I found Dr. White’s theory quite interesting in his breakdown of the online resident versus visitor theory. I liked his take on digital residents having a large online space and show casing their work to their viewers but not collaborating very much. While I think that statement is partially true I have to step back and think about sites like Youtube or Twitter that have led to a lot of collaboration in their respective communities. I agree with his statements regarding digital residents have to a put out a lot of material to keep their “brand” alive which is in essence either an online persona or just their personality. I do use Youtube for a bit of my online entertainment so I have seen this “brand” idea slowly evolve for some people I follow and it is even more interesting when they talk about their brand in a video. For the digital Visitors, who I probably fit into a bit, online can be a scary place where someone could accidentally reveal too much of their life to too many people. They see digital learning tools and just that, a tool they use for a specific purpose but they never contribute to the digital community because they believe that people online are just there to glorify themselves. They don’t see the need to talk to others online because they have already found their tool, finished their task, and put it back. It is kind of sad that these visitors are creating a mastery of a tool but never using it to help anyone but themselves. What it really comes down to is learning strategies that were brought up in our last blog post. Are you going to create a new way of learning with technology or are you just going to create another generation of learners doing the exact same lesson plan just instituting their digital tool for a textbook. Visitors don’t really understand that online their authority can be diminished by a student if they are asking too much or the wrong questions. I really liked his tutor example when the tutor realized that their instructions weren’t creating engagement they eventually backed off and started learning with the student. It ends up being all about digital culture and motivation and how we as teachers will be motivating students online. For me I would probably say I am a digital resident with some visitor features. Through this technology course hopefully I will be able to not only learn new tools online but to learn how to properly share them as well. White, D. (2013, May 31). Visitors and Residents [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sFBadv04eY
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I enjoyed “Why School?” so much I made my wife promise that she read it. It is a great expose in what angle technology in the classroom is now being pushed on teacher to keep archaic teaching methods. The one way technology could be used in the classroom are based around using technology to enforce the old standards and ways of teaching which limit creativity and engagement. The other example was based around not changing technology to fit the standards but much rather changing the standards to fit our technology. Today’s students are all digital natives that use multiple devices in their daily lives. To exclude the use of the computers in their pockets seems like a rather weird idea since it is just another tool. I think the issue is starting students very young on how to be a digital native that way there aren’t problems later on with them misusing a tool like their phone or the freedom given to complete their assignment. I definitely agree with the second school of thought that allows for assessments to be modified allowing for the use of technology and creativity in solving a problem. I definitely remember in school doing an assignment I knew I would never replicate again in my life. Why not let students take an active role in their educations and learn how to generate a report on an environmental issue that directly affects them. One of my favorite projects from college was based around finding out why/how certain parts of San Diego were not bulldozed and turned into track housing but instead became nature preserves. Granted this was before a lot of records became digital so I had to sort through hand written letters and microfiche of the Union Tribune so that took some time but it was very rewarding. The ideas that Mr. Richardson presented that I feel the strongest towards is “Talk to strangers” and “Be a master learner”. There are so many resources out there that our students have access to but in this culture that everyone assumes meeting a stranger as a bad thing versus meeting a stranger and learning something you never would have if you hadn’t met them. If you want to model behavior of a good learner to your students you need to show the importance of getting someone else’s opinion. If you are doing a project on the renaissance why not go to a renaissance fair. Once you get past all the cheesy parts one of your students will definitely remember experiences and facts from that day. The learning/unlearning Idea I would have the greatest struggle with would probably be sharing everything, not because I am adverse to that I just haven’t had to do so in the past so it feels a little foreign to me. But that is the main reason for taking our technology course so we can build a great big PLN that will allow us to make connections with many other instructors from many different backgrounds. In the last 25 years there has been massive change in technology to which business and normal life became drastically different. If everyday life is changed for the modern student schools must follow suit and use technology to change assessments. If the example from High Tech High is any indication how introduction into greater use of technology properly I believe all schools should follow suit and work with students to create greater lesson plans and assessments. Richardson, Will. Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere. TED Conferences, 2012. EPUB file. |
Bryan AndersenJust a teacher candidate that is super excited to impact students lives Archives
May 2016
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