Why BYOD? has such an interesting message. I am not quite sure how I feel about this and am left with a few questions. I understand that it is good for students to be well-versed in technology in this day and age, however I hope programs like BYOD do not affect the personal relationships within a classroom. When I look at a room full of students with laptops in front of their faces I worry about how they are forming relationships and advancing their social skills. What about encyclopedias and libraries? There may be more time allotted for these things than the video let on, I will have to do some more research to find out. However, I do think that the BYOD is getting at something really important here. Why should students be using computers from the early 2000's when they have something much more current and useful in their pocket? Why ban a cell phone that can help students do research? It makes a lot of sense. This ties back to the 18th century classrooms vs. today's classrooms that we talked about earlier in lesson 7. Children were willing and ready to learn in the 18th century because reading, writing and bookwork were what were available to them. Today, we can not teach the same way. The article says, "Today's average college grad spends less than 5,000 hours of their lives reading but over 10,000 playing video games." Why wouldn't we try to utilize this fact instead of downplay it?
Dipping into Social Media in the Classroom is another great resource supporting technology in the classroom, specifically social media. Schools consistently block students from social media sites like twitter and Facebook. But wouldn't it be better if instead of disregarding the sites like they are scholarly poison, schools promoted the idea of using social media sites as educational resources? I think so. Shannon Degan (@shannondegan) tweeted, "2 months on Twitter has allowed me to meet more teachers in my country (85 buildings) than past six years." A great example of where this idea can be implemented is Kenya. Here, hardly anyone has a laptop or computer but 74 out of every 100 Kenyans has a cell phone. It would be great if people in Kenya were encouraged to use social media sites like Facebook and twitter to connect with people all over the world. Amazing things could happen if we simply teach others how to academically utilize our social media resources.
Resources:
Why BYOD?
18th century classrooms vs. today's classrooms
Dipping into Social Media in the Classroom
Innovation in Africa: Upwardly Mobile
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