I read the Alan November article about the coming tech savvy generation. I definitely have a couple harsh comments for his article. I agree with most of his ideas, however.
First, his son should be disappointed in him. I recently saw an ad in a Home Depot flyer for a raised bed garden kit. It was $35. I was intrigued. Before making any purchase, I check the internet for better deals. I then found a website with detailed instructions about how to make a raised bed, of the same dimensions as the kit. For $15 I was able to build a much better raised bed than the kit listed in the ad. If this father wanted to build or buy the best derby car, he should have done a quick check on the internet. Then he would have discovered the best available options. Second, no one stumbles upon articles claiming the Holocaust was fake. You have to be actively searching for that to find. I Googled "Holocaust" and nothing negative or untrue regarding the Holocaust was in the top results. I also find it hard to believe that one of the top institutions of higher learning in the world, Northwestern, would support a hateful article like the one described. Alan November seems like the type of guy that would tell students not to believe anything on Wikipedia because it can be edited by anyone. Most articles on Wikipedia can not be edited by people unless they are registered users who have contributed accurate information on many occasions. All information is hyperlinked to valid sources that support every statement. Anyways, those are my only criticisms of his article. Sorry, Alan.
I believe his idea that technology has been widening the achievement gap. For example, as a substitute teacher I worked in Amity Middle School in Orange, CT and Hamden Middle School. Amity Middle School has students from more affluent families. Both schools have nice, new Mac labs. At Amity, many students have iPads and tablets. I saw students there mixing music with software for DJs, using Photoshop, and navigating their computers effortlessly. At Hamden, almost no students have iPads. In the computer lab, students do very basic tasks, and many need assistance. Alan is 100% correct when he says the tech savviness comes from home. I think introducing kids to technology at school is still essential, especially if and when exposure at home is insufficient.
I hope Alan is wrong about the video in classrooms. That just seems too Big Brother-ish. It would definitely make teachers more accountable, but I think both the students and the teachers enjoy the privacy of no cameras. They could be useful for security reasons, but as a means to observe classroom life, I hope it does not come to fruition.
Your title is awesome; it made me laugh. I agree with you on Wikipedia. I think it is a good site to start research if you have no idea where to go. Plus, it has works cited with links out to other sites, that are credible most of the time. I would never cite Wikipedia as a source; I generally try to find a website, journal article, etc. that has the same general info Wikipedia does so there is no question whether or not my information is legitimate or not. I definitely agree with you about technology and the achievement gap. It's only going to get wider with the onset of more technology in the classroom. I definitely agree with you on the cameras in the classroom. I find it to be severely creepy. It would be like Big Brother is watching. I can see parents, ones who are very involved with their kids, complaining about the teacher and the class. The only good thing I see from them would be that the teacher would be able to self evaluate easily.
ReplyDeleteI can't recall if it stated how old his son was but perhaps he was thinking in terms of how he would have completed this project at the age of his son? Back then, there was no internet so internet and options are not connected, but rather relied on what you had and your imagination.
ReplyDeleteI had just gone to my student teaching placement this morning to pick up a couple textbooks, and that school has 2 computer labs to use in the science department. The computers are old, but what is even more shocking is how old their textbooks are! One textbook they use is from 1993!!! They said it is too costly to replace the books and that their Board of Education does not have the money because of their tight budget. So how far behind is this urban school of 3,000 going to become if places like Amity are ahead on technology? I feel that there is a disconnect in colleges after because those who tend to do better in college, in my opinion, get ahead and are able to accomplish more than those who don't know how to use technologies because of lack of exposure.
I also agree that computers are useful for doing searches for best-priced deals. I use the internet to get good flights, and also to find the cheapest text books instead of the retail ones. There are many "smart uses" for it.
Wow, Terrence, tell us how you really feel. LOL.
ReplyDeleteI see you point about the fact that Alan should have checked the Internet for information about derby cars. For our generation, it seems like such a natural step. Booklist? Check Amazon first. Need a protective cover for our MacBook? Going right to the Apple store is a complete ripoff. But perhaps it's understandable that November didn't go online first.
Similar to what Marta said, he probably remembers having built derby cars as a kid and wanted to recreate that experience with his son and simply didn't think to go online first to find the best designs. When I first started cooking seriously, I didn't go online for recipes, because it simply never occurred to me. Instead, I went through my mom's cookbooks and learned my favorite recipes because of my fond memories of them. It wasn't until later that I started doing Internet searches (FoodWishes is my food GURU) and realized that my mom isn't very good at utilizing seasonings. Not sure if this is a perfect analogy, but it's what I thought of on the fly.