Week 2 Blog: Chapter 1 AND musings about class... All in one!

The first chapter of the book, Web2.0 New Tools, New Schools, by Solomon and Schrum is overwhelming in its prophecies of the future.  I remember being a little kid when computers first started making their appearance in the middle class home.. Mind you, they were NOTHING like they are now.. no internet, graphics, etc.  I remember reading all sorts of science fiction about how technology would dehumanize our society.  Even Asimov wrote ages ago about how robots would have humanity and humanity would become more robotic.  It was stuff that made great stories but, really, most of us dismissed the idea.  Now, look at us! Technology has integrated itself in every aspect of our personal and professional lives... Everything has changed since I was a kid. I remember things like records replaced by 8 tracks replaced by cassette tapes replaced by CDs replaced by electronic music storage. I remember regular television replaced by cable TV enhanced by VCRs replaced by DVDs enhanced, once again, by electronic music storage... I remember rotary phones replaced by push button phones replaced by cell phones replaced by iphones and the like which are connected to everything from radio to the WWW. I am reading and annotating my book for this class electronically. Even the face of simple things like cooking for a family have been altered by the advent of the microwave. (I still remember when we purchased our first microwave and sat around it as though watching TV observing that first, terrible tasting, roast beef cook!)  The world is changing at an incredible pace and what was once science fiction or the musings of a few techno geeks has become who and what we are.  Technology has entered every aspect of our lives and the advent of the internet, itself has changed and is changing the world as we know it.

I am thinking specifically about recent world events in Egypt and Libya (among others). People who once waited in silence for verbal or written cues (both of which are dangerous to deliver and receive) now have multiple and virtually anonymous ways of uniting and revolutionizing themselves in the face of an oppressive government. Remember that, in Egypt... one of the first things the government did was to shut down access to the web. But the people found a way to do it anyway because it is just too big for the government to control.  These people have a chance of creating change and this is possible in many ways because of technology.

While all this change is a good thing in many ways, it also has its drawbacks.  The dehumanization of the workplace concerns me very much... not only are we are in competition with other countries but now, through human workforce being eliminated, we are creating a very efficient yet financially challenged society. It seems we are sort of returning financial viability and power to the elite. There just isn't room for the general population to find meaningful work. But I wonder, aren't companies sort of shooting themselves in the foot through all that streamlining? I mean, after all, we are taking jobs away from people who will no longer have an income to spend on goods that the company is in business to provide, thereby putting that company out of business.

So is this technology and all this communication/streamlining good or bad? I keep wondering about what is going to happen as technology keeps taking over everything. Will I have a job in the future?  I am a teacher... I always took my job for granted but I was listening to NPR the other day and heard about South Korean children who were learning English from a robot.  Here is the link to the program: Robots Teach English to Young South Koreans 


As I listened to this program, I realized that, while teachers probably wouldn't become obsolete, the profession is definitely changing dramatically.  All the stuff going on with public employee salaries being too costly for the average tax payer..  Why pay a teacher 35-45,000 a year when you can get a robot to do the trick OR... why have school at all?  I have a friend who works full time for VLACS : A NH charter school that is totally online.  Having school from home using all the technology tools.. without the giant overhead of caring for a facility; heating it in the winter, cooling it during the warmer months.. electricity, maintenance and upkeep. You wouldn't need custodians, cafeteria ladies.. teachers...  study hall...  Even building administrators.  It would certainly be much less expensive.  Why bother with the buildings and personnel?  I mean, kids will need social interaction and physical activity but they can get that on their own... those organizations can exist without the day to day process of going to school.

This is a possibility.  Honestly, I don't think anyone knows what is going to happen next, any more than they knew 50 years ago.. 30 years ago... that you would be able to speak online via skype to a person in another country who you might never even meet but who might be your boss.  AND.. that your job might be something that even you hadn't ever heard of.  It is both exciting and scary... 

So, as educators, what do we do with all this information?  How DO we prepare our students for a work force and world which, honestly, they might have a better grip on than us?  I don't know the answers.  I guess that is why I am here.