Brain Feast!

“So how do teachers deal more productively with technological literacy? Where do they begin to address the issues identified in the preceding chapters?” Cynthia Selfe asks on page 146 of her 161 page book, Technology and Literacy in the Twenty-First Century: The importance of paying attention. Good question, I respond mentally, and I prepare myself to receive her smart, critically constructed answer… And it never really comes.

While reading this book, I waited, excitedly, for the solution, and waded, less excitedly, through nearly 150 pages of history. While Selfe rambled on and on about the Technology Literacy Challenge and the Clinton Administration, and repeated various statistics that prove that technology has not been the solve-all that it was sold to the American public as, I held on, knowing that at the end of this very dry, very long tunnel, a gloriously descriptive, practical prescription detailing the perfect balance of technology and traditional pedagogies in the classroom (and how to achieve it) awaited me. But alas, it never came. In class, we debated a lot about why Selfe organized this book the way she did and to what result, and many students complained about the history-heavy “preceding chapters”. At about this time, the contrarian inside me awoke and brought with her great clarity. Despite the fact that I shared the painful experience of trudging through the murkiness of Selfe’s first eight chapters with my classmates, I realized almost instantly how much I actually appreciated those chapters and how useful they really were to me. I realized simultaneously that Selfe’s “solution” may have even been too long. After all, it doesn’t take many pages to issue the most profound, effective call of action of all: think.

Personally, I appreciate knowing what I now know about the short history of technology in the United States, and as an academic and future teacher, I recognize that this knowledge is vital. Selfe cannot give the answers; realistically, these answers don't exist. Progress with technology and critical pedagogies requires smart, thoughtful students, and thus, smart, thoughtful educators to guide them. Selfe’s subtitle speaks volumes: progress begins when we start paying attention, when we starting thinking. Selfe’s brain food feast brought us all together, and once the food coma wears off, we have no excuse but to use our knowledge to become more proactive and effective.

Small Typo, Big Payload!

I remembered just a few minutes ago that I have yet to embed a video or picture in one of my blog posts. So, I navigated on over to ol' faithful, YouTube, and typed into the search box with my "nimble fingers" (@658Thomas) the following word: teachnology. I'd like to think that my clever subconscious was doing some thinking for me and blended the words "teach" and "technology" together intentionally and intelligently, but, unfortunately, I think my fingers went momentarily crazy and this hybrid just happened. The results surprised me, though. Below, you'll find a semi-long (sorry!) but amusing and intellectually stimulating contribution to the discussion about technology and composition brought to us by a fellow grad student at Washington State University, mediated through World of Warcraft.



Enjoy!

Technology: Offering convenience (and a convenient excuse)

Selfe's book talks a lot about the technology myth constructed in our culture. Technology spells progress, and progress includes equality. It cannot be denied that computers are fashionable. They are new and fresh and promising. Technology is convenient and potentially revolutionary, but ultimately, it’s a tool, and like all tools, what gets done with it in our hands will define it. Only once we understand the positive and negative consequences of this new technology are we in a position to ascribe a value to it. Leaving our worries and sense of accountability behind us in the computer age is more than silly and irresponsible; it is altogether too easy. We must remember that while technology and intelligence get inextricably linked in our cultural myths, computers do not have a mind. Rather, people program them to regurgitate information and respond to commands. Computers are thus unlikely sources of change. Only the human element can introduce abnormal discourse to the conversation about technology, and only from that abnormal discourse can be hope for change from technology.

iPhone? More like, iSurvive!

So, the credibility of this article has been challenged, and though I do not have an iPhone (am not a fangirl!) and do not believe everything I hear, my gut tells me there is some truth in this story. Anyhow, here's the link for, at the very least, your amusement. And the tourniquet was for his leg; he bandaged his head.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/haiti-survivor-iphone/

Here's another, semi-related story about technology as a survival-in-the-wild tool:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33470581/

And here's a link to another proposed use for cell phones related to survival:

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/148887

Enjoy, and I hope all of you got home without too much inconvenience after today's class. Be safe out there!

y r u talking like dat?

Digital technologies, specifically the internet as a forum for communication, have begun to change the English language in very specific and very unique ways. During our in-class computer activity, Diane noted that these technologies seem to signify the downfall of standard English and the rise of some other, trendier version of it. Another commenter argued that the use of non-standard English on the internet likely resulted through contributions to the conversation by participants who had little or no access to the type of upbringing that would have provided them fluency in Standard English to begin with. While I do think that Standard English gets pushed aside in popular forums of digital communication (texting, Facebook commenting, commenting on YouTube videos, etc.), I don’t think this phenomenon means more than the favoring of non-standard English dialects on the black top at recess or in malls and teen hangouts on weekends. What does seem different, though, is seeing this type of non-standard dialect in print.

I like to think of the digital age as offering to us a type of pidgin language that unites participants from a variety of walks of life. We ought to look at these collisions as positive, potential opportunities for the generation of new ideas and new conversations. I don’t think, however, that Standard English is doomed (or any more doomed than it would be without the internet). A time and place for the use of Standard English still exists, and spell check and access to online dictionaries and thesauri seem to underscore its importance.

Lesson 1: Sometimes things don't work.

I woke up this morning feeling a bit under the weather but nonetheless inspired to get some homework done and start this day/quarter off right. Unfortunately, Blackboard chose to malfunction (yes, chose... it's an autonomous creature), thus thwarting my plan. Foiled again! Technology: 1, Jasmine: Goose egg :o(

Blog, Take 36.

Blogs and I have never had a particularly positive experience together. Perhaps this time will be different, by virtue of requirement. I will, as mandated by Prof. Rhodes, give it more attention, and perhaps it will do nice things for me in return, like make my coffee in the morning.