First, I want to explore more on the term digital childhood. I was a bit aware that children were interested in technology. I have nieces and nephews and they all love television. However, the thing that surprised me was that Maloy stated "By 2010, over half of U.S children under age 5 were using some type of electronic learning toy and watching nearly four hours of television every day" (pg.3). It's hard to believe that children, as young as 2 years old, would be able to understand the concept of an electronic device. This makes me realize how smart children really are and it shows how times have indeed changed. My parents are older and did not have the luxury of technology when they were coming up and now my nieces & nephews are teaching them how to browse the web and operate the DVD player.
Second, before reading this section, I personally thought that teachers should not have social media accounts. I felt that allowing students to interact with you outside of the classroom felt a bit too personal and it invades your privacy. However, the text made good points as to how social media (Facebook, Twitter, ect), comes in handy when you're an educator. Not only does it help build your social identity, but it helps you improve on your method of teaching and explore other options on how to engage with a student. Plus, giving the student an opportunity to follow you on social media might have a positive influence on the student and it would reflect in their grades.
Third, I found the strategies for learning new technologies very helpful. I already had plans to learn along with my students but it seems as if it's suggesting we challenge ourselves to explore new material. I like the idea of creating new technology groups, expand technology categories and learning technologies while teaching academic content.
In the end, I feel as if Chapter 1 was a perfect introduction to this course. It's explaining to us how technology is such an important source in education and different ways to use it as a teacher.
RESOURCES: Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc. Queally, J.. (2013, Oct. 28 ). In Digital childhood. Retrieved
Jan. 16, 2015, from
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2013/10/28/screens-screens-screens-worrying-childhood-impact-digital-revolution
R.S Teachers USE Social Media to encourage online learning. Retrieved January 17, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhu4jJ7Y-eU
Awesome first blog post! :) You found three key points and wrote about them in a personal sense in your reflections as well as included a hyperlink and video that enhance your text. Nicely done. :)
Social media is definitely ever-present and it would be hard to avoid totally as a teacher if you were interested in connecting with others. I do think there are important boundaries to be aware of and to follow in using in your role as a teacher with students, but there are definitely no strict rules that can really guide us (though we do have to follow school/district policies, even if they ban social media - which they often do).
Awesome first blog post! :) You found three key points and wrote about them in a personal sense in your reflections as well as included a hyperlink and video that enhance your text. Nicely done. :)
ReplyDeleteSocial media is definitely ever-present and it would be hard to avoid totally as a teacher if you were interested in connecting with others. I do think there are important boundaries to be aware of and to follow in using in your role as a teacher with students, but there are definitely no strict rules that can really guide us (though we do have to follow school/district policies, even if they ban social media - which they often do).