Saturday, September 24, 2011

Blog assignment #5



My position on Dr. McLeod’s post is I agree to disagree. I believe he is right on certain points he makes and I disagree with some in general on the whole spectrum of technology.  I like the arguments he made about cyber bullying, porn, and other harmful websites. In all reality, everything you do can on the web there can be a risk involved. On the other hand, kids can become involved in online chat rooms, most importantly cyber bullying which can play a tremendous part in computers and social networking today.  I do believe technology is part of the future and can help better opportunities. I just don’t like the thought of solely relying on technology and it failing us in the problems that could occur. I still strongly believe education should be taught by teachers using some of the old ways, as well as incorporating the new technology advancements.

Dr. Scott McLeod- J.D.  Ph. D  is a very well know figure to the technology world today.He is a professor at the University of Kentucky. McLeod has founded a academic technology center. The name of this successful institution is UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership Education. He is the author of The book Did You Know series: Nation’s leading academic experts on technology K-12. Dr. McLeod has received several highly recognized honors: Emerging Leader, and the first untenured teacher to receive the Leader in Distinguished teaching award.McLeod has accomplish great things in the technology world and creating ideas for using technology for educators.




I watched Travis Allen’s videos on iSchool Initiate and Young’s mind entry. I thought they were very interesting videos. He believes the education system is broken. Travis seems to think technology can solve that problem. He develops this program and idea called school which involves the use of the phone, iPod, and iPod to be used in the schools. This invention would take the place of teachers using paper, materials, and spending. His plan is to help eliminate the mass budget cuts, change education and to create interacting between teachers and kids. His video is very clear and he provides apps that are already accessible for school education. Each subject matter provides: a scientific calculator, note taking, recorder, formulas, star walk, U.S. presidents and Constitution and email all provide at the touch of a finger. The amount of money he could save for the students and teachers individually is tremendous.  In his next video, he is in college and still promotes his iSchool program. He and 25 employees travel around the world holding seminars for the iSchool in schools. Many schools have already adapted this program. His motto is “Rethink, Retool, and Rebuild our Education.”

My beliefs on this video is that they are great productive ideas but not realistic. Granted our world today and the future are heavily consumed in technology. Technology is a great component to life and everyone today. We are so dependent on technology being involved in everything we do so why wouldn’t his iSchool be a great program. Yes, the Iphone, Ipod and Ipad provide it all from a radio to homework, but what happens when they crash, break, or no longer work? What would we do? I believe technology is one of the greatest inventions and can help make the future brighter, but education should not completely rely on using it for teaching, or work. There still needs to be the basic everyday papers and books. Education can use a lot of improvements and fixing but technology can’t be the sole solver of this problem.


Jennifer Chamber’s post Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir was great! I was just so surprised to see how a video like that can be created using the internet. The most interesting was to see a choir of 185 people performing through online technology. It’s shocking to me that these people had never met, nor performed together before. For them to put a production together like this was just mind blowing. The reason for that is to see how much technology has developed and become so much more advanced than it was years ago! This video shows a prime example of the advancements that are provided to us today. Each day there is another invention in technology. This production alone shows people what the future may hold. The only downfall was the many buffering I had while loading the video.


Robert thinks teachers are no longer the main source of knowledge but the filter. He thinks teachers need to teach kids the use of technology. Robert believes you need to show them how to use the available resources given to them. He thinks teaching is meaningful, can solve problems, leave long term effects, and leave impressions. Robert believes highly that teaching should be engaging to students not entertaining. I feel this video is right, but then again as I have said above, education should not rely on technology itself. I too believe Robert’s belief in education needs to be engaging not entertaining. I also believe in making it enjoyable and learning the material in a well rounded way too. Technology is the future and we as educators need to be capable of teaching it and teaching it correctly.

5 comments:

  1. I agree with you that there are limits on how effective technology can be in education. Teachers still have a responsibility to educate and teach skills that students can translate to the world when they are one day in charge of their path. What I think alot of people fear are what they don't know. Technology is still a learning process that evolves daily. What teachers are going to have to do is utilize those incredible tools to further reach the "computer generation" on their level. I think one of the failures in education today is trying to teach students ideas that they don't utilize in their own life. Every child in school today has grown up with computers, cell phones, internet, and now ipads and iphones. Lets embrace this and use it to stimulate the minds of today's youth!!

    I completely agree with you that we should do more than entertain students with technology. There is a fine line educators are walking when it comes to this very important point. My suggestion is entertain and educate at the same time. Students are more open to learn when they feel like the teacher is trying to show them new skills and information in a more exciting way. I say use this approach and we can change education for the better. Great post and I like your well thought out arguments for your opinion. We are all going to see things a little different. However, we can all learn from each other as well!!

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  2. Great job, Morgan! You made a lot of good points.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Original comment removed because link did not work. That has been corrected here.

    I think you missed the meaning of Dr. McLeod's post. He was being sarcastic. Look at the closing lines: "...'cause I'm doing all of it with my kids

    can't wait to see who has a leg up in a decade or two

    can you?"

    In other words, keep your kids back. Mine will fly ahead of yours!

    Read I'm Scared That constitutes my comment about your fears which I think are greatly overblown and misplaced.


    In your response to the question Who is Dr. McLeod? you come dangerously close to plagiarizing. You may even have technically committed it. If you copy and paste more than 5 words without acknowledgement, you have technically committed plagiarism. Plagiarism is a very serious offense. You are not the only person who has done this for this assignment. I will attribute it this time to a lack of understanding about how to avoid plagiarism. It is especially important that anyone entering the teaching profession understands what plagiarism is, avoids it in their personal work, and can teach others about it. The copy and paste world in which we now live makes it very easy to do. Careers can easily be ruined through plagiarism. Watch the Class Blog for additional information and assignments.

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  5. Yes Sir,I understand. I was not at all trying or intending to commit plagiarism. I took all you said and went in to revise my post about Dr. Scott McLeod. I will definitely in the future from now on watch out and look for that.

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