Blog Post #3

A Vision of Students Today



This video pretty much summed up my entire college experience, with a few exceptions. For example, the lady who says she reads 49% of her required readings and only 26% of it is relevant to her life. I may read 25% of my required reading, and only about 12% is relevant to my life. Most of the other students are in situations similar to mines. Someone said when they graduate, they'll be $20,000 in debt. I'll be about $40,000 in debt.

I think the video gave a very accurate description of your average college student. Most students probably work 15 hours or more per week, plus 15 hours of class which means about 45 hours of studying, plus 7 hours of sleep. Unfortunately, the remaining 86 hours are not spent productively.

My week may differ slightly in appearance. I work 40 hours, plus 15 hours of class, about 7 hours of sleep, 14 hours watching television (I have to get my weekly dose of Wipeout and Supernatural reruns), and about 50+ hours of studying. And sometimes (bless my heart), I attempt to have a social life. Every time I do, I get behind in one class!

It's Not About the Technology by Kelly Hines

Where have all these people been hiding?! Kelly Hines (and every other creator, author, etc. we've read/watched) has some amazing points. Why have I never seen any of these?! Maybe if I actually used my computer for something other than watching television and attempts at unveiling conspiracies, I could find posts like these.

I completely agree with Kelly Hines about how teaching and learning are not the same. Some teachers could actually care less whether you understood the material or not. They follow the syllabus and do only what they are paid to do, or so they think. I've even had teachers (At South AL) who will humiliate you in front of everyone for asking a simple question. Needless to say, I never raised my hand.

Kelly Hines also made another very interesting point. Technology is not the answer. For example, in my high school, we had computers in every classroom. They were expensive looking computers too. Did we receive a better education than other high schools because of those computers. NO! In fact, we weren't even allowed to use them! Which always made me question, "Why are they even in here?" If the schools would've stopped spending money on technology the teachers wouldn't/couldn't use, then maybe they could have provided us with some teachers who actually made sense when they talked!

Is It okay to Be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

I thought this post was interesting. It seems this has been a hot topic for awhile now. Again, I was watching Wipeout when this discussion started so I wouldn't know anything other than what I've recently watched. I like the idea behind Mr. Fisch's standards. However, I'm not sure that I completely agree.

I do agree that educators (and everyone else) should have a basic understanding of technology. It's a part of life. Get use to it. You can't go anywhere today and deal with an actual person. Even though I believe teachers need to know the basics, I don't believe they should "have their license questioned." At the time they received their degrees, there may not have been the different systems that we have now. To punish them for something they had no control over, without giving them the opportunity to learn, would be harsh and an injustice (dramatic, I know). First, these educators are trying to make a living. They have families to feed just like everyone else. They chose education because they wanted to help students. They wanted to educate. Why are we trying to get them fired? I could see if they were just handing out grades and not teaching. I know there is an exception to the rule, but the majority of "illiterate" teachers are much older. So they've had 25-30 years of TEACHING experience. They know the students. They know the changes we go through at certain ages, they've heard all the excuses, they've dealt with the most ridiculous parents. They have experience. They TEACH to a point where we can understand. I've had numerous of professors who were all about technology, and I never learned a thing! One of those classes was a Computer Science class at South! Again, I know there is an exception to every rule. All teachers who use technology are not the same. You learn in some classes, you don't in others. Technology will not solve the problem! You can throw all the technology in one school that you'd like, and at the end of the day, some students still won't get it! Computers have no heart! When you take too long to answer, the program kicks you out. When you answer a question incorrectly, the computer gives you the answer or moves to the next question. It does not know that it should stop and explain. Plus, those computer voices suck! They're creepy!

Teaching is not about showing me how to use an iPhone. First, I couldn't afford an iPhone if I saved 5 paychecks. Second, I'm probably the only person in America who doesn't want one. Third, I come to class to learn Calculus, not to spend 3 hours trying to get everyone's computer/phone/iPad to function properly or figure out why everyone's graph looks different. It's great that some classes use so much technology. It's interesting and it keeps your attention. But when I become an educator, I honestly want to be able to explain calculus and statistics to my students and see the look of understanding cross their faces. I don't want to just show them images of graphs. Half the experience comes from drawing the graph (wow I'm a nerd!). To question someone's ability to teach because of their lack of technological knowledge shouldn't be the point we focus on. The question should be redirected. If the teacher constantly has students who can not understand the material because of his or her lack of teaching, or if the teacher doesn't know how to teach, or if the teacher doesn't care enough about the students to help each individual, why were they given a license in the first place?

Gary Hayes Social Media Count



That's a lot of numbers. Are people sitting in front of a computer ALL day? We really need to get out more. The amount of text messages and emails sent in the 3 minutes I looked at the numbers were increasing so quickly, I don't even believe the computer was able to keep up. I wonder how he's keeping track of all this. How does his system know 112 iPads were sold or 57 hours of YouTube videos were uploaded in the 3 minutes I stared at the screen?