I should start by acknowledging there are people who just plain hate technology, like my mother. She (and I suspect a few other people who lived much of their lives before the techno-boom) hates cell phones and after 15 years, still cannot answer her pay-per-use phone. She despises computers and the Internet is a road she will never travel.
I am also aware that those who were weaned on cell phones and learned to walk holding laptops are totally comfortable with technology and accept its glitches and issues as just slight bumps in the road that are easily fixed.
I, on the other hand, am somewhere in the middle of it all as I grew up before the techno boom but have worked and learned through it. I was initially wary of the Internet and remember clearly being in tears trying to attach a file! Yet now, I have a true love`hate relationship with technology, and I suspect I am not alone!
I absolutely adore the miracle of a book sample appearing in moments on my Kindle and I am still in awe at the miracle of connecting on Blogs. I find the power of Excel spread sheets to be breathtaking and the friendships maintained through Face book miraculous. I admire the potential of technology to not only connect but also to build our lives and spur lifelong learning.
However, there is a dark side to all this technology that appears (for me) when it does not work the way I hope it will work! I spent extra hours yesterday trying to finish a simple Excel spreadsheet because my computer kept phasing out. I thought the heat had gotten to it...so I let it rest...to no avail. Who knows, maybe it had first week back to school syndrome and was just plain tired like the kids and teachers! THEN, I spent MORE hours yesterday and this morning trying to fix glitches in my college's Blackboard and Electronic Reserve files. It is still not fixed so I am emailing files. I love teaching and sharing and growing and learning and communicating through technology........but I do not like to spend so much time fixing techno problems!
Thank you, virtual people in cyberspace, for listening to my rant!
PS THAT IS NOT A REAL PICTURE OF ME....it is a Google image of how I felt!
I, on the other hand, am somewhere in the middle of it all as I grew up before the techno boom but have worked and learned through it. I was initially wary of the Internet and remember clearly being in tears trying to attach a file! Yet now, I have a true love`hate relationship with technology, and I suspect I am not alone!
I absolutely adore the miracle of a book sample appearing in moments on my Kindle and I am still in awe at the miracle of connecting on Blogs. I find the power of Excel spread sheets to be breathtaking and the friendships maintained through Face book miraculous. I admire the potential of technology to not only connect but also to build our lives and spur lifelong learning.
However, there is a dark side to all this technology that appears (for me) when it does not work the way I hope it will work! I spent extra hours yesterday trying to finish a simple Excel spreadsheet because my computer kept phasing out. I thought the heat had gotten to it...so I let it rest...to no avail. Who knows, maybe it had first week back to school syndrome and was just plain tired like the kids and teachers! THEN, I spent MORE hours yesterday and this morning trying to fix glitches in my college's Blackboard and Electronic Reserve files. It is still not fixed so I am emailing files. I love teaching and sharing and growing and learning and communicating through technology........but I do not like to spend so much time fixing techno problems! Thank you, virtual people in cyberspace, for listening to my rant!
PS THAT IS NOT A REAL PICTURE OF ME....it is a Google image of how I felt!
2 comments:
Anita,
I am right here with you on this topic! I feel the same this week-imagine-my class blog on blogger was not blocked the first week. When I went to update it yesterday, the tech message popped up "site blocked, personal blog site". Shelfari, you tube, Skype, any social network at all is BLOCKED! And what is laughable is they Are using all of these to promote the levy they are trying to pass!
I wonder if there is also a "silent" distrust of technology as most social networking is blocked in many districts. It is certainly scary to "put yourself out there" in the public eye; however, those of us in education do it every day....all day long...anyway! Did you try the Edublogs site? I got that to work myself but have not yet used it.
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