The Virtual World Can Be Awfully Lonely
Truthfully? I’m all fired up about all this technology that’s growing out there. I do feel that it’s out there too. Maybe a more accurate description would be that it’s outside of me. In my world, it’s the virtual “other”. But, I’m getting there – slowly, but surely. I’m learning and growing and cautiously experimenting. There are so many things that I haven’t even thought to discover…but I’m willing.
Which brings me to my point: shouldn’t we all be willing? I keep telling my classmates/colleagues/friends/acquaintances…okay, why not just call them students? I keep telling the other students in my life – okay, I neglected to include my professors – because I keep telling them all to check out these new things. Jump on the bandwagon, get with the program. Plug-in. Just slightly. Seriously. I mean really: I’m not addicted to technology – I like to be “unavailable”. But, I’m also intrigued by the possibilities.
Surprisingly, I keep hearing the same old excuses when I ask people if they write a blog, if they have a PLN (personal learning network), if they’re on twitter, etc.:
- I’m too busy
- I’d never get to it
- I’d feel guilty
- It would distract me from my work
- I wouldn’t know what to say anyway
- I’ve never heard of that
- Technology’s not for me
- Why would anyone be interested
- That’s just for kids
Honestly, you’d be surprised by the number of excuses people use not to get involved. They don’t see it as an issue either. More than anything else, I’m disappointed in my professors. They don’t seem to see the need to share with others. The worst part is that the people I most admire seem to be the least involved…yet keep talking about the importance of technology. I doubt they even realize how hypocritical they sound. If nothing else, I could use narratives from them: little nuggets of wisdom (both from the good times and the bad). I think there is the belief that the contents of the blog need to be life shattering, or mind blowing or something. They don’t. They don’t need to be ultra-perfect. Maybe that’s it: may they’re afraid that someone might see that they’re human. That can be a hard thing to get past.
So…if I could have one wish for today, it would be that everyone would realize how much we can positively influence one another virtually and just how important such opportunities really are.
March 4th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Hello~
I am a secondary teacher from Pennsylvania who is attending an accredited on-line masters program. Currently, I am taking a course entitled ‘Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society.’ Among our other technology requirements for the course, we must post on blogs and create our own blog. I decided to post on your blog because I thought the issues you raised are very relevant to my class.
Although I am in the first week of my class, I have already gained exciting new knowledge about learning experiences that teachers can now implement with newer technology. After learning about students who made a class blog for a book that they were reading, and then had the author of the book eventually post on their blog, I began to realize that teachers should learn more about technology, because with it they might be able to create self-actualizing learning experiences for their students that were never before possible. When you asked if we should all be willing to learn more about technology, I am now definitely answering with a resounding “yes!” Having revealed my pro-technology stance, I wish to express my empathy for those who are more hesitant to embrace new technologies. The list of your excuses appears to be very valid ones; however, I have thought of other reasons which may create more understanding about these people.
Perhaps generational gaps are the biggest reasons why some teachers and professors do not wish to embrace certain new technologies. For example, some history teachers and professors see no reason to learn new technology, because for the majority of their careers that technology did not exist, and their teaching was considered adequate with out it. Some history teachers, who do not posses a keen interest in new technology may believe that they have experienced too many changes in technology already, feel that they already know enough technology to suit their purposes and are uninterested or unwilling to learn more. They had started their careers using type-writers, then had to learn DOS, then word processor software that heavily relied on ‘F’ commands, then windows, then the internet, and now they are told that they must learn web 2.0 technology. Some of them feel overwhelmed, and instead of spending what is in their opinion a lot of time learning and interacting with more technology, they could be reading more books about their subject matter and becoming more scholarly.
If one subscribes to Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, the “technology’s not for me” excuse becomes more valid. Not all intelligences excel with technology and computers because of the very nature of how window’s software is set up and how one must navigate the internet. For certain intelligences, the act of using a keyboard and sitting in front of a computer screen for any length of time is very difficult, and may be much better suited for learning the same information in other ways. While these people are capable of learning the new technology, they may never have the desire to use it- and consequently will most likely never excel with it.
Often, new technologies start out as novelties. Once they become popular enough, advocates of that new technology push for everyone to use it, until it eventually that technology becomes mandatory for many jobs- including teaching. In my experience, I have noticed that teachers who are not pro-technology tend to express feelings of resentment, and that they are having new technology ‘rammed down their throats.’ Perhaps the solution to getting these people to “be willing” is to introduce them to the technology in a different way. Rather than telling teachers about new technology, and then requiring them to learn that technology in classes and seminars, perhaps presentations, where the end results of the technology are displayed first, would excite even the most pessimistic teachers into being willing to learn the new technology.
I hope when you have the opportunity, you could give your opinion about my ideas!
Thank you,
Theo
March 8th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Hello~
Today is the last day of my first week of class, and some of my excitement is turning into frustration. Our class is supposed to create our own blogs, and then subscribe to all the other students’ blogs via an RSS feed. I have an account set up with Bloglines, but am evidently having some issues with subscribing. I am not sure what I am doing wrong, and by now, I should have every students’ blog updates coming to me through an RSS feed. Perhaps difficulties like these are why some people are so hesitant to embrace new technologies. Due to problems like these one can feel inferior and very frustrated, and consequently, long for yesteryear. Perhaps the solution for those of us who are not that technologically adept, is to go on school-sponsored technology retreats, where instead of learning new technology part time through an on-line university like I am doing, we can be taken through what we need to learn step-by-step from a professional in person, who works with us in a full-time experience.
Thank you,
Theo