week 7 blog posting

I believe that teachers should use technology in classrooms by all means. However not all students are equipped with the same tools at home as they have at school. For this reason i believe the only way that this really can be solved is for either the teacher to reduce the amount of work handed out or the students should be given more in class time to complete assignments. I don't believe actuall online chats take away from the students learning or communication skills. Though it usually contains sorry typing skills, it is a fast way of communication and can be beneficial if something is needed right at the moment. If anything the chats help students in communicating with classmates when otherwise they may not have much to say or get their message across. Although i am a firm believer in one- on - one conversation and believe interactive classes are better than online classes, asynchronous communication sometimes has its positive attributes. Using the asynchronous method students can communicate from practically any location and it gives the student time to think about their response before making it published. They also can branch off their own thoughts off of information other students post. Thus, expanding their ideas into some they may of previously never had. Podcasting is definantly a new way of sharing info. However i don't necisarily think pod cast helps in the classroom. More often than not if someone is pod casting music its illegal because it is not theirs. If it is i have no problem with it. However often times thes pod castings are already out there you just have to find them. Although it is a great tool such as the mp3 player im not sure it is so beneficial in the classroom. I dont believe video games improve your studying either. It is more of a designing process and not so much memorization as would be done in an ordinary class. While you are studyin certain attributes it all goes to a design and every game is different so i am not sure how you would prepare from one to another. I do agree with the article for the most part. It is more of a way of learning how to desing and create different scenarios. Making video games does expand the mind somewhat because not one game or desing will be exactly the same as the previous or next one. I would have no problem at all with my kids playing video games other than if they were too violent at too early of an age. I happen to believe for some it can be a social tool as far as increase coordination.