3rd Post - Assigned Videos and Posts

Don’t Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please? By Scott McLeod

Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Educational Administration at Iowa State University (where my dad went) and the Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE). He also blogs, creates videos to make people think and question, and is a self-defined “agitator”. I think we would get along well.

In this post on his blog “Dangerously Irrelevant”, he has written a poem about teaching children to use technology. It is a great post because it makes you think he is against teaching technology as you start to read it and I was thinking, “Is this guy crazy?” But, in the end you realize he is actually pointing out that children who do not learn about technology will not be as successful as those who do learn about technology. I really like the way this post brings up all the reasons people say we should not use technology in schools, such as the fear students will look at pornography, because although it is unfortunate there are so many bad things out there, this is the world we live in and we need to prepare out students to deal with it.

The iSchool Initiative by Travis Allen (5:42)

This high school student from Georgia has come up with a solution to save schools money and increase student and teacher accountability. He believes using the iTouch in schools can revolutionize education. Applications that already exist can be used to replace a lot of school supplies from books and agendas to ink cartridges and maps. It would also save natural resources by having all those supplies available in a handheld, touchscreen device.

I believe it is a good idea, but it is hard for me to imagine. I wonder how often students would loose their iTouch. How many times would the school replace one for a student? I suppose the parents could be charged, but if they are already struggling financially they may not be able to get another one. Also, Mr. Allen points out how the school could limit Internet access to only educational websites, but I have seen how students learn to get around those blocks on school computers so I would imagine they could do so on the iTouch as well. I agree it would be wonderful for students to have access to all those applications at their fingertips. And, I love the idea of saving the environment! Having customizable applications available would be an asset. But, it is still hard for me to imagine. I do think it is probably what will happen in the future.

The Lost Generation (1:44)

Wow! The technique used in this video is brilliant! I wish I were this creative. It starts out reading as if everyone in this generation is selfish and greedy. I kept thinking they must be talking about my generation, not the younger generation. And the statement about environmental destruction becoming “the norm” made me think about the BP oil spill we are currently battling and how there is a real chance it will be the norm in the near future. There are over 3500 more of those oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico that could have an accident at any moment. We are allowing entities focused on profit to put our environment and way of life at risk so we can have all the wonderful things we are used to in our lives. If we keep ignoring our own responsibility in the destruction of the earth and families we will not make any improvements in our situation.

At least the message of the video was hopeful in the end. It was so neat that reading the same words backwards changed the whole meaning of the text. I hope the next generation focuses on taking care of the earth and each other instead of living a life of comfort and ease.

Eric Whitaker’s Virtual Choir (6:20)

This is a very inventive use of the Internet. I am not sure I understand how they did it. How did he find all those people? Did he audition them first? How did they put all the faces together so you could see them? I’m guessing when they were singing they could see the conductor and that is how they perfectly followed the song. It really is amazing what is possible with the use of computers. I wonder if they had to practice a lot first and then recorded it? The singing sounded beautiful and it is a great idea. Jennifer found a really interesting video.