Blog 2: Technological Developments

 When looking back at using MS Word as a student, it feels as if decades have passed since I last used it. During my K-12 years, MS Word was seen as the go-to standard; the undisputed king for writing documents. However, I also remember having to consistently make sure that my document was saved, that the application didn't crash, or that I had remembered that morning before submitting an important paper that I had on my flash drive. It was something that I disliked and didn't enjoy doing, and is the reason why I switched to Google Docs. It did everything that I wish MS Word could have done, such as consistent autosaving, being accessible from any device, and having all of the basic essentials that I would need. Furthermore, it's free and did not have so many issues with it freezing or not responding and ever since I discovered its use, I've basically left word in the past.

The ISTE Standards for Educators are standards that are not only informative but are key in knowing how to become a good teacher. The standard that is most meaningful to me would be the 2.2 standard due to its focus on the empowerment of the student.  It focuses on ensuring that the student is not only prepared for success but has all of the necessary resources that they will need in order to be successful, including opportunities for leadership and growth. We as educators may forget that students may not know about different opportunities that may be available to them and because of that, it is up to us to make sure that they have everything that they need to succeed. And now with technology, we are not only able to find those opportunities for them but we are able to provide them all of the necessary information with a few clicks of the mouse, making what would otherwise be a lost chance the opportunity of a lifetime.

The term "digital native" is quite new to me, but it is a term that I understand in relevance to the state of education and the influence that technology has placed on it. I believe that a digital native is someone who sees technology as second nature; as something that is easy to understand, learn from, use to apply learned information or knowledge. Digital immigrants, on the other hand, see technology as something foreign and are unsure of how to use it in regards to understanding how to use it and how to apply it in the classroom. Sometimes, digital immigrants may do things that may seem outdated or that have a simpler use through technology. An example of this would be my Algebra 2 teacher in high school. He used the smartboard only to write math problems, took attendance on his 1960's attendance book, and asked us to print out our quiz results. What made it confusing for us is that he could have looked at our quiz results easily by simply making an account, but instead had us do it on our personal accounts, print out our results, and turn that in. I believe that in the future, my students will be digital natives and will more than likely be able to use technology better than I am since they will be the ones that will grow up with that technology instead of me who will have to keep catching up with the newest tech and gadgets of the year.

Badges are something that I have more experience with outside of the education realm than I do in it through videogames. However, I have had the less technological terms for them back in grade school. Whether it be erasers, stickers, or a simple smile on my paper, I saw those as the badges of success.  Similar to videogames, badges needed to be earned through hard work, dedication, and mastery of the topic at hand. I would show the badges that I earned through videogames to my friends who wouldn't believe that I achieved that level or score and I would show my smiles, "Great Job!", and stickers to my family to show them that hard work is paying off. It shows that everything that was done was for something and that I received something of value from it. It is one of the best forms of positive reinforcement that can exist, whether it be in a videogame or the classroom. It promotes motivation, dedication, and the desire to keep going. I plan on creating badges for my students for different things even if they're high schoolers because it makes learning fun while at the same time giving them the motivation to keep going and to never give up.