Chapter 7: Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology

Chapter 7 can be summarized pretty well by the title: What May Be Lost and What May Be Gained. The chapter focused on what may be lost with the increase of technology and what may be gained. The first part of the chapter focused on what may be lost. One of the main concerns of the pessimists is societal cohesion. Technology, and more specifically, the Internet makes it easy for people with common interests and goals to collaborate. Interests groups are easily formed. Therefore, people are only communicated with people who have similar views which could cause a decline in societal cohesion. Also, with such easy access to diverse groups the idea that public schools must help diverse people has lost some of its force. Personally, I disagree with this statement. I still think public schools are one of the most important places children can be introduced to diversity. Another issue with technology is the "digital divide", society may be, or perhaps already is, divided by those who rely heavily on technology and those who don't. Therefore, people who can't afford such technologies aren't getting an equal opportunity in society. Last, but not least the increase of technology poses the fear that people will become isolated. Almost everything we do can be done on the computer such as shopping, school, games, and even watching tv or reading. This causes the threat that social skills will decline, which will also have an effect on societal cohesion. As a future educator, I dont think technology will ever get to the point where we don't have public schools. I also think it is important to keep some of these fears in mind, such as loss of social skills, so we can ensure that students are gaining these skills at school.

So what can be gained by the increase in technology? The main argument is that learning can become more engaging. After using some technologies, such as scratch and the smart board, I agree with this statement. Technology can also allow for education to be more personalized. This was used in a negative sense above, but it can also be a great thing. If people are learning what they want to learn in a way they want to learn it they are going to be more engaged. Technologies can offer opportunities we've never had before. In the future I hope to use technology to keep students engaged which will allow them to be more motivated to learn. I think the most important thing I thought of while reading this chapter is that education is essential for success. And, in today's society technology has to be incorporated into education. As with any new changes, there are always fears but along with these fears are the opportunities for  great successes.