Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Educational Administration Program at Iowa State University. He is also the director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE), the nation's only academic center dedicated to technology needs of school administrators. He blogs regularly. (http://scottmcleod.net/bio/) This was an awesome post. At first I was unsure of what Dr. McLeod was getting at, but it hit me at the end. It was extremely creative. It's true that technology can be harmful in many ways. However, if we were to look at anything else we could say the same about that thing. Everything is potentially harmful in one way or another. If used in the right way, technology is our greatest tool we can acquire and it is up to us as future educators to help enforce this.
2. The iSchool Initiative
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68KgAcx_9jU
I'm going to be honest, when I first started watching this video, I was skeptical and jumped to conclusions. I thought there was no way that would be good for the students or teachers. I am all for technological advances in the school, but when is it too much? Well, the truth is, I never answered that question. Just as quickly as I had jumped to conclusions, my mind was changed. iSchool could be an awesome thing! It could save your school and yourself close to $500 per student! That seems to be reason enough.
Students today rarely touch their textbooks as it is, but how many students reach for their iphones or ipods? Almost all of them! If we put schooling into the iTouch and strictly enforced rules that went along with it, it would yield great results! There would be no more excuses for assignments or lost emails. This piece of technology will go far! I hope to see this in the schools one day!
3. The Lost Generation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA&feature=player_embedded3. The Lost Generation
4. Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir
I got extreme chill bumps watching this video! Wow! These people never met and performed as a choir completely via internet!! Words cannot even describe what I felt when I saw that! It was so awesome and powerful!
5. Teaching in the 21st Century
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmskHM0V2Ig&feature=player_embedded%23
This is an eye-opening video! It is true in a sense that teachers are now only filters for the teaching. I think that this can be an awesome thing. Technology is our most powerful tool. To teach in the 21st century is to teach technology! I think keeping an "old school" way of teaching in the classroom can be important, but my view of that has already changed just from being in this class for a few weeks. I am realizing with each video I watch and with blog post I read from these intellectuals that the age is now that the technology is the teaching and we need to learn to use the tools given to us to teach our students how to "properly use google". We need to take full advantage of the power we have in our hands.
5. Teaching in the 21st Century
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmskHM0V2Ig&feature=player_embedded%23
You were justified in your skepticism. I can't imagine teaching or learning solely with the iSchool initiative, BUT... I think his presentation is a model production of what high school should be about. We should empower our students to produce their ideas, to market them and apply their knowledge, just like Travis did so effectively!
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