I read Ellen Seiter’s article about computer usage in the classroom and I could not argue with anything the women says I really agree with what she puts forth as a huge gap in education today. The fact that we have a huge population of students who have a vast knowledge they have grown up with that educators do not use is a waste! Most students feel they must, “Power Down” for class. Students are multi lingual in their skills with technology but we insist on English only. If we use that anaology students use different languages at once and we cut out all of them to talk to them in one language. If they are processing on such a higher level how drab must school be??? No wonder most are not engaged! “…far too many school settings, students’ multimedia presentations of very traditional content that is restricted to fit curricular standards (book reports, science projects,autobiographical essays) has substituted for more imaginative and more critical pedagogy”(Seiter, 28). When is education gonna get a clue! Technology cannot be ignored unless we want all classes to go all online to shelf the classroom environment as a bad dinosaur educators need to accept technology as the new classroom. Get on board or go home!
I also believe the glutton of computer waste thrown at students has reached a terrifying high! Our society embraces the buying of computers and software but does not want to get in there and learn. We love to buy but very rarely do we want to actually experience or grow-that terrifies our society. When do we stop buying, get our hands dirty and actually learn what tech can really do for our society? Many are like Professor Seiter who use the computer for basic functions but the university buys new computers for them because the money is there not because they need them.”Yet, the process of education cannot be made more cost effective through technology, and computers cannot teacher-proof the classroom” (Seiter, 29). Schools need to teach effective use of technology and quit all the buying of software. They use the computers like a tech bandaid. Kids are savy to technology because each student has a computer that somehow tech bleeds into the students just because a student spends time on a computer. A computer again is a tool not a instructor it is only as good as how it is used. If schools do not teach how to use the tool effectively technology is not being learned.
I like how you point out that it’s no wonder students are disinterested in school. With the lack of technological incorporation, it makes sense. Additionally,it’s probably not unlikely that the technology that is being used in schools is something they are already familiar with. I think part of this is due to the teachers and the lack of encouragement they receive from the school system to incorporate new technology. If they don’t receive the funding, the opportunity, or the motivation to increase their technological education, how can they do the same for their students? I wonder though, how can instructors incorporate technology into classrooms so that it benefits all students, not just those with access to a home computer, but also those without? With varying levels of technological saviness existing in classrooms, how can teachers reach all students?