Chapter 10 Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts

                The final chapter of blogs, wikis, and podcasts sums up everything that was said throughout the book. I thought the point made on the first page of the chapter about how collaborative technology is being used in the vast majority of jobs so why not expose our students to similar technology? I plan on introducing these different forms of technology to my students so that they are comfortable using it and can figure out how it works. The chapter also talks about the “Big Shifts.” The first shift rang true to some of my experiences in school about how students had limited access to more information about what they were discussing in class. In elementary school if I found something to be interesting and I wanted to read more about it I had to go to the library and look up information in the card catalog. I did not have the time during or after school to tediously go over all the cards that I could dig up related to the information I was looking for. This is an enormously positive change that technology has brought us. Now when I see a topic that interests me I can look it up by simply typing the subject in on Google and have thousands of results at my fingertips in a matter of seconds. The second shift intrigued me as a future educator. The thought of interacting with other figures that children may be studying is just fascinating to me. In my classroom I would love to talk to an author of a book we are reading in my class and let the children ask questions. What an opportunity! Including the third shift in with this idea, having students receive input from other people in the world and not just their teachers would be incredibly valuable. In the past student work has seemed to be for the teacher’s eyes only, but now with the chance of having work put on the internet student’s will likely take more pride in their work. Big Shift number 6 brings up the point about reading on the internet. The author points out the fact that readers are unable to assume that all the information they are receiving is correct. I am unsure if this is a positive or negative.  Should students have to wonder whether the information they are reading is correct? The eighth Big Shift is a bit controversial for me. It involves the forms that writing can take. I agree that writing is now able to take different forms, but in my classroom I will include some of those new forms along with “old-fashion” writing skills. Writing is essential to a student’s future! Even if a student is using audio and video to write, the basic skills are still necessary.

                Near the end of the chapter it is mentioned that educators need to become skilled with these tools if they are requiring their students to use them. I know that when including different forms of technology in my classroom I would master the tool before introducing it to my students so that I would be more capable of dealing with any issues that may arise. It goes back to the saying “practice what you preach.”