Blog Entry #2 EME2040 Fall 2021

I have been using Microsoft Word since I was a little kid around the age of 5^th grade. My school system growing up was always very focused on getting us in touch with technology which I am extremely grateful for. Personally, I do not notice much difference between Google Docs and Word but if I had to pick between the two, I probably use Word more than Google Docs. The only thing I like more about Microsoft Word is that the toolbars at the top to edit and format your content is much easier to navigate than Google Docs.

The standard of the ISTE standards for Educators that is most meaningful to me is Collaborator. I feel that the ability to collaborate with others is one of the most important aspects of a K-12 educator because it teaches kids how to work together to think about things in ways, they never would have thought about it before. I feel that the most amazing discoveries and breakthroughs have occurred when working and collaborating with other people. This ability to collaborate with others is going to be one of the most important qualities to have in life to be able to work with other people in any aspect of your life not just school.

I very much agree with the label of “digital native” for today’s youth. What it means to be a digital native is that you were born into the world during the age of digital technology and therefore it is almost assumed that you will be very familiar with computers and the internet from an early age. I have seen a big difference in how my teachers use technology in comparison to me. I noticed this mostly in middle and high school when my teachers would struggle for half of the class to get the overhead projector working when I think all of us in the class knew how to fix it. This impacted my learning experience by wasting time in the classroom however it really wasn’t that impacting on me because I was able to stay focused on my work. I anticipate that there will be many differences between me and my future students in terms of how we use technology such as the instant gratification that TikTok has created and having to shape my teaching plan around knowing just how short of attention spans some kids have now.