I am only slightly proficient in several technologies. Apparently I've gone for breadth, and it makes me wonder if depth within technology is really possible. Learning one system well only leads to the end of that system. At the school I work at they went from web pages to moodle, and next year they are introducing edline. What does one do? I find all this very confusing. Also, it's hard to keep up. This is a very steep learning curve. I still can't manage to watch videos on my Firefox browser, and I wonder if that is due to security restrictions made long long ago to avoid pop-ups. True, I don't get pop-ups, but I can't watch videos either.
Friday, the Urban Dictionary word of the day was "digital immigrant." I would argue, based on the definition, that I am not one of these, but maybe I am. I know YouTube. I just don't really have much time to view items on it. (Plus the aforementioned browser issue). The site also makes me nervous as it is a breeding ground for copyright infringement, even by those with the best of intentions. Just check out the "March of the Librarians" or the montages made by Hank and John Green for Brotherhood2.0.
I admit it. I find the world of technology overwhelming. Just when I get used to one element, another tech-door opens. Now I have a new phone that can work as an mp3 player, when all I want is a phone phone since my whole choice of purchase was to replace a phone that was giving me bad reception to the max. Half my calls weren't going through. I have my ipod video for songs and movies. And soon, there will be the iphone. It sure is pretty, but...Does one really need a phone to play music? Of course, the ringtones on this phone are horrible and it makes me wonder if the mp3 option would improve that. All the photos on my old phone did not transfer over with my old phone numbers. Gone is the picture of my grandfather in a pilgrim hat. Nevermind the half-life of these toys, what is the life life? If they can transfer numbers, why not pictures too? Still for all the overlap, I can't help still wanting one of those swank PDAs so I could update my calendar with the swish of a stylus. This tech-desire frightens me.
Maybe the term for me is ludite-in-training. Of course, I'd be lost without my phone, my Mac, my digicam, my regular unlined moleskin...
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4 comments:
You ask some really interesting questions in this post about technology, how to keep up, what to keep up with, and so on. This is something we are going to talk a lot about in this class.
There are some things you can start thinking about: How does technology help students and teachers achieve learning and teaching? What are the tools that will be most useful for that? Do digital natives not feel overwhelmed by the technology because it's always been a part of their lives? What is the role of the library teacher to keep up for her community? Is it possible to know the concepts - say social bookmarking - as opposed to the tools?
OK, that's definitely enough to start.
BTW, I really want an iPhone. Having only one device to carry around is my dream come true.
"Is it possible to know the concepts - say social bookmarking - as opposed to the tools?"
This reminds me of a moment I had this year at work: A student was surfing the interweb, and I noticed that he was looking at a page listing World of Warcraft quests. Students at my school sign an agreement saying they will only use the computers for academic use...so I asked this student, and he said he was looking for information on "American literature references in current society" and he was pretty sure he'd seen a quest there once while playing called "Simplify Simplify" which he thought was pure Thoreau. He just needed more examples so that's what he was looking for. Now, I've been known to play this game, and I offered to him that he check the names of some of the character names (I know there's an orphan named Twain, for example), but he dismissed my suggestion. He kept surfing, with my acceptance of the practice, and I did offer books for him to peruse that would also meet his search needs.
What I'm leading up to is this:
1. if I hadn't played the game, would I have even known what he was looking at?
2. if I hadn't played the game, would I have really known what he was looking for, known it was there, and have been so happy to let him continue, even offering suggestions?
3. even though I did offer suggestions, I didn't actually want to push the assistance and admit to the student I was a player of the game. I played dumb during much of this, letting me tell me what is was all about. (Once I discovered students at my school played the game, I got a lot more hesitant to talk to the massive millions)
4. what is the line between personal technology (especially social forms) and professional technology? In what ways does technology blur this line more than, say, culture in general?
More interesting discussion.
One thing that I thought of immediately is if it's different in a public library vs. a school library in terms of what we tell kids about ourselves. In a public library I might simply have talked about being a player while the student talked about what he was trying to accomplish. In a school library maybe it's more important to keep lives separate. I'm pondering what the answer to this is.
I think the story is great for a couple of reasons. First, you were flexible in terms of student use of WOW. During the last few days of class we'll talk about how game play is much more than passive entertainment. There is a lot of learning going on. You were able to allow the student to use the game as a learning tool.
Also, while you might not have wanted to give the student too much personal information - you as a WOW player - in this case it seems that you helped to facilitate his learning by not uncovering too much of yourself.
In terms of the original question - knowing the tools vs. simply knowing the concepts. You make a really good point. But, at the same time I think that someone who didn't know WOW might have asked the student what he was up to, if he needed help, and perhaps still facilitated learning.
Of course the non-WOW player would have had to be as open as you were to the possibility of learning in the game.
I finally figured out how to watch tv shows on Firefox. It took a long time and a lot of scowling, but it works!
I really like your story about the student, but I think you would have been helpful regardless.
-Stacey
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