So. To continue. What is it that makes this so much to process? For me, it's actually not the figuring out part that's a struggle. Sometimes it can be frustrating, but I've learned that if I blindly click for long enough, I'll eventually figure things out. (See Richard's most recent post for evidence of this. It may have taken me four or five attempts, but I created a hyperlink with HTML!) Once I DO figure out how to use something, that moment is also always highly satisfying. As you can tell from my parenthetical addition above. My issues start with the other concerns I mentioned. How to use this stuff, and the fact that I know hundreds of other amazing tools are out there. Hundreds of amazing tools that are free, and could probably fix every composing problem I can come up with, not to mention open up many new possibilities that I can't even yet conceive. I really think this is a symptom of another way that the internet changes our cultural understanding of what is achievable, and what is out there. I think that even as little as one hour of "aimless" browsing online should cure any reasonable, critically thinking person of the assumption that knowledge is quantifiable, and finite. How could it be? Through hyperlinks, even if we did figure out every last detail of the universe, there would always be new permutations of connectivity that we hadn't examined yet. Usually, I'm comfortable in this knowledge, even revel in it. But with applications such as the ones we've been playing with, I've started to get more squirmy.
Which of these would best be incorporated into my own classroom? Which of these would best convey what I'm trying to communicate to the world? Really, it's just consumer overload in a new platform. I guess I'll just have to accept the fact that, much as I'll probably never possess the perfect pair of shoes, and probably regularly purchase products that would make me scream if I actually understood the ingredient lists, chances are I'll never be using the perfect method to communicate my message. I'll just have to keep revising...
I loved the idea of clicking around until you figure out what works. This seemed to be a direct tie in to what you later mentioned as consumer overload and not ever knowing what will really work in your classroom. i remember hearing that it takes at least three semesters of trying something to decide if it actually works or not. How does this affect your choice of what to use? will this weed out some technologies that, while they might look interesting, may be too much trouble to potentially waste three or more semesters on?
ReplyDeleteThat is my concern too. I worry about wasting important class time that could otherwise have been teaching time. I am in a ED Literacy class that the teacher is trying new technologies in for our projects. On one hand we are encouraged to let our students see that we are learning to and to have them see the process we are using to figure things our with them, but I sure hope it is worth the cost. So far most of us have been frustrated to see that the teacher can't get it to work either.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping we would have more class time to work on the software together and have it explained. I can learn faster if I watch someone do it first, than sitting here figuring it all out for myself, especially when I am swamped.