It is interesting how the internet came to life in 1989. Not to date myself but that was before I was born. I am not bringing up my age to date people and their age, but to acknowledge how the internet is such a new concept in today’s society.My memory of the internet was playing online video games and watching youtube. Internet and technology really came into my life when I was diagnosed with a learning disability. The programs that I was introduced to and the tech used to help my learning really expanded my knowledge on what the internet really can do.We are quick to forget that the internet is full of information and data that we did not have access to before the internet. Now if we are not sure on something, I quote “let me google that.” The sheer presence of the internet has shaped the world we live in now, what does that say about our education system? With the internet giving us information we did not have access to, it is giving educators more recourses to use and co – workers to communicate with. However, the term ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ is still important for us to remember. Beside the fact that I only quote Spiderman, the internet is often misused and not portrayed effectively in the classroom setting. When you listen to Henry Jenkins talk about his view on educational culture, he brings up how university level professors should incorporate the internet in their teaching to further help their students education. This runs very close to me as a student, but also as an educator. Being a math major with a minor in business, there are times when I walk out of a class and confused on a topic discussed. From there I have 3 options, see the prof for help, ask a friend, or google it. Sometimes you cannot see the prof due to their weird office hours or the fact that their way of communication is not clear to you. That’s when you would then go to your friend to learn or google it. How much you wanna bet that your friend googled that point as well? Knowledge is becoming so vast, Jenkins mentioned how profs should use the internet to get content out to students to help them learn as well. The idea of the internet being such an innovative tool, but is not being used to t’s full potential makes me nervous about the growth of our student. Dr. Michele Jacobsen posted about the importance of the digital world and how important it is to use technology provided to use in the society we live in. What the internet has done for this generation is create discussions and questions. We look back at the time before the internet and see that discussion was only in a classroom environment and questions were to be solved through selected books or talking to your peers in your hometown. But now, you can create conversations with people on the other side of the world and can asked the internet any question you want. Teaching is evolving with the advancement of technology, we cannot forget the importance of using it for our students.
https://www.edcan.ca/articles/teaching-in-a-participatory-digital-world/
Coogle!!