Technology and Social Skills

The past few weeks have been crazy! I've done tons of awesome workshops with teachers, both in person as well as via Bridgit & videoconferencing. It's also teacher convention season, which means that every Thursday and Friday I get to hang out with teachers, admin, tech people and our sales guys at our booth.

Alas, this busy season also means that I sometimes don't get the proper time to write a blog post.  Or at least not a blog post that I'm willing to publish on the world wide web!

Since it's mid-week and I know that many teachers are buried in report card season, here's another great tech cartoon that I found.  Obviously, this points out the skepticism that some people have regarding whether or not too much reliance on technology can have a negative impact on social skills:

See Cartoons by Cartoon by Steve Greenberg - Courtesy of Politicalcartoons.com - Email this Cartoon


Have a happy Wednesday!
Vanessa

The Students We Face

More and more I hear discussions and debates surrounding the use of technology in the classroom. Is it worth the expense? Isn't technology just a more costly way of doing what we've always done as teachers? What professional development is going to support implementation? Is technology still valuable if used by non-techie teachers? Should we purchase a tablet or an IWB? The list of concerns, questions and debate topics can go on and on.

Our reality as educators is that we are increasingly facing a generation of students who have grown up with our fast-paced, ever-changing technology world, and are coming to EXPECT the latest gadgets in all facets of their lives -- including the classroom. Call them digital natives, call them Generation Y, call them 'that group of students that can't sit still for more than 5 minutes unless a flashy image is shown' -- the label is not important. What IS important is that they are leading the demand for increased technology in the classroom.

An article found here discusses a challenge that a professor in Florida gave her students -- go without TV, cell phones, iPods, DVDs, email and computers for 5 days. The result? Only 2 out of the 26 students succeeded in the challenge.

Not convinced? Take a look at the following video, entitled Teens Give Up Technology (launch the video from the link on the right of that page)


Watch as a group of teens are challenged to give up some of their personal tech items for 5 days.





Some of my favourite quotes? "I used to send over 17,500 texts per month" and "the regular newspaper is really messy"

Obviously this video also shows that there are some benefits to unplugging for awhile, as this demonstrates some of the over-reliance that some teens have. We could even discuss whether the mother in the video should have set ground rules so her son wouldn't have begun texting at the dinner table in the first place.

My point is, the students we face are increasingly plugged in, connected 24-hours per day and immersed in personal technology. It's time that we, as the education system, stop resisting this reality and start hashing out the details of how to properly embrace this change within the classroom.


Food for thought on your Wednesday.
Vanessa

Non-Techie? Your Cheat Sheet for 5 Key Tech Terms

We're all guilty of it -- tossing out technology terms around our non-techie friends and family, then proceeding to talk over their heads while they scramble to Google the definition.

As such, I've put together a cheat sheet of sorts for those who need it (whether they admit it or not)!

#1. RSS

• Stands for "Really Simple Syndication" [thanks Wikipedia!]
• Used to 'follow' new information as it's updated -- can be in the form of news, comments on a website or new posts to a blog. (shameless self-plug here: click on the icon on the top-left corner of my page to follow the RSS feed for my blog!)
• Simplifies the content so you can get a basic overview, or click on the link to see the full original text
• Look for the orange logo on nearly every website these days and choose what email service you use -- future content will show up in the RSS folder on your email

#2. Ning

• This apparently is the Chinese word for "peace" (just a little FYI)
• Essentially is an online community (also known as a 'social network') for those with shared interests.
  
• You can join as many Nings as you'd like, which often have smaller groups within the larger community, member blogs, forums and links to websites that members may find useful. I personally am a member of many Nings including "The Educator's PLN" and "The Interactive Whiteboard Revolution"
  

#3. GoogleWave

• While the layout is quite simplistic, this is actually a fairly complicated application -- it combines email, instant messaging, social networking, meetings and file sharing.
• I particularly like the fact that users can reply to any parts within the conversation and embed some tools that MSN or Facebook Chat lack (such as polls, visuals and interactive activities).
• All you need to get started is an email address, and you can request an invitation to join the Wave!

#4. Jing

• Yes, it rhymes with "Ning" but it's nothing alike. Jing is actually an image and video capturing tool.
• Similar to "area capture" or "screen capture" in numerous pieces of software, it allows you to take pics of your desktop and upload them to a designated URL. You can also upload videos to YouTube.
  

#5. Wiki

• I personally thought this one was pretty self-explanatory, what with the explosion of Wikipedia over the last decade, but I stand corrected after I casually threw out the term amongst friends recently.
• Ultimately, it's a website that anyone can edit and post content to. Usually, these are hosted on servers (many companies have them) and thus the responsibility of sharing information no longer needs to fall on the shoulders of one person.
  
• According to Wikipedia, "Wiki" has been backronymed (made into an acronym after it's introduction) for "What I Know Is". Huh? Translation: the info on a wiki is only limited by the knowledge of the people contributing to it.
  

Images taken from Wikipedia with links here:RSS Logo and Google Wave Logo

Vanessa