The New Media Literacies video discusses the changing world of media delivery. Media was once produced by a few select groups and consumed by the masses. The freedom of the internet has allowed the power of producing to shift to the masses; anyone can now be a producer of media. This change has prompted the genesis of a new set of skills and terminology. New Media Literacies’ goal is to provide the tools for people to thrive in the evolving media world, similar to the goals of SLM508.

The NECC (National Educational Computing Conference) ’09 link featured 5 videos discussing technology in education. In “Disrupting the Traditional Classroom” Harvard University Professor Chris Dede delivers some interesting thoughts regarding the implementation of technology in our schools. Dede looks at online classes as a disruptor of traditional classroom settings because it allows for the complete customization of the learning experience. He speaks of the educational system as a business, and online classes have no competition. The ability for technology to meet individual needs is highly attractive and, as Dede puts it, vastly superior to classroom education. Once the consumers (the parents) take note of this alternate, superior method, the supply will have to meet the demands.

In the “Ed Tech Classroom Climate” video, University of Michigan professor Elliot Soloway discusses the role of technology for students outside of the school versus the role of technology inside the school. He notes that the industrial worker of the past is a “Knowledge Worker” today, and these knowledge workers use mobile devices. Therefore, the disconnect between technology inside of school and technology outside of school needs to be eliminated in order to give students the best learning experiences. Soloway believes the “dam is about to break” regarding personal technology in the schools.

The “Paul Sanfrancesco: Training Teachers On The Use Of New Technology” video outlines the needs and methods of educating teachers on the new technology of the classroom. His school offers a week long academy that trains teachers how to use the technology that they want implemented into the learning processes. Because the students are often more technologically savvy than the teachers, these types of training are vital to keeping up in the cutting edge world.

“Keith Krueger: Investing In Technology During Tough Times” speaks of the importance of demonstrating the value of technology in our classroom in order to receive appropriate funding. Title I schools and special education departments benefit greatly from technology funding and exhibiting this need helps to secure these funds.

“Susan Patrick: The E-Learning Challenge” is excited about the implementation of virtual learning in K-12 schools. Online training and classes are utilized at jobs and colleges, respectively, so that same technology should be available to K-12 students. Policy and funding models need to recognize the value of this and accommodate the demand.

The Newly Agent blog had a post titled “Educating Producers”. In it, the failure of the school system’s ability to educate producers is addressed. The author notes that the system is very good at teaching consumers, so that they may consume more knowledge more efficiently. The author calls for a reform of the educational system so that the needs of producers are met. For example, authentic practice needs to be allowed for producers to work on writing books, creating music, producing business, writing programs, etc.

http://newlyancient.com/2009/01/12/educating-producers

Common threads:

One common theme leaped out at me while exploring this media. My eyes were opened to the business-like viewpoint of K-12 education. All of the videos/articles reviewed made some reference to a business term. The New Media Literacies video discussed the increasing numbers of producers. The Newly Ancient blog was entitled “Educating Producers”. Consumer is to producer as is demand is to supply- very business-y terms. The “Disrupting Class” video referred to online learning as a product that would soon be in high demand once parents (not students) realize how awesome it is. It is funny to think that parents are the consumers here; I like this idea. They typically are the ones demanding what they want from the school board, and the schools boards tend to listen. In this scenario, if the parents are the consumers and the governing bodies are the producers, then what are the students? Pawns?

How does what you read align to your thoughts on teaching and learning technologies?

This little bit of exploration has gotten me super pumped for the future of technology in education. In my other online class, Issues in Inclusive Education, we were discussing where we think the future of special education laws are heading. One student thought that eventually every student would have an IEP. As soon as the “Disrupting Class” video mentioned the customization ability of online education I thought of special education. If anything can assist in the crisis of IEPs, high stakes testing, and learning disabilities, it is the massive implementation of technology.

In Bloom’s Taxonomy, the second highest order of thinking skills is synthesis. Synthesis refers to the act of creating, predicting, and estimating based on ones understanding of the material. When I saw how much technology allows the masses to become producers, I became a big fan of its implementation in schools. The higher order thinking skills incorporate the lower ones, so synthesis includes analysis, application, comprehension, and knowledge. The more we can have students operating at these higher levels, instead of just memorizing facts (knowledge level), the better they will learn, they better they will demonstrate their mastery of the content, and the better citizens the system will produce.

In conclusion, I am glad to be becoming a young teacher in the technological age where everyone needs to become a “techie” on some level. My experience thus far has raised some concerns. Will having a teacher for every subject in every school become obsolete? If there is a nationally renowned teacher teaching a highly regarded online course, will parents demand that their child learns from him/her rather than some 22 year old fresh out of college? Fortunately for me, I am a PE guy so I think it might take a little while longer before they figure out a way to replace me with an online super-instructor. Nonetheless, I think it’s possible. Additionally, because I am a PE guy, all of this technology scares me a little bit. I feel that its part of my job to get kids away from the screen in front of them and outside being active. “Screen time” refers to the amount of time a person spends in front of a TV, computer, etc. The problem with screen time is that one is typically sedentary during this time. I do realize that this is changing with the Nintendo Wii, and that exercise videos have been available for a long time, but for the most part people are sitting still while using a computer, watching TV, or playing video games. I worry that there is so much interesting technology available that it would be very easy to get caught up in ones “online presence” that you lose several hours of your day sitting in front of a screen. I fell victim today while working on this assignment. I stumbled upon TED, a website that has several very interesting video lectures, and added a few hours to my screen time for the day. This could be a slippery slope…