberry is within arm’s reach, Facebook is open, itunes is playing, my Wii is glowing, and when I’m done typing this I’ll post it to my fancy blog. For a non-tech person, I’ve got at least the standard amount of technology surrounding me at this moment, and the odds are good that even the “non-tech” students of mine will know more about it than I do. But is all this technology really good for us?
My key term is classroom community, and I’m having a hard time figuring out why I’d employ technology like blogs and blackboard when we can just have the real thing in the classroom. Why do we need to have blackboard discussions when we can have real life ones? I realize that blogs can help create a sense of community, but I don’t want to create a virtual community, I want to create a real one. I don’t want my students to feel protected behind the computer screen. I don’t want to reward anonymity. I don’t want to teach students that they only way they can speak their minds is if they do it from a keyboard. We are a generation shaped by technology, but that isn’t an exclusively positive statement. Kids can set up a wireless router better than I can, but they can’t carry on a normal conversation or form a thoughtful argument without a computer screen in front of them.
So, yes, I concede that technology is very much a part of my life and a part of my students lives. I just haven’t come to terms with how that technology is going to help build community, when all I see it as doing is creating a flimsy, virtual sense of it. Yes, online communities are very real to those who participate in them, but my classroom isn’t an online community and it doesn’t need to be. We’re an in-the-flesh community, and I want my students to do in-the-flesh things to build relationships and knowledge.
I know this isn’t the end of my discussion with technology. This is only round one of many, many rounds, and even though I seem angry and bitter, I’d like the day to come when technology and I can reconcile our differences and create an even better, even awesome-er classroom/virtual hybrid community.
From the mirror,
Claire
Ah, technology… as all the articles this week make explicitly clear, there’s no escaping it. For the record, I’m not a technology person, but technology doesn’t care how I feel or that I spent an hour crying while trying to set up my wireless router. Technology keeps progressing despite my trepidations, despite how I say, “Whoa, technology, let’s take things a little slower. I’m not that kind of girl...” Technology doesn’t stop, doesn’t slow down. So, despite how it pains me to say this, I’ve got to start thinking about how technology will impact my classroom.
Fine, I’m thinking about it. And this is what I think: Technology plays a large role in all our lives whether we like to admit it or not. I’m typing on my Macbook Pro, my Blackberry is within arm’s reach, Facebook is open, itunes is playing, my Wii is glowing, and when I’m done typing this I’ll post it to my fancy blog. For a non-tech person, I’ve got at least the standard amount of technology surrounding me at this moment, and the odds are good that even the “non-tech” students of mine will know more about it than I do. But is all this technology really good for us?
My key term is classroom community, and I’m having a hard time figuring out why I’d employ technology like blogs and blackboard when we can just have the real thing in the classroom. Why do we need to have blackboard discussions when we can have real life ones? I realize that blogs can help create a sense of community, but I don’t want to create a virtual community, I want to create a real one. I don’t want my students to feel protected behind the computer screen. I don’t want to reward anonymity. I don’t want to teach students that they only way they can speak their minds is if they do it from a keyboard. We are a generation shaped by technology, but that isn’t an exclusively positive statement. Kids can set up a wireless router better than I can, but they can’t carry on a normal conversation or form a thoughtful argument without a computer screen in front of them.
So, yes, I concede that technology is very much a part of my life and a part of my students lives. I just haven’t come to terms with how that technology is going to help build community, when all I see it as doing is creating a flimsy, virtual sense of it. Yes, online communities are very real to those who participate in them, but my classroom isn’t an online community and it doesn’t need to be. We’re an in-the-flesh community, and I want my students to do in-the-flesh things to build relationships and knowledge.
I know this isn’t the end of my discussion with technology. This is only round one of many, many rounds, and even though I seem angry and bitter, I’d like the day to come when technology and I can reconcile our differences and create an even better, even awesome-er classroom/virtual hybrid community.
From the mirror,
Claire
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