Reponse to Chapter 1. Enjoy!

What is your first impression of this textbook based on reading the preface and first chapter?

The author of this particular book has very strong feelings about standardized testing as well as the ways that we should use technology. The author very specifically states that technology should be used not to regurgitate old and tired teaching styles, but rather it should act as an outlet for students to express what they have learned. Students should teach technology.

Jonassen identifies 5 characteristics of meaningful learning. How do these 5 characteristics compare with your own understanding of what meaningful learning is?

I believe that meaningful learning happens wtih collaboration, just as the author suggests. Very rarely in a real world environment are we completely cut off from the help of our peers and colleagues, so it does not make sense that we so ardently enforce independent study in school. Elementary school is seen as the most important socialization environment that children experience, second only to the home. Why should they be forced to constantly work alone when it is proven that play and collaboration make for more meaningful learning? I say "proven" only because for me as well as the people who I have talked to or read about, the most memorable and meaningful learning experiences that happened to me at a young age involved group activities 100 percent of the time. In short, collaboration may be the most important of the characteristics for young children.

As a student you have observed the teaching process for more than 15 years. Some authors refer to this as an apprenticeship of observation. Reflecting back as a K-12 and college student, how have you seen technology used as teaching and learning tool?

Students and teachers celebrated technology when it was able to perpetuate the current lecture-style system. Teachers record their lectures and put it on video for college students, or they make power points that highlight whatever they are lecturing about. The internet has been the most pervasive trend in technology. When I was in high school, it was used as a "resource" and I was able to access sites like wikipedia and essentially copy and paste information into a word document to turn in (reworded and cited, of course). Basically, technology was an asset, but I believe that this book is correct in saying that technology should not be used to carry on the lecturing, test taking, independent learning-focused curriculum that is seen in our schools today.

In your own words, what is the difference between ‘learning from technology’ and ‘learning with technology’?

"Learning from technology" implies that a student is learning from a computer or technology the way that he or she would learn from a teacher; the information is being regurgitated from a different medium. "Learning with technology" refers to a type of learning that can take place when students use technology to demonstrate what they have learned. Students teach the technology, meaning that they come in with knowledge and use technology as a tool to present that knowledge. Students can learn from technology in the sense that it can be used a resource, most specifically the internet. However, it should not replace the teacher as a lecturer.