Digital+Native

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According to this quiz I am a digital native. However, when I compare myself to people I know I would say I am about average. I know how to use the majority of technology but am not that great at it. When it comes to future students I think we will see a lot more use of technology. I would not be surprised if 5 years from now, even three years from now, the majority of classrooms have access to an Ipad per student. All teachers need to be able to teach without technology. That basic skill needs to be developed. Classes should never be cancelled just because the teacher cannot access the internet. On the latest episode of Bones, the intern tries to cut his work in half by making looking over the bones a digital process instead of doing it by hand. It seems to work great but later on they learn that he missed some major pieces of the puzzle because he did not touch, feel, and examine the bones with his own two eyes. I look at education the same way. I believe important parts of education can be lost when teachers rely solely on technology and do not students "touch, feel, and look" at the information they are learning.

All students have different learning styles and it is unfair for us to think that all can learn through technology and technology alone. There is nothing wrong with a good old fashion dry erase board. I find it interesting that nowadays dry erase boards have become "old fashioned". When I was in school having a white board in your classroom was a big deal! There are a lot of schools out there who do not have access to technology. I believe as an educator it shouldn't matter the amount of technology in my future school. If I have a lot of access or none at all I should be able to educate my students just as well either way. The school may not have access to resources but I do in one way or another. Sure that will mean extra work for me after school hours but I do not believe that my job stops when I walk about the door at the end of the day.

In my dream classroom I would love to have all the bells and whistles. It would be wonderful to have a computer for each student and Ipads. Even though we are considered technology leaders graduating from Dakota State University does not mean that we should be 100% reliant on it. We need to be able to educate in any situation no matter what.