Reaction to "Creating a New Culture of Teaching and Learning" by Alan November

The article,"Creating a New Culture of Teaching and Learning" by Alan November offers an a-typical perspective towards technology, but November makes many valid points that really resonated with me.  I believe he is absolutely right in those that are children know will know much more about technology than I do now by the time they are in high school, and that the younger children like those in middle and elementary school, will be better with technology than those currently in high school.  I am a part of the generation that was really around for the technology and dot com boom.  However, there are many things I am not comfortable with still, and while I am completely comfortable with simple tasks on my computer I still prefer to take my class notes by hand.  I find that I can organize my thoughts better on paper, and in order for me to really learn something and remember it, I need to write it down, not type it.  I feel less “paper trained” than the author, but I certainly am paper trained in some ways.

When November speaks about students today believing anything because it is on the internet- I had an aha! moment because this is so true, and I find even myself falling into this trap.  I remember that there is a website out there for a fake animal species- The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. It is almost believable, especially thanks to help from technology in the form of photoshop.  I understand the trap that the kid in the article fell into about the Holocaust (not that I would ever believe that it didn’t happen) in the sense that the source was a professor on a university website, and he trusted it.  I did not know about the “link” search engine, or “The Hate Directory” so I certainly learned something new.  When November says, “and the ease of using technology can lull you into not thinking” he is completely right.  There were many times when I did not think and just by reading this article I am now beginning to realize when those times were. I think he makes a very good point that we must teach students about the bad side of technology and how to be aware of their sources- something I am also an offender of as I frequent Wikipedia. (Perfect Example) In my defense, the tree octopus story was also in a Yahoo news article so I guess Wikipedia was valid in this one example. 

A "tree octopus"

November also discusses automating versus informating technology.  There are all of these computers in schools, but they are rarely used for anything remarkable, incredible, or eye opening, which they so easily could be used for.  His makes a point about our use of computers, “We have kids write a five-paragraph essay with a $2,000 pencil in a word processing lab.”  I never thought of it that way but he is so right.  The paper looks pretty and organized, but there has not been any new learning or advancement in education for the student except in terms of typing practice.  Students could have written their essays by hand, just as I write my notes by hand.  The purchasing of technology for schools and its use could certainly use some alterations.  This article made me re-evaluate technology in my life and how I now hope when I teach I will develop ways to use it effectively for students where they actually learn something, not just use it for the sake of using it.  I also think a lesson on the negatives of the internet and a little awareness could be an eye opening experience for many, just as it was for me.