In my opinion in two words I can sum up who Scott McLeod is, "Technology Genius". But I can also say that he has done some great things in his life to help other people.
Before I read about Scott McLeod, I read his blog about Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?. I enjoyed reading this blog and the way he worded it. I agreed with most of the stuff he stated. There are a lot of young kids that have cell phones and that have Facebook. I feel as though sometimes that can be unsafe and very distracting. But when you think of technology as being computers and Smartboards then you have a different outlook. They are helping our kids today learn and get ready for what ever lies ahead in their lives. When I was in elementary school and also middle school we did just use pen and paper. It was not always a bad thing, but I personally think that if I had learned from a Smartboard I would have loved it.
Scott McLeod is an Associate Professor of Education Leadership at the University of Kentucky. He is also the Founding Director of Castle. Which stands for UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education. Wow..... That is a mouth full to say. But with the help of his Co-Director Dr. Joan Hughes, they are helping build the teachers and leaders of tomorrow. Castle has partnered up with some major software companies to help schools that are suffering and students as well. All through Dr. McLeod's journey in helping people and creating Castle he has earned many awards. I really enjoyed reading and learning about Dr. McLeod. I hope that one day I can help people just like him.
The iSchool Initiative and ZeitgeistYoungMind's
By: Travis Allen.
I would have to say after watching these two videos, I am blown away at the things the I-touch can do and will possibly be able to do. Travis Allen is a pure genius for coming up with this idea. I would have never thought about that. I loved his question in the video The iSchool Initiative , " Does Technology belong in the Classrooms ? You decide. In some ways it is already happening, but using a I-Touch for most everything would be taking it one step further. Would it help with saving teachers and helping with budgets cuts? I personally don't see how it could. If you see how much a I-touch runs for and see how many students you are having to but them for, I just don't see where the money situation would get any better.
I feel as though in my opinion that having more technology in the classrooms today will be distracting. It would help kids learn more about technology and also help them to learn to be more responsible with checking their homework online. I really think Travis thought of a great idea, but I am just not sure where it would really fit in a classroom.
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir
WOW... I am almost speechless after watching this video. This is purely amazing how Mr. Eric Whitacre got all of there people to sing over there computers and come together. It was 158 people from 12 different countries. They sound like they are all together in the same room. This use of the internet is pure genius. Along with watching that video I also watched the Introduction to the Virtual Choir. In this video he just explained how the virtual Choir got started. I think this amazing. He got everyone to come as one and share one common thing... Singing.
Teaching in The 21st Century
By: Kevin Roberts
Kevin Roberts, as well as everyone else is seeing teaching changing in front of our eyes. I have stated in many of blogs that technology is taking over. If anyone has a question about anything dealing with life or school they just go to google and find it out. The internet and our cell phones contain everything we pretty much need to know in our everyday life. Mr. Roberts is right that all these tools we are using are not for entertainment anymore. They are for us to be engaged in.
I am a Physical Education major and I was thinking if Technology is going to affect my teaching down the road. In some ways I think it will and some ways I don't. There are so many exercise videos and lesson plans on the internet now, that it makes me think that it will affect me as an educator.
Reading Rockets
I found this website interesting and very useful. When I got to the Reading Rockets website I found a powerpoint on some different apps that could be very useful to students. While I was looking through the apps, one app caught my eye. This app is called Speech with Milo: Sequencing. This app deals with sequencing sentences. The child will try to put three parts of a sentence in order. When the child puts the sentence in order, the story will come to life. This app is for Pre-K thru 4th grade.
I believe this app would be great to share in the classroom as well as with your children at home. It is fun and entertaining and makes learning seem fun. This website looks very useful and I can say I will be using this in the future when I start my teaching career.
I agree with you about using paper and pen in school even with today's technology. I also feel that I would have benefited from technology such as the smartboard. However, Travis Allen's iSchool might be taking it a bit to far. I do see how it would improve the costs for schools but I also agree with you and the iTouch is also very costly. Having to buy one for every student can become pricey not to mention if the student looses or breaks theirs. There where a few punctuation errors that I noticed immediately, so watch out for those. Great post though.
ReplyDelete1. You missed the point of Dr. McLeod's post. it is a satirical attack on those parents who fear using the net for themselves and their children. They will fall behind according to Dr. McLeod and his kids will have a great advantage over them.
ReplyDelete2.You wobble on Travis Allen. You try and be on both sides of the question.
3. You appear to understand one of Robert's central arguments, that teaching must change and must incorporate technology as a tool for learning. You appear to be fearful that you may not have a job as a result. Do you think you will not be able to adapt to the new teaching conditions?