An Alternative View on Why, When and How Computers Should Be Used in Education

The website entitled “An Alternative View on Why, When and How Computers Should Be Used in Education” was not a website, but a paper posted online. It was written by Valdemar W. Setzer of the department of computer science and the institute of mathematics and statistics at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and by Lowell Monke of Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. The paper was broken down into four main headings, and a variety of sub headings. It outlined the development of the child and teenage mind, and how that development can be affected by computer use. It also detailed the appropriate age to begin using a computer based on development of the mind and ways of thinking both concretely and abstractly.
The paper began with a short introduction followed by the heading “Why Should Computer be Involved in Education?” Under this heading the authors vaguely went over the fact that computers a useful technology when used correctly. Computers have become readily available and should therefore be used to their full advantage when the user is of appropriate age and mental standing. However, the problem arises that not many people understand the inner workings of a computer and why it functions as it does, and this hinders the ability to be able to use the computer to its full advantage. Humans are innately curious creatures, but as technology has advanced and become more complex and difficult to understand we as humans have become apathetic.
The second heading “When is the Appropriate Age to Begin Using a Computer” constitutes the vast majority of the paper. It begins with the subheading “The Characteristics of the Computer” and that section is self explanatory. It goes over programs, hard/soft ware and other characteristics, and very briefly skims the surface of the fact that different brain functions are used when dealing with each different characteristic of the computer. The second subheading is “The Development of Children and Teenagers.” This section outlines the first three stages of life in periods of seven years according to Steiner. The first stage, ages 1-7 is where the child individualizes the will and everything is taught concretely through physical contact. In the second stage, ages 7-14, the child begins to read and everything is to be taught with an aesthetic value, even subjects such as math and science. The third stage, ages 14-21, is where the child begins to think abstractly and phenomena are explained through concepts. Knowing these stages are important for understanding why the authors pick the third stage as ideal for beginning computer use. According to the authors, computers are mathematical machines which require one to have ways of mature and abstract thinking when dealing with said machine. These ways of thinking can only be established during the third stage of life, which is why ages 15-17 are said to be the ideal age to begin computer use. The third subheading details the four ways in which computers are used in education, 1. Computer programming as a developmental or authoring tool, 2. Programmed instruction, 3. Simulating experiments, 4. Productivity tools. Productivity tools being the most important in regards to the use of general software, such as word processors, electronic spreadsheets, graphic, database, and communication systems” and internet researching. The fourth subheading outlines the dangers of computer use. The authors firmly believe that computer use should not begin until high school and that the use of computers at an earlier age can be detrimental to brain development, and can have long lasting ill effects. They say that young computer users are more likely to develop a condition called “obsessive user state” which is a result of needing to have complete dominance over the machine. Also since the computer is made to aid in adult like performances a child using a computer will advance to adult like thinking at too early of an age will which in turn stunt their childlike wonder and imagination as well as their “inner capacity and sense of self reliance.”
The third main heading provides a brief outlined curriculum of how young people should be introduced to computers. The curriculum begins in the tenth grade and finishes in the person’s senior year of high school. The authors discuss activities, tasks, and subject matter that should be taught in each grade which will turn the students into competent computer users at an ample time in life.

I chose to report on the use of computers in education because of my growing hatred for technology. I’ve always believed that although computers can be useful tools for word processing, information research, etc, they also devalue face to face human interaction as well as reformat the brain to process read information in a quick yet slightly inefficient manor. I thought that this website may share in my views, and it did in a way but did so to an extremist extent.

My first impression of the site was that it was very bland. The site is simply black Times New Roman text in paragraph form on a solid white background. At the top of the page the title of the article is centered and bolded followed by the contact information of the two authors centered and set in two text blocks. As I scrolled down I realized that this “web site” is in fact not a website but simply a published paper that has been posted online. There are no links, pictures, sounds, or anything else aesthetically pleasing. It is simply information relayed through the internet in a bland and boring fashion. At first glance I was bored because there is nothing entertaining at all about the web page unless you actually read the information.

Because the page was formatted in such a plain and boring manor I found myself getting bored with the information although the information itself was quite interesting. I longed for some graphics, a font change, clip art, anything at all other than black Times New Roman text, but sadly that’s all I got. The main headings of the text were bold and centered which made it easy for me to scroll up and down and find information from a certain section, but it didn’t make the page any more amusing.

The information on this page seemed well written and sincere; however it was mostly just the opinions of the authors. Setzer, one of two authors constantly referenced himself and his other published works. When I clicked the link to his site the first thing I saw was the banner at the top of the page which read “Let children be childish, don’t allow them access to TV’s, video games, computers and internet.” I immediately thought this man must be some sort of anti-technology fanatic, and it made me dismiss most of what I had previously read in his paper. The other author’s link did not work.

In regards to the course this site reminded me of the articles we have read which discussed the affect of the internet i.e.: “Is Google Making us Stupid?” etc. These articles focused on the affect the internet has on us, instead of the affect of the computer as a whole which was what was discussed on this web page. I also noted how much I hated the boring layout of the page and how it affected my reading. I began to think of all the work that has been put into the creation of font and lettering, and I wished the person who made the web page would have put in slightly more work.

From the title of this page “An Alternative View on Why, When and How Computers Should Be Used in Education” I assumed it would be just that… an alternative view. However, it was an extremist view that offered no alternative and instead stated that computers should not be used in education until high school. The article provided no insight as to the possible good affects of computer use because that would completely defeat the Setzer’s thesis. The paper was one sided and biased making computers out to be corrupt tools that are dangerous and detrimental to the brains of anyone under the age of 15.

I do not recommend anyone visiting this site other than for their own amusement (and it really isn’t that amusing.) The information did not appear to be valid, the layout was incredibly plain and boring, and the site as a whole didn’t have much to offer. Although the information was interesting and the concepts were innovative, the site is probably nothing more than the ravings of an over protective parent (Setzer) that wishes to shelter children from the “dangers” of computer use.

Teh intrnetz makes us stoooopid!

My apologies for missing class today, I'm feeling a bit under the weather :(

There have been quite a few articles I've read lately that discuss intelligence levals and how they are affected by reading. In my last post I disagreed with the argument that in order to read you have to be smart. In this post I will disagree with the argument that the internet is making us stupid.
The fact that people believe the internet is making us stupid is stupidity in and of itself. The internet is simply changing the way we process information. Reading on the internet is different from reading a physical text, or from writing with a pen, but that doesn't mean that it is any less conducive to learning. In fact I think that because of internet reserach and reading people have learned to process information at a much quicker pace because internet information is thrown at you at a much quicker pace. If people are able to process information quicker because of internet reading I don't understand why they can't do the same with books. In the Google article Dr. Bruce Friedman M.D. writes, "I now have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print." He claims that his thinking has taken on a "staccato" quality due to the way he quickly scans short passages online. While this may be true, I think this way of thinking can be developed from reading books as well. Who is to say that this "staccato" thinking is attributed simply to internet reading? Perhaps it came from reading short excerpts from medical articles, small chapters from medical journals, and a number of possible other places. It's unfortunate that Dr. Friedman is no longer able to read War and Peace, but i don't know many people that read that for a leisurly good time anyway.
Like I mentioned earlier the internet is not making us any more or less intelligent, it is simply changing the way we look at written words. Much like the changes brought about from orality to written word, the switch from written word to internet reading is changing the way our brain looks at things. I think that because of internet reading I have become a faster reader and my brain is able to reccognize words more quickly. I can glance at a page of text and find some meaning just by lightly scanning the page because my brain is able to pick up key words so i can understand the main points of the text. I don't always read like this because truthfully that isn't reading, it's skimming, but i think that the fact that my brain has been taught to skim whether it be from internet reading, reading bill boards as a drive down 94, or from reading actual physical texts, is a useful and efficient tool to have.

Reedin iz 4 smrt peoplz

I can no longer open the reading at risk file because my computer has a mind of its own, otherwise I would quote the part that I didn't agree with but instead I'll have to paraphrase from memory. It said something along the lines of technology demands less attention than reading and because of this attention spans are getting shorter and people are becoming more stupid. Also it equated reading with intelligence saying something about reading being a progressive skill dependent on years of practice.
Call me crazy, but I don't think you have to be particularly intelligent or have "years of practice" to be able to read. I have a lot of stupid guy friends that "read" Playboy on a regular basis (because it has such great articles) and although the light reading is accompanied by naked women my friends are reading none the less. These guys are not particularly intelligent, they bought the magazine for the sole purpose of looking at naked women, but they still READ. They did not practice reading for years, in fact they all dropped out of high school, and they are reading something of little to no importance, but the fact of the matter is they are still reading.
I brought this up briefly on the discussion board and I'm going to bring it up here again. If I was interviewed for this survey I would have been one of the adults that don't read because the survey specified reading as a leisurely activity not related to school or work. I can't remember the last time I read a book leisurely. The survey dismissed the millions of college students that read much more than the average person, but because they are reading for a purpose it doesn't count. I don't get it. It seems like the survey was conducted with all these exceptions as to what constitutes reading because the NEA wanted to see a certain result. I feel like someone woke up one day and said I'm going to go out and prove that reading is on the decline, and in order to do this I am going to skew the information and exclude the people that spend the majority of their time reading.... and six years later I'm going to completely change my viewpoint and show that reading is now on the rise. I bet it was my stupid playboy reading friends that conducted this survey.

Adult illiteracy

I found today's class handouts to be very interesting. My group looked at a teaching guide for tutors that work with illiterate adults. Surprisingly adults were taught to write in the exact same way as children (by copying letters until their fingers hurt). However, the approach to teaching adults was quite different. The tutors would have the adult students write in a journal, but the tutors would also keep a journal. Every week the student and the tutor would exchange journals so they could read each others ideas. I believe this was done to set the adult student and the tutor as equals so as not to demean the adult. It was also mentioned that spelling was not corrected in the journals unless the adult wanted to specifically concentrate on spelling. It was surprising to me that spelling was so downplayed because I didn't understand how one could learn to read and write without being taught proper spelling. I then talked to a friend of mine that teaches children how to read and she said that the first aspect she teaches is proper letter formation, followed by conveying ones ideas in a practical way, and proper spelling was taught last, otherwise the children became overwhelmed and irritable. I could imagine adults getting irritable as well since it must be harder to learn writing as an adult than as a child.
As far as Knoblach's definitions of literacy my group's piece highlighted functional literacy and literacy for personal growth. If an adult is illiterate they are most probably trying to learn how to read and write in hopes of better functioning in society ie: writing a grocery list, reading directions, filling out a job application, and other everyday necessities. Literacy for personal growth is also a main factor in why illiterate adults would attempt to learn reading and writing. Perhaps to better themselves in their occupations, to teach their children, or simply to gain a sense of personal satisfaction.
We also tried to look at our article from the point of view of an illiterate adult to see if the tutors teaching methods would actually be helpful in teaching an adult how to read and write. Since we were all taught reading and writing in the standard American way we could not think of any alternatives to teaching adults. We could only think of the way we were taught as children. According to this teaching guide this method is still being used to teach adults, but is done so in such a way that equates them with their teachers so as not to demean them.
I found the article quite interesting and look foward to discussing it in next week's class.

possible but probably not probable papers

I haven't given much thought to the topic of my research paper, nor have I done much research. With that being said I have a few ideas that may work as possible topics....

1. The aesthetics of the book. I would like to focus on what makes a book a book. The binding, the shape, the portability? I'm not sure. Also how does one feel when reading a book as opposed to when reading online text, or any printed text that is not in the form of a book. To me the book as an object is aesthetically pleasing. There is something exquisite about being able to sit down with a cup of coffee and a book (one in each hand) and immerse yourself in a world of literary wonders. A book also holds a concrete physical state, more so than printed pages. For example, two people are in a park, one reading a book, one reading a newspaper, and it suddenly starts to rain. The person with the newspaper is most likely to throw the paper over their head and run to the nearest shelter, only to realize that page after page of text is now unreadable, and black ink is smeared across their face. The book reader can simply tuck their book into a coat pocket, a hand bag, etc, move to a dryer place and continue to enjoy their reading. I like the fact that a book has a cover because not only does it help to make it a 'book' but also it offers protection to the precious words of your favorite story. There are so many aspects of the book compared to every other form of text, and i think it would be interesting to explore these aspects.

2. Computers in the education system. This is actually the topic of m website presentation. If I were to write a paper about it I would look at how computers have affected the learning process. I can recall playing 'educational' computer games as a child in elementary school. My parents never played computer games in school. In fact I don't think they even owned a computer until shortly after I was born. Computers used for education is a fairly new idea, and I would like to explore how it affects people students ie: children, high school students, college students, etc. I personally have attended some classes and realized that I completely forgot to do the assigned reading for that days class. In a matter of seconds I can pull the reading up on my computer, skim it over, and appear not completely ignorant in a class discussion. Although this aides me in appearing more intelligent than I really am, it does not aid in my learning. Had I not had the accessibility of a computer I may have written down what I needed to read and read it ahead of time, instead of skimming it over in class looking for a clever line or topic that i can recite and discuss just for the sake of saying something.

I have a few other ideas, but I think this is enough for now. Any insight/critique would be very helpful.

Hamlet's Tables

I went through an array of opinions throughout the Hamlet's Tables reading. I began by thinking this could be interesting because I had never thought of erasable books as opposed to erasable writing utensils. As I continued to read I found the explanation of the making of the writing tables to be interesting and informative. I read on and eventually became bored because a discussion of every minuscule aspect of writing tables took place. In my state of distraction due to boredom I started to contemplate the permanency of words...
Before writing tables or erasable writing utensils, written words were much more permanent. You could not erase, you could not back space, and scribbling out was probably not an option either. Before written words became temporary, they must have carried a great deal of importance. It made me feel that my use of a computer for writing is trivial at best. Even after this blog is published my words are in no way permanent. I could delete the whole blog, and every idea, every thought, every typed word would be virtually non existent. Rather depressing... but back to the reading.
I originally thought writing tables were probably very well favored by accounts and other such occupations that require mass amounts of writing and calculating with little to no room for error. However there was no mention of accountants using writing tables but rather they were used by merchants to keep track of sales. They were exchanged as gifts by the aristocrats, as is the case with any nouveau and expensive invention. And of course the tables were associated with puritanism as is everything else during the 17'th century.
If nothing else this reading inspired some thought as to how completely trite modern written words have become due to their lack of permanence.

Deibert

There was so much information in the Deibert reading that I felt the need to focus on small and probably insignificant parts. I liked the over all story more than the actual information. It never occur ed to me that the church controlled all written work because clergy members were basically the only people that could read and write. With the church's ability to control all texts it must have been quite easy to exert power over the people. I also found it interesting that writing was said to be the trait of a god. "In the point of view of those who first developed writing-- a capability that 'could not be credited to mere mortals.' " It was once though that the gods invented the alphabet so writing was a form of divine inspiration. This idea as pleasing as it must have sounded at the time, now just seems trite. This goes to show how very few people understood writing. It's surprising to me that writing was revered in this way because in modern times writing has always been merely an everyday part of life. The fact that writing was thought to have medicinal purposes was just absurd. People prone to fevers would wear strips of parchment around their necks with a small prayer written on them. It is not the prayer that I find absurd because many religious people pray for good health, but the idea that writing the prayer and wearing on your body could cure you as if by magic... i don't get it.
I've successfully gotten through about 1/4 of this reading and I've already written a bunch of nonsense and arbitrary ideas. I'll have to finish blogging later because it's time for class!