C4Ta Post #1 (Dorothy Burt)

  In Dorothy Burt's blog post,"Longevity of the Essay", she shares a video made by Professor Welby Ings from AUT University. In this video, Professor Ings discusses that technology is not, what many people believe to be, "the death of literature." The world is operating and communicating in a way in which has never been done before. Professor Ings uses the example of academic journals, they are no longer simply being written, but now come with sound bits, helpful links, etc.. The world is changing. Professor Ings states that in fifteen years the written essay will be forever changed. This does not mean that the literature is being dumbed down, but as Professor Ings states, "the written essay is simply limited in its form of communication." Professor Ings accurately says, "School's will have to move beyond limited ideas of reading and writing as literacy."

  I am an Education/ English Major exactly two years away from graduating. By the time I am in the working field, it is most likely that my students will never physically turn in a paper to me, but send it digitally. Earlier in the year I was able to do field work at St. Paul's Episcopal School out of Mobile, Alabama. When sitting in on a 5th grade writing class, I was not only astonished at their use of technology, but also by the fact that they never used actual paper. When I was a high school student, we were to write and print a rough draft, give it to the teacher, and he or she would mark all over it with his or her corrections. Then the students were to make the corrections and once again, print out a final copy. However, at St. Paul's the teachers had a program in which they could access the students paper, digitally make notes and offer corrections, and lastly the the child could make these corrections immediately with the notes and paper right in front of them. I only graduated high school two years ago and technology has already changed the way writing is being done, I can only imagine what an essay in fifteen years time will look like.

&snbsp; As both Professor Ing and Dorothy Burt said, it may be a difficult transition for most educators, to change the way they have been doing something for years. Professor Ing says, "Sometimes moving academic conventions is like trying to move a cemetery." EDM310 has already opened my eyes to a new since and style of education. It is our job as current and future educators to provide our students with the most effective knowledge we can, and this will be done through technology.

  Upon viewing Dorthy Burt's blog two weeks later, she had posted a blog entitled "Sparking Learning". This blog discussed a program taking place in New Zealand known as "Spark." This program visits rural communities across the country and gives them access to different types of technology such as, lap tops, tablets, etc...The program is designed to prepare students with the proper technology for the jobs of tomorrow, and put them on an equal playing field with children who do have access to technology. This is a wonderful idea, not only to introduce children to a new way of learning now, but to also help them later in life. If you would like to learn more about Dorthy Burt's blog you can locate it by clicking here Manaiakalani