One of my most hated assumptions of my generation is that we apparently know everything about computers/technology or that we even like it.  If I could count the number of times my mother, nana, father, or any other adult in my life has said, “Hey Sam, come over here and help me figure this out” and when I say that I do not know how to do that (because I genuinely don’t) they get mad at me and say, “You should know this stuff!  You grew up with it!”  Bad assumption.

This semester I am taking ENG307, which is a class made to help us with technology in the classroom.  I was hesitant for this class, and honestly if it was not required I do not know if I would have taken it.  Computers and technology make me angry.  It sounds stupid coming from me since I am 20, but I genuinely admire the older days when all we needed was just a pen, paper, and a real book (not a kindle).  I miss the days before my friends and I all had cellphones and computers distracting us from having a real conversation.  Seriously, I am from the wrong time period.  However, I had to take this class and I have to make the best out of it.

So far, I am liking it!  It is tricky.  Technology could be compared to learning a new language.  So this is a hard transition and definitely not an easy process.  If it weren’t for this class I wouldn’t have my blog page either (which was a process and a half learning how to do by the way).  For class, we had to read the article, “A Personal Cyberinfrastructure” by Gardner Campbell and watched his video on youtube.  He is a very interesting, smart, enticing man.  I realized why we need to use technology in our classrooms.

Paragraph six is where I got interested the most.  He started describing what we had to do for our class when making this blog.  I will paraphrase it since it is a long paragraph but he is basically saying: what if students were able to make their own websites? They would work with groups of people (social networking) using cognitive, problem solving skills, and using parts of their brains that they have not used before.  He says, “In short, students would build a personal cyberinfrastructure, one that would continue to modify and extend through their college career- and beyond” (Campbell).  I believe this statement to be true.  My blog site opened up my world; I am currently in college and we only have to keep this blog running for the semester, but I want to keep it up after.

In the youtube video I watched, my favorite phrase was when Campbell compared the power of technology to “gold”.  He jokes around saying that when people turn his offer down when he gives people the opportunity to use technology and the skills they need to work with it effectively is like turning down a bag of gold.  He says that within the first five minutes of the video.  Knowing technology and how to work with it is truly like a gift, like a bag of gold.  It could unlock so many doors.  It helps you break down communication boundaries and create social networks all over the world.  It is amazing to think that I could communicate with people in Europe instantly.  Technology may be “another language” to learn, but being bilingual is so admired in our society so why not pick up this discourse as well?

The one statement that Campbell said in his article that impacted me the most was when he said: “Many students simply want to know what their professors want and how to give that to them.  But if the professor truly wants is for students to discover and craft their own desires and dreams, a personal cyberinfrastructure provides the opportunity”.  I could not help but laugh when I read this because I know from my own experiences with my classes we get so frantic when our teachers give us free reigns.  We are all SO used to teachers dictating to us what to do that when we are given freewill with an assignment such as “pick a topic for your essay that interests you” we freak out!  What do you mean something that interests us?  Just give us a topic!  This shows how skewed our education system may be.  What is an education that does not empower students to be able to make their own decisions?  The purpose of educating is to empower.