Blog Post 6

For the first part of this blog I watched Wendy Drexler's video The Networked Student. It was a very simple video that explained where technology could be taking students and teachers in the near future. It presents some very realistic scenarios that are very possible right now. This video gives an example of how a networked student would operate to gather information. It presents an education program that is based more on research than it is lecture.

I believe that this video could very accurately predict the future of the classroom. We are already in an age where information is readily available on the Internet in mass quantity. Most of the things described on this video are being put into motion right now and are paving the way for a more research based learning atmosphere.

The Question presented near the end was a powerful one. It considers the fact that teachers might become obsolete with the rise of Internet based learning. The video gives several good examples of why teachers will still be needed, such as guidance and affirmation, but in reality I think teachers are going to be taking on an entirely different role in the future of education.

The second thing that I did for this post was to watch the video Welcome to my PLE. It was a video made by a 7th grade student to show the ways that she uses the Internet in everyday learning. It was very informative and I think it gave a really good picture of what our education system will look like very soon.

This form of learning is very different compared to the current way we have been raised to learn. Most of my teachers didn't grow up with computers, much less the Internet in all its glory. That is why it is so valuable for us, as educators, to learn to use these tool efficiently so that we can better teach the next generation.

For the third part of this blog I read a couple of opinions on Smartboard technologies. The first blog I read, Why Smartboards are a Dumb Initiative, was full of some very practical points of why Smartboard were out of date before they were created. It explains that everything that you can do with a Smartboard can be done using other, more cost efficient, means. I also read down through the comment left by other educators and found some interesting responses. The sixth post down in this list of comments was by a guy with the screen name TimeOutDad. He made a good counter argument in that, while Smartboards aren't very practical for technologically savvy people, their simplicity could just be the turning point for some teachers. While I agree with the overall opinion of the blog, I also agree with TimeOutDad in that Smartboards may just be a comfortable segue for yesterdays into tomorrows technology.

I also read the blog Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards which gave a similar opinion on the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of the Smartboard. I think we are not through with the Smartboard yet. Like most modern technologies, we usually discover some unintended use for items like this. While I agree that Smartboards can be easily replaced with other technologies, I think the same can be said about a lot of new devices. Like anything, it all comes down to doing the research and finding out whats best for your school and your students.