Blog # 21

Handheld Learning Conference 2008 introduces Danah Boyd. She speaks about the good and bad about technology in our classrooms. "Education is about teaching young people to think". Speaking about how technology can be an extremely valuable tool into the classrooms. Technology is reality. The main issue is how are these technologies are going to effect the learners. Our generation today has greatly influenced our lives. Being able to represent yourself to your peers on social networks is being able to control your own space. Virtually or in Reality. Young people deal with a lot of situation, which would appear super awkward with a face-to-face conversation. Many kids go online to communicate, since kids are not adults yet they aren't allowed to do much. Being grounded in the 21st century…You have the computer, your television, cell phone, guitar hero. All these things do just inside your room.

Many fear new things and new environments that is what this video is talking about. Teachers and older generations have to deal with new age technology.
There are many aspects of the virtual world, whether it is restrictions parents applied onto your computer, the amount of hours are limited. This video has very valuable information to any kind of teacher wanting to use other means of technology in their classrooms to help teach kids.

Danah speaks about the process of tools; Wikipedia is formed by many people adding on information to information on this website. She used this as an example to explain the perspective of certain aspects or history in the U.S. Wikipedia is an ongoing and ever changing process of information available to everyone.
Learning data such as math problems is that not only does it teach logical structures how the world works it teaches us, or shows us the bigger picture. Having done a field trip to a city park, she was able to see the environment in degrees and angles.
Logical structure is a base on how the world works. Technology is always growing and it sort of updates itself as time passes. Technology is helping to teach our English class how fundamental structures like MySpace and Facebook work. We are beginning to understand the purpose of a social online site and how things have become that much easier and continue to remain so complicated. (As far as Facebook taking away from study time.)

Danah makes so many good points, how technology is a tool in which young people understand the structures around them. And how world literacy help develop critical thinkers, about teaching the fundamentals of the new world. A brilliant video.