"Digital Divide"---Does it divide us from our students?
More and more new technologies are available in market. Compare to 40-50 years ago, when telephone and television were the only few luxuary items we had, students and teachers were almost on the same side of line. Later, we had walkman, mobile phones, game players, we were still not that apart. Now portable DVD players, iPod, MP3 players, email, blogs, podcasting.... , the majority of educators are not that "equipped" compare to our students in classroom. Students tend to know more and more about these newbies while some of us are still afraid of, or not willing to use email. Just a few days ago, I found out that some of my students are already blogging online for quite a while. I often consider myself as technology savy. Now I just realized that I don't know much about blogging. Are we divided more from our students? How can we bridge the gap? A dream? No child left behind---Maybe we really need to shout out: NO TEACHER LEFT BEHIND!
posted by Henry Ruan | 6:39 PM
8 Comments:
Hi Henry, nice to see your blog...something I know very little about so I fit one of those teachers whose students are further along. So we'll learn from them...further evidence that technology is not being used by the teachers: I am working out of Lehman College this summer, both as an adjunct and a Fellow Advisor. Part of what I do is look at the fellows teaching. Not one has used technology all summer. The course curriculum does mention the use of technology but does not teach its use. I gave a goal directed workshop on line and some of those that attended were self proclaimed "computer illiterate"...I have reviewed many lesson plans..not one has shown technology in the classroom..save an overhead. Some of the schools I visited had decent stuff...never saw it in use. Sad huh...not within the teacher paradigm..how do we change. Like your picture with the background.
Lynn: It is so nice to read your response. I appreciate your comments. It is huge task. But first of all, not many people realize the seriousness of this problem as you stated. It is not hard to see that students possess more and more newbies as their physical extensions. Their dialogues sometimes make us feel more and more alienated. How can we approach them and let them feel that we are not that far apart? Plus the cycle for the new products becomes shorter and shorter. How can we keep up with them? Maybe it is an impossible task. One thing I am sure that if we can make our school culture closer to their home culture, our teaching can be more meaningful to them. Of course, some would say that our job is to change their culture to fit "ours?". This can only be a dream.
Thank you for sharing your blog with us. I opened an account about 10 months ago, wrote for the first time last month. It ain't easy. I kept journals for many years, but blogging is so... "not private," so exposed. I feel the need to censor what I write. For example, I wouldn't lambaste --- in a moment of frustration as I might in the privacy of a journal.
A musician friend of mine recently joined a small group of musicians. There's a young woman (ie. 20's) in the group and after their first rehearsal, she e-mailed the musicians to tell them to read what she wrote about the rehearsal on her blog. Basically, she was quoting what everyone had said. It's a strange feeling that what was part of getting to know one another better later became published for anyone to read.
Finally, you're right. As educators, we need to keep up with the technology. Some of it takes time, and acculturation, such as blogging, and some of it takes money...
Yes, that is a problem, but not such a difficult problem to deal with like you think.The technology develops fast,but when it develops to extent, it will stop for a while.So you have time to catch up.The young don't know about those first, but they study those, then they get those. If you study, you can get too.Not every young man use technology, you are know more than them, you are not behind all the young.And don't need to get everything that the students have because some things are designed for young specially. Students have more time and chances to touch technology, so they are in front.
Actions speak louder than words.If you never do, you never catch up.Come on!Don't be afriad, don't need to be not apart, but try to make it less and less apart.
Thanks Cherry. I like your comment. I don't think that most of us can catch up with young people because of the physical and mental limitation of age. The thing we can try as educators is to use whatever technology we know of in our teaching by which, we may come closer to them. At least this is what I am trying in my teaching.
There must be gengeration gap, but don't worry,come on, don't give up.I believe you can do it.
It is my general belief that the attitude of open-mindedness toward new development could reap positive effects when conscience choice over a sea of oprtions is not to be compromised. This is espceially true in terms of the expolosion in the use of modern technology. With its ample technical means and devices flooding into many aspects of our daily life in the last decade and over, technology seems to be more beneficial than invasive granting adequate prescriptions given.
Introspectively, to breakdown the total of technology and technological applications, it is not hard to see that the comprehensive sum of them are a fusion of various subjects in aggregate. It is part of an evolution residually derives through the timeline from the accumulated knowledge taught and practiced. An intelligent and proper incorperation of such "joy" of modernity used as extra teaching aids has, therefore been a further manifestation of the potentiality and significance through learning and education. Fair grasp of its utility on hehave of us in the educational front could not only heighten the satisfaction towards teaching and learing, but also provide adequate and sensible guildence to students to better understand the power of knowledge to an extent without violating the order of an equilibrium, i.e. the traditional consolidation of learning with emphysis on memory and hands-on practice for fundamental skills mastery and eventual attainment of generative abilities visa vis the extreme acquisition of technical accessories and extensions in classroom teaching.
As for the quick shifts of new technical products (as Henry mentioned which I intend to agree), I perceive the phenominon as two-folds. "Short cycle" may be a strategic economic stimulant which, however, pacifies the vacuums of our youth outside classroom for "fashion" and freshness as status quo, if such being somehow denoted, is might be ideal that joint efforts of communication among students, teachers, parents and communities together to prosecute the "curbing' or the making best use of it to enrich the colorfulness in the growth of our youth. If we are too eager to either antagonize or homogenize the life of our students, we ourselves may be making "mistakes of being immaturally anti-social ourselves" in this land of cultural diversities. The light behind the clouds is that many new technology dose arrive with features having smartly made our life, from learnign to work, more and more convenient without having to regress our abilities.
We must teach by doing. It is a powerful example to students to see us constantly learning and developing. The course I taught this summer had nothing to do with technology, but I used technology every day in the classroom to enhance the learning experience. With judicious use of educational technology, we may never have to hear the word "boring" again.
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