Blog Journal #1

In my opinion, students and teachers are influenced to use technology in  the classroom out of necessity - it would be almost impossible to be a teacher or professor at any level without using email, canvas, blackboard, or at the very least, a cell phone. Using the resources newly available to us via the internet and our institutions or higher learning, we are able to learn more comprehensively and more easily. It would almost be a waste to not use all the technology available to us!

There are 7 standards for students set forth by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE): Empowered learner, digital citizen, knowledge constructor, innovative designer, computational thinker, creative communicator, and global collaborator. There are 7 for teachers as well: Learner, leader, citizen, collaborator, designer, facilitator, and analyst. As a student, I feel like I'm definitely a digital citizen - I'm very cautious about what I put online, and what my online presence is like. If I wouldn't want my mom to read it, I don't put it anywhere it would be affiliated with my name, email, phone number, or a photo of me. It's important to cultivate my online presence carefully, I've seen too many people get in trouble for being careless on the internet. One that's outside of my current skill set is probably "innovative designer" - I know how to work all of the basic things (Microsoft office, google docs, prezi) but I don't know how to use Photoshop, edit video or audio. I've been learning how to build  websites, but I definitely have a lot more ground to cover in terms of editing software.

I like the labels "digital native" for today's youth - I think it captures how comfortable my generation and younger generations feel with technology and the internet. It makes sense, too. We grew up surrounded by rapidly evolving technology, we don't know anything else! It's much harder for older generations, I think. For my parents and grandparents, technology is the opposite of intuitive. I think it has something to do with how fast it changes - it evolves so much that it's hard to keep up with! But I also think it's important for digital natives to help digital immigrants with technology, which is why I try to be patient when my mom asks me to show her how to post a photo to Facebook for the tenth time. I can only assume I'll be the same when I'm 50! I hope I have young people in  my life at that point who are willing to show me the ropes over and over again.