Entry written by: Bradley K. Topic: Today's World is changing with Technology, so do we (as future teachers) keep up with it?

Everywhere one goes today one can notice some sort of technology in some sense. For example, look at the work force and one notices computers or some other sort of technological tool is making people becoming unemployed. The following concept I mentioned is called, technological unemployment and within this concept there are positive and negative aspects. The positive aspects are if a company installs a technology assembly line their product with be made more efficient and quicker, but does oneself really want technology to over one’s job? Furthermore, the negative aspects of a company installing the technology are the cost and budget cuts the company has to make in order to keep the company running, so people continue to purchase their product. In general, the same fixation is occurring in today’s classrooms because teachers are essentially replacing themselves or the school district with technology. What does that mean? Well, one should think back to when they were in elementary school and think about how ones teacher has taught them. Technology was not very fundamental back then because teachers taught students to learn, not students teaching teachers by incorporating technology. Nevertheless, by partaking in my Education Technology class I have acquired a lot technology tools like: Wiki’s, Blogs, Social Networks, and individual tools to add excitement to a presentation; however, I do not think about incorporating most of these technology tools in my classroom, but one tool. The one tool I would incorporate in my classroom would be the Wiki.

When one wants to research a topic one reverts to the Internet and use the most popular search engine, Google. While searching a particular topic the first link that appears in Wikipedia and one usually clicks on the link because it provides the answer efficiently and quickly; however, most people would not trust Wikipedia because it is not reliable information because the information is constantly changing. Furthermore, Wikipedia is provided the technology tool Wiki Spaces, so one can acquire the knowledge one is searching for. On the other hand, as a future teacher I could see myself incorporating a Wiki as a teacher website for my parents because I do not believe primary education students should be consumed by technology. By having a Wiki I can upload different subjects areas like: Meet your teacher (personal biography), incorporate a classroom calendar, upload homework, weekly newsletters, permission slips for field trips, and etc.  In particular, I believe having a Wiki page designed for my classroom would be resourceful and very useful. A couple of examples come to mind on how I can use a Wiki: if one of my students is not plan on being absent on a give week day the parent(s) can go on the Wiki can download the homework; within that if my student(s) do not understand what is expected on the homework by providing a brief explanation; lastly, keeping myself and parent(s) organized and informed on what is happening in my classroom.  Even though this tool seems great for me and make use of it, I want to know one’s opinion on technology replacing or overtaking teachers.

On the whole, I have talked about how technology is everywhere and replacing or overtaking employers, and relating it to today’s classrooms with teachers. Conversely, I also spoke about Wiki Spaces, a technological tool, and how I can make use of it in my classroom with examples of how I can use it. Furthermore, I want to ask one question: Does one as future teachers believe technology is changing today’s world and should we keep up with it?