Anthropological Assessment of Technology

This blog details an my anthropological assessment of technology within the school I'm completing my student teaching at. It gives a summary of the project and includes a detailed report of the technology available at Goldenview Middle School.

During my anthropological assessment of Goldenview Middle School's technology, I found out that I knew less about technology than I originally thought. I guess it's good in the sense that I learned a great deal about the school. I knew this project was going to be a nightmare because I had previously tried to track down the technology coordinator for other purposed before I started this assignment. I realized that technology coordinators at any school or business are probably the most busy out of any employee. Not too mention, their offices are usually very scary (extremely cluttered with foreign objects).

This assignment taught me so much about what resources are available to me as a teacher and what I can now expect from my students. I learned all the policies of the school, which are extremely important. I also found out that I should probably stop looking up inappropriate things on the Internet while I'm using my host teacher's account!! I hope you know I'm only kidding. It hasn't been too long since I've been out of school, so it wasn't surprising to find that all the same policies are still in place. Overall, I have a much better understanding of the resources I can now take advantage of as a teacher.

Click here to view the full details of my assessment of Goldenview.

Listen to the Natives

This blog is a summary of an article, "Listen to the Natives," written by Marc Prensky. A requirement of the class Integration of Tool Software.

Overview

In his article “Listen to the Natives,” Marc Prensky advocates for the increase of technology in American schools, but more appropriately, the increase of knowledge about technology among educators. He claims that educators in America have one foot in the past and one foot in the future, making it hard for them to make the leap into the technological world of the 21st century. Prensky insists that educators must stop trying to use 20th century tools to teach 21st century material. And once they make the shift, Prensky maintains that they will truly be maximizing student learning. In the move to shift educator’s teaching strategies, he claims that one of the most powerful tools offered are the students themselves. Prensky emphasizes throughout the article, the important roles students play in educators transition into teaching with 21st century tools. He offers an ultimatum for educators: Either shifting over to 21st century tools or loose the students’ interest in their own education.


Reference Points

1. Digital native refers to “native speakers of technology, fluent in the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet” (p. 9).
2. Digital Immigrants “refers to those of use who were no born into the digital world” (p. 9)
3. Countries around the world are “already using mobile phones as learning tools” (p. 9).
4. “Faculty or administration meetings can no longer be effective without student representation in equal numbers” (p. 11).
5. “Adaptivity, along with connectivity, is where digital technology will have its greatest impact on education” (p. 11).
6. We need to start teaching our students how to use their 21st century tools before our schools become a place for students to go while their parents are at work.

Reflection

Although Prensky is in fact right about most educators in America being stuck in the 20th century, there is no question that his suggestions are not realistic. It seems like an ideal world to transition into, but it’s a leap that will have to take place very gradually. Prensky makes it sound like this issue is something that can change as soon as educators acknowledge that they need to change and take their first step in changing. However, there are so many hurdles that need to be jumped that Prensky neglected to mention. After all, we are still battling with the use of computers in some public school in America for simple word processing tasks due to conflicts with students’ religious beliefs, not to mention all the budget issues that creep up when we even mention to word technology. Prensky is absolutely right when he talks about using 21st century tools to effectively grab the interest of students. However, in order to grad the attention of educators and administrators, a plan of action needs to be organized and laid out or else the goal will seem too far-fetched with the resources we have available to us now. Educators and administrators need realistic goals with realistic time frames in order to effectively take advantage of such a possibility.

Futuring

This blog presents my thoughts on how I would assess three videos: Fox, School Train, and EPIC 2015 which were all created by different people. It was part of the requirements of the class Integration of Tool Software.

Fox and School Train

In terms of my technology background and my capabilities of creating such videos at this point in my life, both videos were wonderful. School Train was far more impressive and attention-grabbing. Having no experience with making videos, I would assume that it took a lot of time to put such a video together. I would want to know how much the students were actually involved, considering that all credit was given to them. I certainly didn't have that type of technology talent when I was in 4th grade.

Fox Becomes a Better Person had a great story behind it. Hannah did an incredible job acting and probably dedicated many hours to creating all the illustrations for the video. It's amazing to see such young students with a strong grasp of technology. I tend to judge someones work on my own abilities to create such things, and both of these receive 5 stars from me.


EPIC 2015

I loved EPIC 2015. Although, I don't think the writers of this video are as far off as 2015. I'm definitely seeing huge technological advancements in the schools since I have been their, which isn't that long ago. However, my own mentor teacher is pretty savy with his tablet PC and is even experimenting with podcasting already. This stuff is already happening. My students are able to go home and upload any current lecture, and they will soon be able to view it through podcasting. It 's scary to think that I will soon be in charge of delivering math lessons through podcasting.