Week 1 Class Assignment Reflection

Sometimes I feel like Postman when he stated, “We are swamped by information, have no control over it, and don’t know what to do with it.” It appears to me in the picture of life that technology is controlling us, and not us controlling the technology. Every day there are lots of emails to answer, cell phones that never stop ringing, and floods of Internet information that we have to sort through to discover what is true, and what is not. As a teacher, I have been given a computer program to calculate grades, but I am still keeping a hard copy just in case the system fails me. This results in a feeling that I am doing double work.

            Sometimes technology has taken away the personal interaction between humans. When you can order everything online including groceries you don’t have to have any face to face interaction with anyone. I agree with Postman that the role of a school goes deeper than just teaching academics. It is teaching about relationships and interacting with others.  Technology, no matter how good, cannot take the place of a pat on the shoulder, a warm hug, or the still quiet presents of another human. However, I believe since we are in the Information Age, students must be taught how to handle technology instead of technology handling them.

            I agree with Reigeluth and Joseph when they said we need a technology transformation. Often times as a teacher I have used technology.  I have embedded it into my lessons and counted it as technology use because I don’t know the full potential and how to use it for the greatest benefit.

            Reigeluth and Joseph also suggested moving from a “time-based to an attainment-based system would represent a fundamental transformation of our educational system.” I think attainment-based system would be good accept that it would involve more than a transformation of the education system, but a complete national mind-shift that would have to take place in order for a complete educational system overhaul. They are right that the only way an attainment-based system would work would be to use technology in order for a teacher to be able to manage a classroom of 25 students.  No matter what type of technology, it is only as good as the people creating, programing, and using it.

            Even with the use of technology questions still arise in my mind over using a total attainment-based system. Questions such as: Who decides what is considered mastery? At what point and time is someone moved on if they don’t complete mastery level? Will technology truly make this manageable or a greater nightmare?  In my experience, until I truly understand the technology, it seems to make my life more difficult at first.

            I think there is a fine balance when using technology in education.  It has great power and potential to lift students to a higher-level of thinking and interaction, but if it is not handled correctly, it has a great potential to affect the lives of the students in a negative way such as taking the place of human interaction.