nickyannesblog

[nickyannesblog]

Using Technology as a Learning Tool, Not Just the Cool New Thing by “Ben McNeely”

a. No issues arise in establishing the author, date and publisher of this piece.

b. Ben’s grandfather built two computers, he has high-speed Internet access, sends and receives e-mail, burns CDs, and chats online using IM. His grandmother uses technology to check the obituaries daily on the Winston-Salem Journal Web site and does online jigsaw puzzles. Ben’s classmates and himself used technology such as computers as tools to get things done. Mastery of technological skills was a way to show they were advancing further than their classmates. His brother uses WebAssign to complete homework problems for chemistry class. In university, Ben used assessment tools such as WebAssign and WebCT in classes as supplements to lecture and textbook and presently he uses technology to help him with his journalism.

 c. The benefits that Ben describes are: 

They all use computers in their class work and in their hobbies. They use the latest in technology, whether cell phones, computers, PDAs, MP3 players, or digital cameras.

d. The Net geners learn by doing, not by reading the instruction manual or listening to lectures They got bored if not challenged properly, but when challenged, they excel in creative and innovative ways. Whereas the greatest generation figures things out by trial and error. When it comes to computers, they approach things one thing at a time, step by step. 

 e. The Net Generation should learn better through Internet courses because they have been surrounded by computers all their lives and know how to use the technology already, but this isn’t the case. Net Geners like the social interaction that comes with being in class with their peers. While they may use technology in their daily lives, relationships are a driving force in the learning process.

f. Cheating is done by various means such as:

. Faculty members cannot directly supervise students and only the answers are recorded in WebAssign, not how the student came up with them, students often work together on their assignments. But students must submit their own answers.

. In computer engineering, students must write a program and submit it as a part of learning different coding languages. Students often cheat by copying each other’s codes.

. Through plagiarism from readily available online sources.

Cheating with technology occurs because students are not learning the material or is it because their learning and work ethic are so different from their professors that working together to solve a problem is no longer that serious an infraction.

g. Problems associated with the provision of technology in education include:

Funding - Technology is not cheap and a lot of funds would have to be invested to finance such large projects both on a primary and also on a university level.

Access and Skills - Second, students need to be able to use the technology therefore programs should be put in place to teach students such.

Interaction - Technology must be relevant and interactive to the coursework, teachers should use technology to help further apply their courses to help the student to have a greater understanding of the contents thought.

Relevance - Technology must be used for a practical purpose.

Question 2.

No, I would not recommend “Using Technology as a Learning Tool Not Just the Cool New Thing” by Ben McNeely to my peers. The article goes into great debt about The net geners and The greatest generation and some of the problems they faced. It also highlighted some of the struggles faced by the school system and various methods in which are being put in place to solve these problems. Although this is a great article and the author used different case studies and writing techniques to bring across his point, his article was quite long which made it boring to read and most of the information would not be adhered to by my classmates the writer should have utilized his summary writing skills to condense some of the unnecessary information in his piece which would of help capture his audiences attention better.