Chapter 9 Reflection

Technology is a part of life that is not going to go away. Those of us who do not embrace it now must understand the possibilities of the new technologies from the inside, if we want to guide the future of education. It has been said that for the first time in history, children are more comfortable, knowledgeable, and literate than their parents about an innovation central to society. Typically, kids know much more about devices such as television, games, computers, instant messaging, and cell phones. Video games provide the clearest case of the technology generation gap. Parents see one side to the story which includes addiction and corruption of the youth, while kids are developing sophisticated problem-solving and communication skills in virtual worlds beyond the experience of many parents. Virtual communities are places where people can find others who share their liking for certain things. It is a place without any involvement in schools and with little adult involvement. Once again, parents view this online time as more time that kids are not reading books.

Technology has created new jargon such as hip-hop slang, instant message conventions which make technology more desirable. This is the time for technological visionaries to act. We are now in the same stage in the second educational revolution that we were in during the last decades of the 19th century. We need strong leadership from innovative educators to make sure that the new system embodies our society's critical goals for education.