A World of Internet

This week’s topic is all about the internet. Some questions to think about are as follows: 

 How will access to the internet affect your future? What is the internet of things, and how might it influence your career as an educator? What can the internet be used for? What privacy concerns do you have when using the internet?  

 

Do you ever wonder what the future of education will look like with the continuous advancement of technology? I recall being asked to prepare an answer to this question to present to a group of teachers in my high school about a decade ago. I recall having positive thoughts about the increased access to technology within the classroom, and use of 1:1 devices for research. Bringing the internet into the classroom can be a strong learning tool, and can also be used for differentiated instruction techniques. On the other hand, I recall heavily criticizing the overuse of technology in certain subjects, and the possible dependency problem that could be created. In particular, I warned that basic mathematics skills may suffer, as students no longer need to perform calculations in their head, if provided with continual access to calculators, phones, or computers. The ease of being able to type in the question and receive an immediate answer, eliminates the need for any serious thought. Why know multiplication facts when our phones already know all of the answers? We will always have our phones on us, won’t we? In my experience teaching within various schools, I have noticed this tendency in mathematics classes, and I have watched basic mental math skills decline over the years. Alternatively, many would argue that technology has opened up many new possibilities in the field of mathematics, where computers can work through significantly complex problems at near-instantaneous speeds. There are many mathematics programs and simulators to assist with engineering problems, involving mathematical designs and high-level physics. There is also the world of coding and other computer programming that many people heavily associate with mathematics. So has the advancement of technology hindered math skills, or honed them? What are your thoughts on this issue, or what impacts have you noticed in the classroom? 

 

Thinking about these issues reminds me of a quote I came across through my Internet for Educators course: “All technological change is a trade-off…a Faustian bargain”- Neil Postman

 

You can view an article containing this quote at the following web address: 

 https://student.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~cs492/papers/neil-postman--five-things.html

 

The advancements of new technology offer many clear advantages, but there are also corresponding disadvantages. Technology is often created to solve some sort of problem, but in turn, it may create other problems in the process. For example, apps are developed for a specific function, or to perform a desired task, and they may be quite useful in that regard. But, with that, is the creation of problems, such as logging in to the app after forgetting your password, or troubleshooting within the app. These are problems that were born out of the creation of new technology. The problems did not exist before the app, but are a direct result of it. Other examples are social security and privacy issues that occur through the internet. Before computers existed, online fraud was not a concern for anyone. Nowadays, online fraud occurs everywhere. Just this week, I was online and came across a scam, asking for an upfront security deposit to secure a rental property. It becomes so easy to get sucked in and e-transfer money away. 

 

There is such an ease of access to detailed information online, which creates a perfect environment for scammers and hackers to thrive. Many people use their phones for all functions of daily life. They contain access to banking information, our current location, notes and passwords, contact information, friends and relationships, private photos, among other content stored on the phones of the incautious user. Personally, these privacy concerns scare me. I often find myself running through the “what if” scenarios in my mind. What if someone hacked my phone; what would I not want them to access? What information has been stored on my phone that should be kept secure?