Seeing Is Believing
Friday morning and the clock on the wall strikes 8:30am…time for our end of the week two-hour Rec 130 class…today’s musical guest is Mr. Bob Segar…Give me That Good Old Rock and Roll…
Once Bob exited the stage we viewed an excellent You Tube video titled Did You Know?…this video caused quite a stir and considerable discussion about technology and how rapidly our world is changing…in fact, the video sidetracked me somewhat from my lesson plan...but this seemed like one of those teaching moments...and students were eager to discuss issues relating to the video…we found ourselves sharing information…
We talked about e-readers…a great concept that may eventually do away with books, newspapers, and magazines…people will simply download reading materials on to a small laptop-like computer for their electronic reading enjoyment. I first learned about this technology from Dr. Stephen Murgatroyd...truth is, I actually eyed his e-reader with great envy. My birthday is fast approaching and I am hoping my new screen saver displaying an e-reader will be noticed by my wife and that she will take the bait and make her not so subtle husband the proud owner of an e-reader.
We also talked about fibre optic technology that has made it possible to develop roll up TV screens…a concept difficult to imagine…sounds like science fiction commented one of my many genius students...indeed, it is difficult to imagine…thankfully; Contact North came to our rescue…
A really neat thing about using Contact North technology is that when you get sidetracked and discussions head in unexpected directions…you can simply locate websites and instantly share information to enhance discussions…we visited sites that showed pictures of e-readers and roll up TV screens…with e-learning there are few limitations…seeing is believing or at least it may help us understand... or at best it may provoke our imaginations to consider what could be...
As a teacher, I acknowledge the potential to over use videos or to be easily distracted by the seductive lure of neat things on the world wide web…however; if thoughtfully chosen...material that is relevant and timely can be a powerful tool in the learning/teaching process.
Next class is Wed April 8.
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