Media/Technology and Students. For better or for worse?
Hello Everyone,
Welcome to Spare me the Details, my name is Serli Amirchian. I am currently a student at CSUN, majoring in English, and applying to be a teacher very soon. The name of the blog comes from my own sayings when I am being told a story. I personally love the suspense but at times the climax of the plot is too good to be held off for too long. If you are seeing this now, I may be your teacher in a few years! As a future teacher in today's society, media and technology play a big role whether it is behind the scenes or in the classroom during learning. I believe that media/technology should be implemented in the classroom to an extent. Being an English student, in high school, I would write essays on paper with pen and annotate books on the book itself. Now as a college student, I write essays on my computer and annotate books, for most of the time, on an iPad. Times have changed and so have the ways of teaching. Media and technology are one of the bases of our society today. If we set a boundary within the classroom when it comes to using it, I believe it would be for the better. The one ineffective use of media technology is when a student wants to use a source from the media/internet but does not have the knowledge of what is considered a reliable source. When using media technology in the classroom, it is important to know what is reliable and what is not. The media is a vast place and community that includes many different opinions, ideas, thoughts, and much more. Overall, I believe that we should use media technology when teaching a class while also educating students on reliable and unreliable sources. This teaching can be beneficial to both personal and educational needs.
Hi Serli,
ReplyDeleteNice to meet you. Congratulations on being close to your teaching application. You learn a lot of beneficial information in the credential program, and student teaching helps you dip your feet in to whats expected. I agree with majority of your response. I also wrote about media literacy and how significant of a difference it makes in the quality, credibility, and validity of a paper. Like you, I hand wrote a lot of my work, and while at times I do miss the connection between my pen and paper, it’s impossible for me to deny the convenience of typing. Plus, my handwriting is chicken scratch. I think way faster than I write, but at least with typing I can keep up. Regardless, I also agree that teacher’s need to do what works for them and their students. I think finding a balance between technology and tradition would be best. I aspire to find that happy medium when the time comes.
Hi Serli! Nice to hear your name again!
ReplyDeleteI am so proud of you for getting where you are right now for your teaching career!! I hope to get there soon, too! I also wanted to say to summarize your post is that I use an iPad for note taking, annotating, and reading textbooks/novels. I feel when technology is being used as a resource, the sky is the limit. However, due to the way things are nowaday's in regards to how parents raise their kids, I'm sure iPads are just a form of entertainments, and kids can't sit and learn without thinking they are going to get a reward after. So, I also agree with making sure that we set boundaries as teachers when it comes to technology. I also wanted to add that I hold pens and paper super hard and I get hand cramps so easily and I press down on paper super hard, to the point where my fingers start to feel like pins and needles....but now I feel like kids don't know that feeling because ALL of their assignments are online.
Hi Serli. It's rather strange sometimes acknowledging the differences in how we use technology now and how it was used just a few years ago. It's hard for me sometimes to explain how extensive the use of technology has become because for starters, the use of laptops isn't new at all. I've had conversations with people who were in college ten years ago and they think it's odd when I try to make a point about technology being used so much now because they insist they used the same amount back then. Then it gets a little difficult to break down the differences because ultimately, we simply type our assignments on computers and submit them online, but when I start to think about the amount of paper I'd use in high school compared to now, it becomes easier to see that things have indeed changed extensively. I think your point about setting boundaries when it comes to the use of technology in the classroom was important because ultimately, not all online based methods of teaching work the same, and I think the main goal people should strive towards achieving is utilizing technology to make things more convenient and less complicated so that the focus of the class remains on the material itself.
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Hi there Serli! It is nice to meet you. First off, I have to say that I really like the title of your blog. It is honestly pretty clever due to its irony, because a blog is probably the last place one would want to spare the details. But I also do agree with your inspiration for the title, sometimes I also just want someone I'm talking to get to the point of what they are trying to say. So yeah, please spare the details. On your thoughts regarding media technology in the classroom, I do agree that we do need to set some boundaries for them, only using them when necessary and useful. Media technology is not only a source of distraction for students but as you’ve said, a poor source of information. Many students use the internet as a source of information and placeholder for teachers, believing that the internet can teach them anything a teacher can, therefore they don't need to pay attention to the teacher. The use of media technology as a source of information for teaching should best be utilized by actual teachers, as they are experts on these topics and know which information is true and which is not good. I wish you best of luck on becoming a teacher, Serli and wish you a good day!
ReplyDeleteHi Serli, nice to meet you! I really love the name of your blog! I also love the suspense when I’m being told a story but I tend to lose interest if they are taking too long to get to the main point. Moving on, I think you made some valuable points in your blog post. Media and technology are both powerful tools for teaching when utilized properly. I really resonated with you when you said “…ineffective use of media technology is when a student wants to use a source from the media/internet but does not have the knowledge of what is considered a reliable source.” This is so true because I think it would be harder for students to filter out reliable sources if we are not taught the correct way to utilize media and technology. Media/technology has become a huge part of our society now that I think it is crucial for educators to incorporate how to utilize these sources to our advantage. All in all, thank you for your valuable thoughts in this post! I think you did a great job and I look forward to reading your posts in the future as well!
ReplyDeleteStella Chun