Why should technology be integrated into social studies classrooms? How has the learning from our first session influenced your answer? Please support.
It has been 10 years since I completed my undergraduate work at the University of Florida. During my time here there was not a push like now to have technology in the classrooms. It was becoming the norm for engineering students to be required to have laptops, but that was a far cry from the rest of the campus. Now it is almost mandatory that all students have access to a laptop. I can’t say the change isn’t welcome because in this society of ever growing reliance on the Internet for news and information it is almost a necessity. So, when I discovered that I was going to be taking EME5432, I have to admit that I had preconceptions. I was expecting more instruction on creating lesson plans that would incorporate technology into the classroom as I have encountered in my other classes. I wasn’t overly dismayed by the idea, as I am a huge advocate of technology in all its forms. I’m glad to say that I was pleasantly surprised to find myself in more of a “media literacy” class. I like to consider myself somewhat technology literate, but the video “Did you know, shift happens” had some interesting facts. Examples just to give a few:
If MySpace were a country, it would be the fifth largest country in the world
and
Today, the number of text messages sent and received every day, exceeds the total population of the planet.
Can I say I’m completely surprised? Not really. I saw how quickly Twitter caught. One day I knew nothing about it, a week later it seemed like I was seeing it everywhere. How can we expect students “. . . to disengage from this interpersonal, producer-oriented, digital world” (http://www.socialstudies.org/positions/medialiteracy)? The Kaiser Family Foundation national study on media asserts, “Without question, this generation truly is the media generation devoting more than a quarter of each day to media” (Rideout, Roberts & Foehr, 2005, p. 39). It is imperative that we as secondary education teachers give students the tools they need to navigate the Internet confidently, but while utilizing caution as well. It is important that students realize not all sources of information on the Internet can be trusted. Even Wikipedia should be used with some caution, although it can offer links to excellent, trusted resources. In addition there has been a push by Wikipedia to become more legitimate, it “. . . has decided to screen edits to encyclopedia entries about living people . . .” (http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/08/wikipedia-will-limit-changes-on-articles-about-living-people-ny-times/).
As teachers, how do we go about this task? As November states in Web Literacy for Educators we need to teach students how to interpret URLs and how to break them down. Once we accomplish the hefty task of teaching students how to navigate the Internet, we will have access to one of the largest, if not the largest, information sources on the planet. The question was how can we incorporate technology into the classroom, the answer is how can we not? We would put our students at a grave disadvantage by not availing ourselves of this resource. A plethora of information and programs are available to teachers on the Internet, it is just a matter of utilizing them properly and instructing students likewise. Just a few examples are teachers utilizing programs, such as Google Earth to map the progress of human civilization or the ability to go back in time and explore Rome as it existed in 320 AD (http://www.google.com/educators/p_earth.html) or using Twitter to keep students updated on class activities. Teachers can help give students a louder voice in the World by having them keeping a blog. Not only are you being technologically savvy, but you’re also being green by saving on paper. In addition to programs, teachers and students have access to hundreds of primary sources available on the Internet (i.e. http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/education/index.html or http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/) for document analysis and research purposes.
After all this, I must drop a note of caution. It is important to consider the legal ramifications of having your students participate in some of these activities. Teachers need to ensure that students have the necessary Internet access to keep things fair and even.
And on that note, I’m blogging the updated version of this video for my own bookkeeping purposes:
courtesy of http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/
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