C4T #3 Summary

DML Central Digital Media and Learning: The Power of Participation
DML Central is a website with a compilation of research blogs, websites, publications, and annual conferences. Basically, it is a collaborative blog and collection of free resources that are provided by the digital media and learning research hub. Their purpose is to analyze and interpret the impact of digital media on education, public, and youth. The research is aimed at investigating ways that digital learning is effecting the learning environment, social institutions, and the younger culture.



What Tech Wants a People Agenda
The first blog post that I commented on, was What Tech Wants: A people agenda by Monika Hardy. Monika gave us examples of what technology wants from people. For example, communication, sharing ideas,and being connected locally and globally. Technology is exposing love and sharing ideas because what we have to offer is of extreme value.

We get to decide what tech wants. We are the people after all. We can spend our days debating good vs evil. Or, we can spend our days choosing good. We can start by unpacking a quiet revolution:

Monika also talks about an upcoming TEDx conference featuring Deb Roy, Chamamanda Adiche, and Bunker Roy. Thee three videos with the speakers are included. They are certainly worth the time to watch.


My comment to Monika Hardy
Hi Monika, My name is Stephanie Hogue. I am an Education major at the University of South Alabama, and I am taking a technology course called EDM310. One of our projects is to read and comment on an assigned blog, comment again a week later, and then post a summary on our  class blog. I really like your blog post. I read it several times to get a better understanding. I love that technology fosters communication. I have experienced a new kind of sharing ideas and opinions through my EDM310 class. It has made me do much more self reflection. I have had to dig much deeper into my own personal ideas, thoughts,feelings,and opinions. I have learned so much from others. I have found that people are so much more willing to share ideas than I had originally thought. Creativity is encouraged and embraced. I also watched the videos for the upcoming TEDx. I was impressed by what I learned. Each of the three videos taught me something new. Thanks for sharing!

The Role of Tech vs The Purpose of Education
The role of Tech vs The Purpose of Education, by Lyndsay Grant, is a blog post discussing the frustration about the slow pace of technological change in education. Lyndsay suggest that we should be considering how and why technology is coming to be used or not used in the first place.She also notes, that we need to be supporting and encouraging teachers to use technology more often in a variety of ways. Schools continuously block all types of social media that kids are using at home. Lyndsay also indicated that lack of creative imagination is also to blame for teachers not making use of technological resources. Even with the adoption of interactive whiteboards, it still feels like technology is mostly nonexistent. Many teachers are just using the interactive white boards just as they did the old blackboards. In a nutshell, we need to realize that education is at the heart of this matter, and we need to encourage and support to teachers in order to facilitate change.

My Comment to Lyndsay Grant
Hi Lyndsay, I am an education student at the University of South Alabama. I am taking a technology course called EDM310. I enjoyed reading your post. I agree that the slow pace at which technology is progressing in the classroom can be frustrating. Before I started taking EDM310, I had absolutely no idea how much technology can and is contributing to education. It took this course to convince me of how beneficial technology is to the learning process.I believe teachers need to be convinced that technology makes the learning process much more effective. If teachers are convinced, they may be on board, as well as, leading in technological advances in education. Thanks for sharing!