Random Tech Musings

     As this is my final post for the fall, I thought I would write about some things I have thought about during this semester related to technology and education. I don't know if any of these ideas relate to each other, but I still wanted to get them out there.
     First, I have been thinking about how sometimes outdated technology is more effective than newer technology. In my placement this fall, we have used VHS tapes and laser discs to show videos, and one thing I have noticed about using these types of media have a bit of a nostalgic feel to them. in EDUC 511, we have talked about how students need to learn the discourse of science, and in some sense, I think using older types of media contribute to this. When we pull out a VHS tape, it seems like students sense that they are being brought into the discipline. This isn't some YouTube video anyone can watch, this is a VHS tape that has been around for decades, and there is some history to it. I'm not sure if I'm explaining this the way I want, but this is always what I have felt.
     Second, another thing I have noticed in some other posts by interns and in discussions we have had in classes is that newer technology can be so clunky sometimes. I think this kind of goes back to what we talked about over the summer about using technology just for the sake of using it. If technology is to be used, it should be used in a manner that fits; it can't be forced into a situation that is not conducive to using it. A comment by Claire to one of my other posts shows an example of this. The students at her school have ipads they use for the four years they are at the school. She said that they can be useful for reading things, but for writing, they seem to be a bit clunky. For something like reading, using ipads can be quite useful, but in other situations, like writing, it seems like the ipads are used just because the students have them.
     Finally, I wanted to mention something about the webinars that we did. While I really enjoyed using technology to do this project, I think that using webinars in a classroom would not be a good idea. I found it very difficult to focus on the webinars I participated in, and I don't feel like I got as much out of them as I would have if I was sitting in a classroom watching a presentation. I think that some of the things we did in the webinars was cool, like sharing screens and participating in polls, but with using these tools, I think the focus was on the technique we used rather than what we were actually sharing while using the technique. For instance, my group talked about Duolingo, a tool you can use to learn another language. We used the screen sharing tool to show what the interface of Duolingo looks like, but if you look at the chat box when we started sharing the screen, most of the comments were on how cool this technique was.
     So, this is the final post of the fall, and until next time, have a good rest of the year, and I will continue blogging at some point in the future.