The video Michael Welch posted was entertaining and interesting. I dreaded watching it at first, thinking to myself that this was going to be a boring video repeating the same things the media claims about technology. This video was very entertaining, and brought the audiences attention in with the YouTube clips that he interspersed throughout the video. It definitely kept my attention and focus on the information presented. Though I wish that he would have touched on the different technological mediums, I think the YouTube part was very interesting. Though I really only watch the "typical" funny clips shown on YouTube, it does play a very large role in the lives of our youth. So many people utilize this website to watch a myriad of things. Really, any video you could think to want to watch, is on YouTube. I was shocked to find that so many videos are being uploaded, that they are being uploaded faster that it could be possible to watch them all. With all of this being poured into the web, it is very much a big part of our "media ecology." Throughout my entertainment I still feel the same way about social networking... to me, not much has changed.
I am not big into all the "latest trends" when it comes to internet technology. I rarely used a myspace in high school, and before this class, never used anything but facebook. It annoys and bothers me to watch videos of people just talking, pouring out their souls to God knows who. It makes me super uncomfortable to see people be uncomfortable in their video posts of their lives. To me, it just reinforces the fact that the "self" is very narcissistic. People need to stop posting these ridiculous video posts describing what is going on in their lives, how a workout didn't work for them, how their boyfriend broke up with them, or what class they just hate... NO ONE CARES. While it allows the person to experience things without fear, it is not how the real life is. Many people hide behind their computer screens thinking that they can post what they like, but that is not how the real world is. People need to be able to connect in the real world with people. They need to be able to talk and interact and have human contact. The self needs to be more like the video with the "one world." Not all for one, but one for all. In the words of Bob Marley... "Sayin' One Love, One Heart
Let's get together and feel all right
I'm pleading to mankind (One Love)"
While I believe that using certain sites on the web can be very beneficial to use in the classroom, I do not believe we should focus a major amount of time. It can be very useful to use Ning, Netvibes, and Twitter for a classroom. I think showing some videos on YouTube can add to the learning environment of the classroom. But I feel if we stray too far over this very fine line, that students will lose the real life engagement in the classroom. I think that students are now sitting back and hiding behind their computers, disengaged, and this has to change!
When do we have our students voice their opinions online? It helps loosen them up, that is a certain... but where do we draw the line? When do we lose classroom debate and move to debates on blogs? Are we forgoing too much of the real life interaction? Can too much of a good thing be a bad thing?
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I agree that there needs to be a limit to the use of technology in classrooms, because students will lose that sense of connection with one another. Students are already losing that face to face time with others due to cell phones and the internet so it is a good opportunity for them to speak openly and publicly to one another in class.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand it is important for us to use this technology because students are going to be involving themselves in it either way. It is smart for us as teachers to properly inform students about how to use these tools that we have available.
I think we need to find a happy medium and not let technology completely take over our classrooms!!!
Maybe they could keep the same amount of lively discussion and debate in class, but then after class move their debate/learnings to an internet setting such as youtube. This would preserve intimate, personal discussion while at the same time involving the possible millions of internet people.
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHAHA I love it. You brought up a good point about the actual benefit of having students use videos to voice their opinion idea or not. I think instead of just using video for opinion blogs like you were talking about, we could possibly use them for something like interviews. Remember the whole storytelling idea? Maybe the class could create a collection of student interviews describing a major political event they experienced or etc... thus creating a nice collection of primary sources.
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