Blog Assignment 3

Technology in Special Education
      Kudos to Ms. Cook and her use of different technologies within her special education classroom. Her use of laptops and iPads with her high school students is geared towards the basic and practical application of communication and participation of the entire group. The student who needed assistance during silent reading time is now listening independently with the use of an iPod Touch and audio books. A physically impaired student is able to communicate faster with a laptop and keyboard than with the paper version of a keyboard. The laptop speaks what is typed into it and the previously silent student is communicating with everyone. Students with limited verbal and physical limitations are participating individually and collectively in Ms. Cook's room. Her students are building relationships within the classroom, learning new skills, and are excited about their progress since becoming involved with their tools.
      Within the special ed. classroom are many levels of ability. Each level needs to be engaged, nurtured, and developed. An interesting sight for writing a personal story or reading short stories is Storybird. This sight allows for creation, creativity, peer feedback, illustration and can also be utilized outside of the classroom. Every child has a story just as they have an opinion. The stories created are also published online. This can be an assignment within the classroom as well as a home assignment. Students with poor handwriting will have the opportunity to express themselves, edit, and publish with a legibly finished product. Technology, similar to RedBull, gives you wings. There is no limit to or stopping an active imagination when supplied with the right tools and an enthusiastic educator.

                                                                 
Gary Hayes Social Media Count
      The phrase "if you build it they will come" aptly applies to Gary Hayes social media counter. Even the smallest category: Linkedln increases at a rate of one per second. While the fastest ticker: Youtube videos watched increased by the tens of thousands a second. It's a small world truly is only a ride at Disney because the numbers do not lie here and they are racking up at an amazing rate. The delay time within the communication gap is closing as more and more information is made available on the web. Not only is this a massive amount of instantly available resources it can also a tool for distraction, misinformation, or ruin.
      Seeing information in print does not make it true. School systems are now teaching social responsibility as it pertains to using internet sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia. False information has the ability to do more harm than ever these days simply due to the speed it can travel. A few views of the evening newscasts will attest to this. Guarding your more personal information, activities, and photos is more important than ever. Once information is "outed" it can not be retracted. This will inevitably be a hard lesson for many youth to learn within the next five to ten years when they enter the job market and their past catches up in the form of a job applicant search. The best advice I can give anyone using the web is to not believe everything you read, and always try to portray yourself in the most positive light possible. Look at the counts on YouTube race higher and higher. You do not want to be an object of ridicule around the world.

A Vision of Students Today
     Michael Wesch's video, A Vision of Students Today, points to several issues faced by college students. In this video some of the student's concerns are: college cost and their rising debt, unused but required supplies, impersonal classes, inability to relate to the course material, and time. The students day is filled with many activities. From the video I noticed that many of these activities were merely distractions. Except for classes, eating, and sleeping the students time was used most frequently not with classwork but with music, texting, and online. Multitasking has been mastered.
     The typical student's attention is not given if they are not first engaged mentally. To find what the student needs on a very basic level the school systems need only to observe and take note of what the youth of today is so busy doing. They are engrossed in using multiple forms of technology. Very often they are manipulating several concepts simultaneously. How can the chalkboard even begin to capture this student's attention? Large classes, small desks, and a dry lecture are causing disengagement and lowered class attendance. The burden is on the educator to recapture today's student. Interaction through creative media presentations, personal computer use, even guided class discussion would be good places to start. Educating, at any level, should not be a one way discussion. The lecture showcases the instructors knowledge base at the expense of the student's attention. Technology offers many creative outlets for instructors and students. It is time for modern technology use to replace the chalkboard. Time invested in learning and using the various forms of technology should benefit everyone.
                                                  
     This Penn State auditorium class of Chris Stubbs uses a live Twitter stream at the front of the class, and Google docs to augment the days lesson. Granted the seating is cramped, and the room temperature is uncomfortable but the student is engaged and cooperating in their education. Technology has a lot to offer to educator and student alike.