Digital blog A chapter 1

DIGITAL BLOG Chapter 1

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First, It's no surprise to me that children are starting very young to use technology. I have several nieces, nephews and great nieces that are between the ages of 2-4 and they know their way around iPad. Although I don't always agree with my sisters as to how long the children use their iPads, I also know that it puts them at an advantage. Whether we like it or not technology is taking over how people learn and the sooner they get introduced to it the better. I guess my question would be how much is too much?

Second, I have mixed emotions on the iGeneration, on the one side I like it but on the flip side I hate it. Everywhere I look everyone's on some kind of digital device and it makes me wonder. The textbook says  95% of 12-17 year-olds are online and 80% of those adolescents use sites such as Facebook or Twitter.(Lenhart, Madden, Smith, Purcell, Zickuhr, & Rainie, 2011). Is the device more interesting than what's going on in front of you? You will never get that second back and you may have missed something that you will never see again. Or maybe you will, if someone recorded it but the feeling you get at that moment can never be recaptured. Although I love the fact that I can talk to my nephew who's in Hawaii and I can actually see how he's doing through the phone. Yes, there are many interesting things on Facebook, Instagram, and so on but what about running around outside with your brother or sister? That could be very fun as well.

Third, I thought that I had a digital identity by the programs that I work with all day, but I was wrong. Sure I know how to find out a lot of information that pertains to my job but I see there's a lot more out there that I have never even heard of. For example, writing a blog here today. I had heard of blogs but I've never had to see them or even use one. I think now I can add another niche to the programs I know how to use. I'm excited to see how big my "digital identity" can be and what I can with them.

In Conclusion, I'm eager to learn all the new technologies that are out there to be able to incorporate them into the classroom. I grew up with the older generation, where everything had to looked up manually and it was very time consuming. Studying to become a teacher in this era definitely has it's benefits for me. Working at the school, I get to see the two ends of the spectrum. They younger teachers that use nothing but technology and the older ones who are old school and use nothing but the text book. Learning to incorporate the two will be very interesting.

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R, Edwards, S., Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition, Boston, MA; Pearson Education Inc.