Week six, topic five. I can not believe how fast this semester is going, we are almost half way through!

This week was all about teaching in the 21st century and how "we need to tear down an education system designed for the 19th century and replace it with one that's suited for the 21st" Rupert Murdoch. I found this quote really relevant to not only my degree obviously as a future teacher, yet also really relevant to task two. I say this because not only does our education system need changing but I believe our social order and abilities do as well.

With this in mind, I found creating a social media platform for people all over the world who share one thing in common really fun if you may. For people all over the world to be able to come together and share there knowledge and love for fitness (my topic) has so many positives, yet something inside me as a human being finds it sort of sad in a way. The idea that people no longer need to physically and actively participate in social interactions and can simply do it all from behind a computer screen upsets me. I am a kinesthetic learner and an extrovert and to think of a classroom full of people creating and learning from behind a screen frightens me, as a teacher and a human! For example, during the lecture we were shown a video by B.F Skinner endorsing the 'teaching machines'...talk about a depressive and dark learning environment! not one child was interacting, asking questions, or receiving verbal feedback/ reassurance, which to me are all key points of learning . There was absolutely  no social element to that class room. In this unit there is a major emphasis on technology being apart of the 21st century and our education systems which I am all for as long as that does not mean eliminating the social element to learning.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Skinner_teaching_machine_01.jpg

Moving on, I have created my social network site for task two using Google + (Plus) as I needed something exactly like Facebook but it could not be Facebook! Google + is much like Facebook in the way it manipulates all sharing functions from links, videos, photos and posts where as other sites generally only have a photo option or posting options, rarely all options in the one site and trust me, I trialed  about every social media site the Internet had... you name a site and I will have an annoying 'welcome' email from them, I guarantee!  Not to mention it was not until this week I realised I did not have to create an actual event and rather just a platform for people to share information with. If it was not for a girl in my tutorial and I exchanging constant text messages and ideas off one another I would probably be on the completely wrong track. They were not lying at the beginning of the semester when they said they want us to learn and not to be taught! I find having a different outlook from my peers helps me see the tasks in a different perspective, all though we are all doing task two on a different interest we have been bouncing ideas and brainstorming during our tutorial time and as I said being a kinesthetic learner this has just been so beneficial for me!

When referring to linking the technologies discussed in this unit with my everyday life and my other units, these past five topics have been so relevant. I find myself saying things in my head such as "well she is breaching netiquette isn't she!" as I read peoples Facebook status' in concern. I find myself editing my behavior online a lot more then I previously did, sort of realising that Facebook is actually not just a big joke and I should remove my year 12 leavers photos...!

If there is one major thing I have learnt this week it is that: technology still scares me!

Blog you soon.