So last night I watched "Live Free or Die Hard". Gotta love Bruce Willis.  For those that haven't seen it, the premise is around virtual terrorism.  A fire storm is set out.  The first thing to go is the transportation.  Traffic lights are taken out causing major traffic jams and accidents, planes are grounded, subways are crashing into each other.  The second part is where the financial markets come crashing down and the final stage is to take out all of the utilities.  The country was in chaos!  It was amazing to see how technology was strategically eliminated.

Have we become so ignorant using this technology that we aren't able to cope without it?  What about the new generation that doesn't know that the old technology existed and, if they do, don't know how to use it?  How would they survive? 

I, like many others enjoy the luxury of technology.  I started wondering how I would cope in the similar situation.  What I figured out was that I would be part of the chaos.  Although I would be able to handle things better than some (husband works for Hydro, so we've invested in a back up generator), it would still be a state of panic and fear on my part.

What's the saying? "With great knowledge comes great responsibility." I think it is up to us to continue being familiar with the "old technology" (i.e) candles, hunting and gathering, being able to make a fire and so on. You need to be confident that if there is ever a time when the world comes to a stop because our technology isn't working or is being abused, that you won't find yourself in an utter state of immobilization. 

We can't let the "old technology" become obsolete. When technology is pushed to the limit and crashes, we must be able to survive the fallout.

Often I tell my students that they need to know how to do the basics for when the technology is not available or has crashed. We have technology free days in the classroom.  Away goes the smart board, the computers, the listening center and so on.  I have my students do math without calculators.  We write our stories instead of typing them, or better yet, we have learned to story tell in case there is not a pen or pencil around to record our thoughts.  I have even gone as far as teaching them a whole day without the use of the lights so they know it can be done.

My job as their educator is to give them a balanced education.  I do this with and without the aid of technology.

Who do we listen to regarding ed tech? (philosophers, upper admin, ‘salespeople’, ‘evangelists’ or vested interest groups?, passionate early-adopting educators?

We need to listen to the educators that are at the front line in educating today's students; that is, the classroom teacher. 

Isn't it funny how recently our government had a public announcement requesting the general public to bring forth ideas on what  could be done to raise the level of education our students were receiving? Don't get me wrong, two heads are better than one.What strikes me funny though, is that never once has the classroom teachers been asked what their view were for raising the standard of education.

It is the same with educational technology.  You have everyone and their dog weighing in on what technology should or should not be allowed in the classroom, yet not once has anyone bothered to ask the classroom teacher what they would like to see in their classroom that would assist both teacher & student alike.  Makes you wonder.