Week

1: Technology and Culture

Colleen addressed a particular issue that we commonly see in our youth
when they are using their mobile devices and in the presence of otherslack of
verbal communication with the people around them. Her comment about lack of
face-to-face time spawned an interesting discussion that pointed out the blatant
disregard our youth have for socializing in person. George, Chad and John
contributed to this discussion outlining the change in communication skills that our
youth have and how they may hang out physically, but their minds are often
elsewhere. Colleen addressed some issues with youth confidence in carrying on a
synchronous conversation with someone that didnt require a delayed response.
This got me thinking about how we would communicate in person, if we used the
same timing as our text messages or email. This would certainly be a strange and
interesting message to present to the public. Colleen brought up another point
concerning students being so connected to the digital world that they are
disconnected from real world. This statement is very observant and I believe shes
onto something here.
Njoku also brought up an interesting point on our culture that has less
dependence on personal experience. It certainly was interesting to think about how
our digital world reflects and affects our real-world views. What is fact and what is
fiction? Is omission a form of lying? Besides reach, how is this different than people
talking about their lives 50 years ago?
The role of the teacher was also discussed by Chad about going from a sage
on the stage to a guide on the side. Personally, I have never used this term, but I

have often said that I would like to move the focus away from me at the front and
more onto their own personal work. This requires me to be a facilitator and to float
around answering questions much like in Chads shop class. This way, students can
learn at their own pace and I can help them get past the hurdles when they need
help.
Finally, another discussion that caught my attention was that of creativity,
intellectual property, and modifying material to achieve goals. Because information
is so transient now, it is incredibly easy for students to access the work of others
and pass it off as their own. I have run into situations were I have read students
answers on tests and had to say wait a minute because the vocabulary was far
beyond their current level. One quick google search and I can pull up the remainder
of their answer. I have to often speak about plagiarism and claiming someone elses
work as their own. However, in the same breath, when they create presentations
with images from Internet searches, I am not so vocal about the side of plagiarism
(even though Im a photographer).
I look forward to the discussions in week 2 as we move forward in this
course together.