Monday, October 5, 2009

Week 1 Blog 5 - The Fourth Screen

First and foremost many of you have probably seen this video since it was embedded into our week one reading assignment.   I watched the video for the first time when I was at a science teacher's convention last spring.  The workshop that showed the video was about technology and the presenter's point was that we must drastically change our teaching styles to match the technology that students have access to.  While I agree with this, there is a point where I don't think we, as educators, need to "drastically" change.  Feel free to watch the video again to see if you get the same message. 



My reaction to the video this weekend was much different than my first.  To be honest I felt like I was watching a science fiction video that showed the future.  I felt very old watching the video.  I felt like I was already too late to try new things (though I know this is not true).  Though the video was designed to inspirational, did any of you feel like you were extremely behind in terms of technology?

This weekend I purchased a new iPod touch for my husband.  I was downloading all sorts of new apps for him to play and I downloaded a slew of (free) vodcasts about golfing for him to watch on his way to work.  I was literally in awe with this little machine/tool.  I have the old iPod Photo, which I purchased in 2005.  I thought I was the coolest thing ever since I had a "new" iPod that held photos when no other device I knew of did such a thing.  As I sat playing with the iPod touch, I realized that my iPod was so outdated and it was only 4 years old.  The time-warp continued when I looked at my MacBook Pro and realized that the 'new' MacBook Pros at school have a place to simply "plug in" a media card.

New technology seems to be growing at an exponential rate.  And in order to continue marketing and selling new technology, companies must create new, cooler, faster, and (in this case) smaller gadgets.  What does this mean for us teachers if we do not start participating?!  Will we ever have the financial support to teach students with up to date tools?

Photo Credits
"iPod Touch accessoroes and insructions" by dotben at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dotben/1376433504/
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1 comment:

  1. jbbOctober 11, 2009 at 1:57 AM

    excellent questions and observations. If we allow ourselves to compete with the rate of change in technology, we'll fail because we don't have the means and it's outside of our mission to experiment with the latest and greatest. I love tech and usually am at least one generation ahead of my co-workers, even at fullsail (I'm the guy running three & sometimes four monitor at work and at home: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joebustillos/3118968833/in/set-72157607305241246/). I think our job is to keep pace with our students' experiences and find a way to leverage our skills and passions to bring education from the trailing edge to the cutting edge, not because we have the new shiny toys but because we have content worth sharing. In truth, education will change because it is going to require a new kind of partnership between educator and learner to bring our content, like your video-podcasts, into the media-rich technological language of today.

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