Week 6 - Podcasts & Learning Communities

This week we explored tools for creating podcasts and discussed ways to build learning communites to facilitate interaction and critical thinking. With all these tools available, what are the implications for changing the way we work, teach and learn? What is preventing us from such changes? If you could wave a magic wand, what would you change and why?


I can't deny that the advances in technology have had an incredible impact on education (and just about every other aspect of our lives too). Technology in the classroom can be wonderful or terrible, depending on how it's used. In the hands of a skilled user, it can add so much more to a lesson and engage students in ways that were not possible even just a few years ago. But in the hands of someone who is unskilled, technology can distract the students and can sometimes even completely disrupt the lesson. In the past, I've compared technology to a sword. If you use it well, you can vanquish your enemies and accomplish your goals. But if you don't know how to use it and don't know when it's appropriate to use it, you're liable to cut off your own foot or foil your own efforts to get things done.

I guess the biggest beef I have with using technology in the classroom is that I think we sometimes get too caught up in trying to do everything the newest way. We don't always stop to think whether the technology will make the lesson better, or if we're just using it for the sake of using it. We get so caught up in adding the (virtual) lipstick that we forget that it's still a pig we're adding the lipstick to. All the technology in the world won't save a badly planned and executed lesson (or help a bad teacher either). And despite what some may say, I can't imagine that technology will ever fully replace a human teacher. At least, I sure hope it won't!!

That said, we have to learn to master the technology before the technology becomes our master. We should never get to the point where we rely on technology to do our jobs for us. This goes back to what I said about great technology can't save a bad lesson. Technology is not going away; it's too much a part of the fabric of our lives. Our students are tech experts almost from the time they learn to walk and talk. Teachers have to be able to not just co-exist with technology. They have to be able to use it (and use it well) if they hope to have any common ground with their students.

I will definitely be using Web 2.0 technologies like blogs, discussion boards, and possibly podcasts in my English classes. I can see a day when students won't be issued textbooks; instead they'll get a Kindle (or something like it) with all their textbooks loaded onto it.

I think the one thing I would change if I had a magic wand would be to take away the fear of technology some people have. I think that's one of the biggest things holding us back from embracing technology more fully. It's a tool--a powerful one, but still just a tool. Nothing more, nothing less.