Visual vocab
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Thursday, September 30, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Technocentrism and Design in the Classroom
Imagine that you are sitting in a classroom. The teacher is standing in the front and has been doing nothing but talking for the last 10 minutes. If you are in a High School classroom, you're eyes may begin to wander, looking at the posters on the wall, out the window, or at the girl sitting in front of you twirling her hair. If you're in a college classroom, you may have your laptop out, trying to take notes, but find yourself browsing the web, tweeting, or updating your Facebook status. Now imagine yourself in the same classroom, with the same teacher. This time, however, the teacher is using a PowerPoint for visual aid. She has included cool graphics, music, and external links to fun webpages that relate to the topic. For most students, the urge would be to pay attention to this visually appealing, technologically advanced PowerPoint.
Technocentrism is identified as "an over-identification with computer technology at the expense of human relationships," according to Encyclopedia.com. Unfortunately, with the advancements of technology and the increasing interest in it, human relationships are becoming hindered. People are relying more on technology as a means of communication and forming relationships than actual face-to-face interactions. In the classroom, however, this can be extremely beneficial. While it is important to interact with others in the classroom, it is also important to use this new interest in technology to keep students' interest. When designing a lesson plan and determining what will be the best way to teach your students, the technocentric theory may have the best outcome. In this age of technology there are not many people that cannot relate to technology and there also are not many that are not interested in it or intrigued by it. So a design that takes a technocentric approach will result in a higher student interest.
The greatest drawback to technocentrism, however, is that the technocentric theorists believe that technology is at the center of the universe. While it is important to integrate technology and the ideas of technocentrism into the classroom or any design for that matter, it is important to also keep a check on reality. We wouldn't have gotten to where we are with technology today if it weren't for the minds of humans and the interactions and ideas that were shared between two brilliant minds. So, when you're sitting in that classroom, whether you're the teacher or the student, remember that all of the creativity and good ideas lie within those around you, not in the piece of technology that you are putting to use.
Technocentrism is identified as "an over-identification with computer technology at the expense of human relationships," according to Encyclopedia.com. Unfortunately, with the advancements of technology and the increasing interest in it, human relationships are becoming hindered. People are relying more on technology as a means of communication and forming relationships than actual face-to-face interactions. In the classroom, however, this can be extremely beneficial. While it is important to interact with others in the classroom, it is also important to use this new interest in technology to keep students' interest. When designing a lesson plan and determining what will be the best way to teach your students, the technocentric theory may have the best outcome. In this age of technology there are not many people that cannot relate to technology and there also are not many that are not interested in it or intrigued by it. So a design that takes a technocentric approach will result in a higher student interest.
The greatest drawback to technocentrism, however, is that the technocentric theorists believe that technology is at the center of the universe. While it is important to integrate technology and the ideas of technocentrism into the classroom or any design for that matter, it is important to also keep a check on reality. We wouldn't have gotten to where we are with technology today if it weren't for the minds of humans and the interactions and ideas that were shared between two brilliant minds. So, when you're sitting in that classroom, whether you're the teacher or the student, remember that all of the creativity and good ideas lie within those around you, not in the piece of technology that you are putting to use.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Day 1 of Productions
When I found out that Dr. Martinelli wasn't teaching this course I was relatively disappointed, but he made a great choice with Mary Zedeck. =]
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