Monday, April 28, 2008

Futurist: To fix education, think Web 2.0: The evolution of the Internet can facilitate this approach, Web 2.0 tools, such as wikis and blogs; make information sharing and content creation easier.
I do agree with this approach. The wiki space that was developed for our class is an excellent resource for all the students in the class. For the 80 students or so in our class we are all connected through this wiki space, all the information you need is right there in front of us, it is also very user friendly. We can correspond to anybody in the class by just clicking on a link. Unlike some online classes I have taken which involved linking up to a server, using specialize software, usernames and passwords, wiki spaces and blogging is a way much easier way to communicate with a group of people.
"With every new piece of technology, to make this technology work, you have to change your teaching practices," Seely Brown said. "
I do believe that this type of teaching will only work for the experience students. This works for me but some students in our class (ED 4862) are having a hard time with this technology. Just having to open an account for some is very stressful and time consuming. At the Secondary level I believe that this would only work for students that have the capabilities to work with technology and others in a group. Some students that works in a group tend to hide in the corner and if a student doesn’t know the language of the technology being used they just would become a ghost in the project. Just like anything, it is easy to fall behind if you are not familiar with the information and it’s even easier to get left behind in technology. But at the same time, its just as easy getting caught with technology.

In the hidden price of technology in the schools Healy concludes, "several responsible educators I interviewed deem up to 85 percent of current software not only 'worthless' but possibly damaging.
In my experience with the students I worked with in alternative is that technology and software makes it too easy for them. Example, I have a grade eight student that uses Rosetta Stone for French and he admits that we hasn’t learn anything from it even though he is making his way through the program. I see him use it as a video game, `Most times he just guesses the answer`. He does the work on the program because it’s in the curriculum and he can’t stay in the class during French because of his behavior. I do believe that most kids guess the answer and their class marks to not match their capability to comprehend French.
In Epic 2015 shows us the future and I believe it, in 2001 after 911 people were scared that their privacy was going to be invaded by the government in search of terrorist. It’s not going to be the Government sneaking into our lives, it going to be Google. Microsoft and Google are become so powerful that it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if somehow they find a way to buy the planet and rename it Planet Google. There are going to be so many ways to educate our future, schools are going to become very high-tech, but I believe you will never replace a teacher.

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