The Unthinkable About Technology in the Classroom R/T

This Reading and Thinking blog is in response to the reading in CCC from Chapters 2 and  Chapter 5. 

I liked how both chapters took the road never traveled before. They discredited all the excitement about technology as the answer to all education needs in the classroom. This was my first time where I was given both sides to technological advances in the classroom and a chance to make a truly informed decision. 

Chapter 2 really sent me into a frenzy with the monopoly capitalism comparison. My interest for studying instructional strategies with technology is because I too believe students should learn and practice using technology as active participants rather than an audience. 

I was not confused in Chapter 5, but the “maps of computer interface” was very distracting for me. I felt the language may it difficult for me to understand the literary context. This also reveals my level of comfort with “industry terms”.  

Going back to Chapter 2 I would liked to have seen more discussion about literacies, particularly about computer vs technology literacy. So much time was spent in explaining the framework yet when we finally get to  the content I feel cut short. 

I would like to end this post by agreeing with Ottmann, that literacy is a social process. It  is reassuring that simply having technology does not guarantee any additional skill or ability by the type of instruction and use of the technology. I teach in a high school where technology is limited and I feel confident if I can motivate literacy socially I can prepare them without the technology and also to be prepared to embrace these technologies in the future. 

The capitalism conversation and the history of it made me think of the Sound of Music and the beginning of consumerism. 

The disconnect “map of computer interface” created made me feel the way the below picture is depicted.