I am afraid of the new development of teaching. As the video Digital Media- New Learners of the 21st Century suggest, by 2020 people who do not know how to use media will be consider as illiterate. They show 5 stories in which they successfully use digital devices and technology gadgets to engage students into learning. Students understand the reasons for learning the lessons provided. A hands on, short-term applicable lesson.
I am going a little bit off from the main subject, because this readings got me thinking about how the development of technology, if not correctly applied in the classroom, are contributing to a less just world. I think this fact should be highlighted in the teaching designs because we should teach, and learn, that technology is a language that about half of the population do not even have access; and it is our duty, to develop and use these technology to facilitate access for it.
It is unstoppable the use of new technologies or games. I taught using some truss-Bridges games, and they worked very well. they provide a more realistic understanding of the behavior of trusses once loaded and in use. I tried a little experiment, and I asked a lot of my uncles and similar aged people to try it. It surprising to see that for them, people who use their phone regularly and somehow hace some education, these games were not very intuitive to be played (as opposed to the students in my classroom). If this happens with well-educated adults, we can imagine how the impacts scales when it comes to the more vulnerables of our societies.
I want to point out a fact that really concerns me about using digital devices with internet access for educational purposes. Do you know that older children and adolescents consume more than 7.5 hours of media each day (for leisure and educational purposes)? However, the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 2 hours per day!
My concern relies on the fact that devices with internet access are susceptible to cookies therefore advertisements and content that sometimes are out of our control. As a nutritionist I can firmly state that consistent evidence states that the most frequently marketed foods and beverages are higher in added fats and sugars, and Americans already eat and drink too much foods an beverages. To be accurate 87% of the food and beverage ads seen by children falls into this category, which contributes to high energy diets, consequently to overweight and obesity risk.
very good point…education could end up increasing the time kids and young adults spend with their phones and reducing the human interaction, that face to face contact…I want progress but that personal interaction should not be lost
In respect to the adults not being that much favorable to the game, I think is directly related with a pre-conceived way of doing things and changing that mindset can be very hard….Considering the big picture, I have the same concerns that you have, if not use properly we can create a bigger gap in society, rather than reduce it
Thank you for your post! I really appreciate that you are considering a wide range of impacts that technology can have on individuals and larger communities. This reminds me of a blog post that I read last week by Emma (http://o-culus.com/2017/09/03/gedi_post_1/). In this post, Emma talked about the need for people to understand not only the nuts and bolts of technology but societal, economic, and other impacts as well.
Thank you for this! While we’re raising concerns, I’ll note another one here, and that’s the ways that tech policies and practices in schools reinforce social divides: http://teachinginhighered.com/podcast/digital-redlining-privacy/
I LOVE that you posted a link to a podcast. Listening to podcasts is one of my favorite ways to learn about new things because I can do it while doing other things, like laundry, walking to class or counting all of the corn plants in my 4 acre research plots ( really did that one day this summer).