Technology and Blogging

Critical Warning

I'm not so sure I like the use newer technologies in the classroom or for use in general. Chapter 9 talks about the use of powerpoint slides. A picture or slideshow can be a nice visual tool or aid, but technology can easily become a crutch. Four-function calculators often take the place of actually doing simple arithmetic. Is using only newer technology the lesson? While learning about technology has some uses; the few jobs ever used what was taught in my classes. Different software is often the case.

Not only is technology a crutch a problem, but technology is also a big pain, especially with all the "newer" updates. Windows 7 seems way slower than Windows XP. The slow networks make it hard to use the internet to look up how to disable the new "snap" feature. Such a simple task should not have to take more than one hour . . . :(. Other problems quickly arise too. Uninstalling a trial version of Office 2007 also removed Office 2003 on my machine. Now opening a docx file is hard enough using a doc file, and near impossible with a rich text format (unless you can figure out how it is coded . . .). Why is my own docx file read only when I try to open it to make changes? Why save the file again just to change a punctuation mark? Why is copying and pasting from the internet to word (2010) so easy and posting from word 2010 to this blog so hard? Technology has become both a dependency as a crutch and has become a real pain to use. There is enough vested interest from recycled misinformation in text books, and the educational system really does not need more vested interests from failed newer software from the same corporations.

Despite all this, technology can be a powerful tool if implemented and used properly. The kitty sniper picture on page 30 is hilarious.

Blogging

Blogging is unique. (Chapter 5) Having personally experienced many blogs this semester, blogging seems very useful in teaching writing. Even after posting, modifying and editing blogs is simple. Blogs also help form connections and interactions between people. Even without comments, reading others' blogs is still interesting to see what others wrote and why. I think blogs are both interesting and useful as a writing teacher.