Based on the presentation, there are definitely three ideas that Selfe wishes to get across to us: teacher must be users of technology; we must not teacher our students to be indulgers; and technology has the potential to be either empowering or oppressive.
Selfe’s first point about being users of technology makes perfect sense. If technology is left out of the classroom, we are not only damaging the learning potential of our students, we are damaging our credibility. No one would take a literature class from a man whose only experience with reading was based on scrolls; in the same way, students do not want to entrust their educations to individuals who are not masters of the most current modes of communication. Selfe also warns of the ever-widening gap. She warns those teachers who wish to become more current that technology is not slowing down to allow anyone to catch up. Those teachers who do not strive to use current technology may find themselves unable to become users, even if they wish to.
Selfe’s point about technology indulgers is a sore point for me because that is what I am at home. However, within the classroom technology must be presented as a means to accomplish a job or goal. It cannot be used just for the sake of using technology, nor should it be presented as simply an avenue for entertainment. If these warnings are not adhered to, we will have wasted large portions of our budget on technology we don’t need, and we will have produced students who can’t understand their sickness to make statements like I have at the beginning of this paragraph. (you may laugh at that)
The point about the potential of technology is probably the most sensitive. As the presentation showed, technology is tied to economics. Those with more money will have more and better technology. It is up to the teachers to on the frontlines to keep this in mind when assigning work that requires technology and in judging the work of those with fewer resources.
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I think that there are many things that we do at home that we would (hopefully) not do in the classroom. However, I think that a home environment is the perfect place to learn how to catch up to the latest technology, and to learn about the different ways that we can encourage our students to embrace technology. I think that there is a time and a place for entertainment in the classroom, and I also think that we can explore modes of learning online while at home.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I know that access for students can be limited, but I would hope that even the poorest neighborhoods would have access to libraries with computers. I know that we have access to them in Colorado Springs and Pueblo, which is where I plan to teach. I also know that any school I plan to teach at will have computer labs, so while access may not be as easy as a student might like, there are ways. Also, there are a lot of schools that allow students to rent computers for a semester, and there is free wireless at coffee shops, libraries and just randomly beaming from all corners.
I am aware that there will be students who work and go to school, and I know that there are students that will be mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, but there are plenty of successful students in these rolls. In my opinion, if a student wants to make the most of her education, she will. We must be sensitive, surely, to those with fewer resources, but I don't think that they deserve a free pass when it comes to judging the product of their work.