“Too Cool for School? No Way!” by Punya Mishra and Matthew Kohler
The authors of this article explain that technologies that children know as technologies in their generation can in fact be taken into the classroom and used as another tool to enhance the classroom’s learning environment. In order to do this the authors say that a certain knowledge must first be obtained about the specific device, they call this knowledge, technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK). Teachers should become familiar with the device and then they must figure out how it can be the most beneficial in the classroom. The authors provide us with three technological tool that can be fixed to work within a classrooms curriculum, these include, microblogging, visual search engines, and music DJ software. Microblogging allows the children and the teacher to communicate about the day’s lessons. The students can reflect and get opinions from others using this tool. Visual search engines work much like google in that students are able to search the web for purposes including research assignments, but it returns the results using visual icons or tag clouds. It gives the student another way to process the information and really speaks to the visual learners out there. The music DJ software can be used in a math setting, breaking up the music into sections and examining the different pieces. The recourses are available to us, it is up to the teacher to put the time in to master them.
What do people’s individual responses to ‘What is technology’ reflect?
I think that people begin to answer this question by looking at their own personal experiences with technology. They often think about the things they commonly use themselves. Their answers can also reflect the generation in which they were born. I think that we saw evidence of this when we posted our response to the weekly question on our class blog. Interesting!
Which one of these three examples given in the reading would I most likely adopt?
I think that I really would like to explore the place that blogs may have in my classroom. It seems like the students would be able to benefit from this by digging deeper and reflecting on the topics we discussed in class. It would encourage a lot of critical thinking and I like that.
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With respect to the nature of technology, many people think that technology is an application of science. The German philosopher, Martin Heidegger, had a different idea. He thought that technology (in his definition) presupposes science. He also said that human beings are in a great danger if we treat technology as merely neutral and apolitical devices.
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