WEBVTT - Will technology revolutionize education? 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.960 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:08.959 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:17.800 tech Style from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.360 and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette, 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:23.360 and I am an editor at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:25.279 Sitting across from me, as he always does on the 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:27.840 occasions on which we sit here behind the microphones and 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:31.280 talk about things about tech, is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:36.280 Is this a kissing book? So today we're going to 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:43.680 address the question will technology revolutionize education? Yes? No? Maybe? Okay, 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:47.640 we got the basis covered. Let's dive in. Alright, then 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:51.920 I feel better. Emily, we love you. She may not 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:54.320 even be listening anymore. Yeah, she might have moved on 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.960 to bigger and better podcasts. There's no such thing, all right, 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:01.200 So we wanted to talk about this is another in 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:05.160 our series obviously on education and technology. Um, we want 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:08.560 to talk about the the possibility, the potential for technology 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:12.320 to revolutionize education and the way that the teachers teach 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.920 students and uh, and kind of talk about the difference 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:19.720 between the tool and the method. Actually, it's funny because 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:21.720 we sort of set that up as a joke and 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:25.760 we did the yes, no, maybe, But I think I think, yeah, yeah, 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:29.200 because you know, there's there's a potential. But yeah. The 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.720 the it's it's just like any other tool. If you 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:35.200 if you hand someone a tool but do not tell 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:39.280 that person how to use it, then you can't expect 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:43.200 the person to become an expert with that tool, you know, 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:46.360 and be able to produce anything of any value without 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:49.200 lots and lots and lots of time. And that means 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:53.400 the person has to be really motivated to to master 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:58.400 that tool, uh, despite the frustrations of not really understanding 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:02.240 how to use it. And that's just that's that's too 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:04.280 good big a burden most of us, I would I 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:07.400 would have I would not hesitate to say that most people, 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:10.560 if given a really advanced tool but they were given 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:14.240 no help and how to use it, UH, would abandon it. 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:17.480 There'd be a few who would be intrigued enough to 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:19.760 try and master it. But I think I think an 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:22.679 overwhelming percentage of us, and I include myself in that 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:26.440 would get frustrated and find it find better ways to 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:29.320 use our time. I find I find myself doing that 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:32.160 with a number of software programs, frankly, Yeah, there are 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:35.680 times where well, here's a good example. This this is nothing. 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.800 We didn't discuss this beforehand, but here's an excellent example. 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:42.360 We did a podcast about this particular tool ages ago, 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:46.639 and just recently it went away Google Wave. So Google 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:50.200 Google Wave was a really innovative tool. And as we 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:53.720 record this podcast, it's just shortly after Google pulled the 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:56.000 plug on Wave. Yeah. I think they're I think they're 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:58.280 just going to leave it and you can use it 0:02:58.280 --> 0:02:59.880 the way it is. But I don't think they're ever 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:02.320 they're not supporting development. Yeah, they're not going to do 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:08.040 anything with it. So Google Wave was this really interesting idea, 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:10.760 the execution of which was so confusing that I think 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:13.280 most people never really got a grip on the best 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:15.839 way to use the tool. Here we go. We we've 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:18.800 got this really advanced tool that could do lots of things, 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:22.840 but without any direction on how to use it and 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:26.320 and way in the real case scenarios of how this 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:31.560 could be useful. Most people tried it maybe once or twice, 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:35.640 and then found it to be so overwhelming and confusing 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:38.720 that they were like, well, there's there's no use for 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:41.200 this for me, and they stopped coming back to it. 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:44.680 Chris and I are in that camp. Yeah, and we 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:46.720 we did find a specific use for it, but then 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:49.440 that specific use went away. Yeah, that was That was 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:52.200 the funny thing too. It wasn't um, it wasn't so 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:54.640 much that it wasn't terribly confusing, but there were a 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:56.360 lot of situations in which you try to use it 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:57.880 for something you know, you know what, this is not 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:02.200 the right tool. Yeah, spending too much time trying to 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:05.080 make this, make it work, make it work right, instead 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:07.320 of having it work right off the bat. And you 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.840 could see that there were potential applications, but they were 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:14.040 so specific that if you didn't have a need for that, 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:17.640 then Google Wave was just you know, it was easy 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.880 enough to forget about it because unless that specific case 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:23.440 came up, um, there's no point in going to it. 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:28.200 So there's an example of a technology that in theory 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:32.960 should be amazing, should be incredibly useful, and a great 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:37.200 collaborative tool and a great communications tool, but in practice 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:40.120 it fell apart. Well, the same can be said about 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:44.719 technology and education across the board, and it could be 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:48.000 something as simple as just a regular laptop computer, which 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:50.320 a lot of us take for granted. Uh, you know, 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:52.440 a lot of us have been used to using computers. 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:55.440 Some some of you out there have been using computers 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:57.800 ever since you can, you know, as far back as 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:01.640 you can remember. Now, that's not the case with UH, 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:05.520 with us, because we're old enough to remember when personal 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:09.279 computers were very uncommon, although we both jumped on the 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:13.760 bandwagon pretty early. True enough, I do remember monochrome monitors, 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:20.320 so yes, yeah, I I also remember those. So again, 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.520 they it's easy enough to take that for granted because 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:25.360 they've been you know, computers have been around long enough 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:28.239 now so that the current generation of students have grown 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:31.480 up with them. But that does not necessarily mean that, 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:34.040 you know, just by throwing computers in the classroom, you've 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:41.479 made education easy and accessible and effective. So let's let's 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:46.520 kind of talk about how technology can affect education and how, 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:49.600 you know, where we place the importance on on the 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:54.520 method of teaching. UM. One interesting thing I read was 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:59.719 a case study that was being done where UH students 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:03.960 were making a learning style assessment. Because we all have 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:07.000 different learning styles, right, Yeah, some of us are much 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:09.560 better if we hear information, then we can process it 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:11.880 and we're we're good to go. Some of us have 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:15.480 to see it UM personally. For me, the way that 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:19.080 I learned, and and this is something that that still 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:23.279 applies today, is that I needed to see why you 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:26.160 did something a specific way, not just how to do it, 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:28.520 but why it had to be done that way for 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:31.880 it to make sense to me, because without it making sense, 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:35.680 it was just it was just information and I couldn't 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:39.919 put it into context and it was ultimately meaningless to me. 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:44.040 So if you could, if you could explain a chemical 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:47.080 reaction to me and explain to me why the chemical 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:50.400 reaction happens the way it does, then it totally made sense. 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:52.640 But if you just gave me the you know you 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:57.159 acid base salt, uh, you know, and that was it it. 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:01.200 I could. I could regurgitate those facts, but it didn't. 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:06.479 There was no real comprehension there, right right. So really, 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:12.800 I think the technology in the classrooms question, UH. It's 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:15.360 a great tool, but what that really means is that 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:20.920 we have to focus on teaching students how to think. Yes, definitely, 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:26.240 so UM the uh the Sugar Learning System, which is 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:31.840 a operating system UM that is geared toward elementary school 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:37.160 students UM or primarily toward them ha ha. Primarily UM 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:41.040 basically is designed. It was designed for the one Laptop 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:43.160 per Child project, but it can be used on on 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:45.600 any computer. You can use a what they call it 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:48.960 sugar on a stick, which is a USB implementation of that. 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:55.600 It's also tasty rock candy. Rock candy is sugar on 0:07:55.640 --> 0:08:00.280 a stick. Is tastes like silicon, um and and lead. 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:03.560 I wouldn't suggest silicon and lead. This tastes like sand 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:09.560 and blindness, yes, and rage. UM. Anyway, thanks a lot. 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:13.120 Basically the one of the things behind the operating system, 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:15.920 I mean, other than to be simple enough that people 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:18.200 speaking many languages can use it, A lot of it 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:22.679 is UH as visual and not necessarily language oriented, although 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:27.040 it has been localized in many instances. UM. One of 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:31.200 the benefits to this is that it teaches critical thinking UM. 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:34.920 And that's sort of unique, I think in the idea 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:38.959 of bringing technology into the classroom, because I mean, it's 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:40.679 one thing to drop a PC in front of somebody 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:43.199 and go, here you go, there's the Internet, that's everything, 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:47.840 and yeah, here's your diploma. Get the hell out. Honestly, 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:52.480 that's some people's approach, but ye, teaching teaching kids how 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:56.400 to think for themselves is UH is sort of unheard 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:59.360 of in some circles, you know, and it's, uh, it's 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:01.760 nice to see that that people are trying to take 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:05.120 that into account when they are developing technology, and uh, 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:10.120 you know, they're also recruiting people to make more applications 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:12.520 for the operating system and uh, you know it's a 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:16.800 it's a free and open source OS, so it really 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:20.920 gets many many people involved and tries to get the 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:23.439 the end user in this case, the students, to uh 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:26.520 to think for themselves. Yeah. And if you guys have 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:28.200 been listening to our show for a while, you know 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:32.760 that I've stressed critical thinking multiple times. And uh, and 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:35.680 that's something that I wish had been stressed to me 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:40.400 earlier in my educational experience. Um. By the time I 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:42.720 was starting to hear the term critical thinking, it was 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:46.560 pretty late in my high school. Uh. Well, I guess 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:48.439 it had to be junior senior year in high school. 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:51.160 And then of course I heard it throughout college. And uh, 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:55.679 critical thinking is really really important. It's it doesn't to me, 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.080 it doesn't really matter so much what tools you have 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:01.080 at your disposal as much as it as much as 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:05.520 learning to think critically. UM. Now, having great tools at 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:09.800 your disposal makes that both easier and I'm having a 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.720 zombie advance on me as I'm trying to do this. Uh. 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:15.360 But having the tools at your disposal makes critical thinking 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:19.240 easier to do, but it does not, you know, it's 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:22.760 not necessary. So in that sense, you could say, well, 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:26.640 technology revolutionized education. You could almost say no, because what 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:29.959 would revolutionize education is making sure that you're teaching students 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:33.320 how to think. But I think technology makes that easier. 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:37.160 It also makes it easier to engage students. Um. I 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:39.280 was talking about that learning assessment and I was talking 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:42.400 about my own way of of learning. Uh, I kind 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:44.640 of kind of lost the whole point of that. I 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:46.920 thought I introduced it, but I didn't really get at it. 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:49.800 But the point of that was to if you if 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:52.880 you have a classroom where each student has access to 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:56.480 a laptop computer. Let's say that's an example, and each 0:10:56.480 --> 0:11:01.040 student takes a learning assessment test and and the uh, 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:03.600 the program determines the best way for that student to 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:08.280 learn in theory. If you are using an electronic syllabus, 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:13.720 Let's say a teacher could present a certain class a 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:18.080 lesson and then all the materials that related to that 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:21.640 lesson would be filtered to the student through the laptop 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:25.200 in the method that was the most effective method for 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.400 that student to learn in it's feasible, which is to 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:31.720 me mind blowing. You have to remember, when we went 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:36.439 to school, the way you learned really ultimately didn't matter 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.920 because the person saying next to you did not necessarily 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:42.840 learn that same way, and the teacher did not necessarily 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:45.559 teach in that way. So you had to try and 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:49.080 adjust your learning, uh, your learning preference to the way 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:52.480 the teacher taught. You know, the teacher could not. The 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:55.720 teachers are just in they're not able to teach in 0:11:55.720 --> 0:12:00.240 a way that's going to hit every student effectively. It's impossible. 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:04.240 It's not that the teachers are it's not impossible, but 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:06.800 you would really need group students into groups who of 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:10.000 similar learning styles to make it work. Based upon being 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:13.080 based upon our resources, okay, based upon the number of 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:17.360 teachers compared to the number of students. It's impossible because 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:20.640 we don't have enough teachers and enough space to group 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:23.960 students in class sizes small enough for that to be 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:28.240 an effective approach, at least not not across the entire country. 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:30.520 In some school districts that may be possible and that 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:33.560 is amazing and wonderful and uh, you know I and 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:36.000 I'm also I want to stress I am the son 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:39.959 of two teachers. I want to stress that I respect teachers. 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:45.040 There are no words to express how how how gratified 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:50.200 I am towards them. But they they they're fighting a 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:53.040 losing battle when it comes to trying to teach and 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:57.360 engage every student. It's just not gonna happen. Technology helps 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:01.480 that makes that a little less difficult. I'm not going 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:03.599 to say that with technology we're suddenly going to have 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.400 a nation of engage students, every single one of whom 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:10.160 is eager and willing to learn at every day at school. 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:13.400 But it makes it easier because if you can determine 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:17.200 that each student's learning style, and if you can taylor 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:21.640 the lessons electronically so that the student has the best 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:25.520 chance of grasping a concept, understanding it, and being able 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:31.120 to apply it, then it makes engaging that student much easier. Yes, 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:33.720 I think a lot of students would be engaged if 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:37.920 they felt I didn't feel like they were not getting it, 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:41.720 you know. And of course, you know, if you could, 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:46.320 if you could teach every student to his or her 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:50.400 particular style. I think you would have fewer board students 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:52.960 in class, you would have more engagement overall. It would 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:56.280 be it would be a really amazing I think it's 0:13:56.440 --> 0:14:00.720 a really amazing outcome from that. I was just going 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:05.079 to mention too, if you're interested in learning your learning style. UM. 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:07.760 I wasn't long ago that one of my professors in 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:13.240 my graduate school studies suggested the VARC Learning Assessment, which 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:16.120 is really neat and free um AT and you can 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:19.680 find that at v A r K VARC dash learn 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:24.280 dot com. So you know, if you're you're if you're curious, 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:27.240 there's a quick questionnaire um takes just a few minutes 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.800 to fill out, and you can find out how you learn, 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:33.880 which actually may affect the way you use technology to learn, 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:36.920 because maybe you can find you know, once you've identified 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:40.080 these things, they'll probably seem sort of self evident. You'll go, oh, yeah, 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:42.520 well I knew that. But you know, it's nice to 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:44.680 to kind of have somebody go, okay, well, based on 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:48.160 what you've told us, this is what we think. Uh, 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:50.520 you know, it could be useful and and for some 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:53.720 people it's all about getting hands on experience with something. 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:58.920 For others it's you know, hearing it all intellectualized. It 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:02.080 depends from one person into the next. Some people tend 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:03.960 to be really good at all of them and I 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:08.440 hate them. Well unless you listen to tech stuff. Well, 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:11.520 some people are self directed to yeah, uh, you know, 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:14.520 others need the teacher or professor to you know, go 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:17.640 through its step by step. Um. For me, I think 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:21.200 it sort of depends on the topic. Yeah. For example, Uh, 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:25.160 in in symbolic logic, I found that I could direct 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:28.320 myself so effectively that I would attend class two days 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:33.440 out of five and I aced it. But in other classes, Uh, 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:36.240 that was certainly not the case. So it's not like 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:38.480 I was some sort of genius. It was just that, 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:42.040 for whatever reason, symbolic logic was one of those things 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:47.200 that just clicked. Um. But you know that's again with 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:50.240 with the technology, we can identify that at least have 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:54.080 the potential to identify that early on with students and 0:15:54.720 --> 0:16:01.160 hopefully maximize each student's potential to to learn. Um. And 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:06.280 there's some other ways that technology really could revolutionize education. Uh. 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:09.640 Here's here's just a simple example is consider a social 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:13.920 studies course or a geography course, and then think of 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:17.960 a virtual globe program and I'm just gonna use Google 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:20.080 Earth as the example because it's the one and the 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:23.400 most familiar with all right now, Google Earth allows you 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:28.280 to apply various layers to the the globe, the virtual 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:32.960 globe you're looking at, which can be helpful in dozens 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:37.600 or hundreds of different applications in an educational format. So 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:42.520 theoretically you could create a version of Google Earth that 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:47.600 would show you what the civilizations look like in medieval Europe, 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:51.040 so you could see things like the size of Paris 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:54.400 compared to the size of London and uh and and 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:59.360 see like how far widespread certain civilizations were, and even 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:03.240 in core break things like multimedia and movies, so that 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:06.879 if you want to explore a particular concept even further, 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:10.400 it'd be easy enough to do that. With modern day geography. 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:15.720 You could show how how borders have shifted over you know, 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:18.600 as little as a decade ago, how how borders have shifted, 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:22.399 And you can even show things like through pictures and 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:26.840 video and that sort of thing, um, the conditions of 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:30.840 that particular region, the people who live there, the kind 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:34.159 of lives they lead, which I think would lead to 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:38.080 a much deeper understanding of various cultures and regions throughout 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:40.840 the world. In my experience, we got all that by 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:45.680 reading from a textbook. But words on a page, don't 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:47.560 you know. Of course they always say a pictures worth 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:49.800 a thousand words. Words on a page don't have the 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:54.399 same impact as seeing this stuff. Uh, if not in person, 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:59.320 then at least through video and things like that. So 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:03.159 when I think about the potential of using technology to 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:07.440 relate something along those lines, I think it really is revolutionary. 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:11.320 It just requires a teacher with the savvy and approach 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:15.560 to to use it at its most effective level for 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:19.320 it to become a reality. Well, I mean, speaking of textbooks. 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:22.080 One of the that's one of the advantages um of 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:24.920 having something like a virtual book or an e book, 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:28.440 if you have the right um device that you can 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:31.240 read it on where you can embed different kinds of 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:34.919 technology in the page. You could actually see a video 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:38.480 of you know, the people being discussed, um, you know, 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:41.880 or or see pictures of them. Um. You might even 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:44.400 be able to if it were connected to the internet, 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:48.200 you know, get an update based on you know, what's 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:50.760 going on. And this is the way people looked, you know, 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:52.840 in this region fifty years ago, this is the way 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:56.679 they are now. Um. And that that's one ability that 0:18:56.760 --> 0:19:00.800 the web has that you know, the uh, the World 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:04.280 Book Yearbook in nineteen sixty six, didn't. Um. You know 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:07.240 when back back when, back when I was a kid, 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:11.080 we were using primarily paper encyclopedias. You know, you'd have 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:14.240 the honestly, you'd have the encyclopedia salesperson coming door to 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:16.720 door trying to sell you a set of books or 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:18.480 your parents really a set of books. And the thing 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:20.920 is you were expected to buy a yearbook every year 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:25.600 to give you updates. But you know, frankly, you know 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:27.919 once you had a set of encyclopedias and it was 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:30.400 from nineteen seventy two, you know, for your older brother 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:34.000 or sister. You know, it's not it's ninety eight. And 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:35.639 while I mean this stuff is six years old. And 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:37.600 then you know, you get in the middle school in 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:40.800 four and you go, man, this thing is getting pretty ancient. 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:43.600 It's pretty outdated information. Now you can go online to 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:48.120 the web, um and find a pretty good resources. I mean, 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:50.679 you can go to Britannica dot com and get you know, 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:55.600 fairly recent you know, articles about virtually anything, and uh, 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:59.160 it's you You can be pretty well assured that these 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:02.080 are scholarly resources that have been researched by somebody who 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:05.640 knows what they're doing. And uh, and it's and it's 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:07.760 recent and you don't have to worry about whether or 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:12.920 not you're teacher is gonna give you a lecture about 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:15.160 Come on, can't you find something newer than this? Yeah, 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:20.879 and technology is certainly revolutionized access to information to the 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:26.479 point where now the problem isn't finding information about the 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:30.439 topic you want to study, it's filtering that information in 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:32.960 such a way that it's meaningful. But we'll we'll talk 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:36.119 about that. We've got a plan for a future podcast. Specifically, 0:20:36.400 --> 0:20:40.880 this was actually a listener request to specifically address how 0:20:40.960 --> 0:20:45.600 to use the web and the internet to research topics 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:48.359 in an effective manner. But that is certainly one of 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:51.440 the ways that technology has been in the process of 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:55.480 revolutionizing education. Well certainly, UM, you know, when you have 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:59.080 a school media center and it's really got limited size 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:03.560 and limited financial resources behind it, um, having an opportunity 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:06.240 to be on something like here in Georgia, we've got Galileo, 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:09.040 which is part of the University system of Georgia, and 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:13.720 it's got access to thousands of different scholarly resources. Puer 0:21:13.880 --> 0:21:17.920 viewed articles, um, other kinds of information that you wouldn't 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:21.639 physically be able to house or afford by the school 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:25.040 itself or even the school system. It's an invaluable resource, 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:27.280 you know, things like that. It's something that we hear 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:29.800 at at how stuff works use quite often because it 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:34.040 allows us to access scholarly journals that otherwise we would 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:36.520 have to have, you know, we'd have to have two 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:40.400 hundred subscriptions and where do we put all that stuff 0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:45.320 once we get it? Yeah? UM, that tool has really 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:51.280 made research much easier and um far more effective than 0:21:51.480 --> 0:21:53.800 um than before. I mean before you pretty much had 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:57.520 to you know, just hope that whatever you had was 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:01.040 adequate to the task at hand. Well that's uh that 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:03.760 one benefit two of of a system like that, and 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:07.840 I'm sure they're probably uh comparable resources in many you know, 0:22:07.880 --> 0:22:09.640 many of the states in the United States and probably 0:22:09.680 --> 0:22:13.640 elsewhere around the world. Um is uh is the ability 0:22:13.680 --> 0:22:17.080 for somebody to a student to access that in their 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:19.600 school media center and then go home or go to 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:23.639 their public library nearby and get access to that. If 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:26.199 they have an Internet connection and a computer available to them, 0:22:26.200 --> 0:22:28.679 They're going to be familiar with the system already. And 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:30.800 it's not where they have to learn two or three 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:35.160 separate systems. They're already acquainted with it and there there 0:22:35.240 --> 0:22:37.840 should be comfortable with it. Of course, it requires a 0:22:37.840 --> 0:22:41.359 certain level of information literacy and training, which is also 0:22:41.520 --> 0:22:45.560 part of you know, having the the teachers and media 0:22:45.640 --> 0:22:49.879 specialists having the time and um in some cases know 0:22:49.920 --> 0:22:52.399 how to explain what's going on to them. Yeah. Really, 0:22:52.600 --> 0:22:55.760 what's required there's a support system for the educators so 0:22:55.800 --> 0:22:59.280 that they themselves can not only know how to use 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:00.879 the tools, but how to use the tools in the 0:23:00.920 --> 0:23:03.560 most effective manner. Because we you know, I've talked a 0:23:03.600 --> 0:23:06.440 lot about how teachers need to be able to explain 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:08.760 to students how to use these tools. That means that 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:11.840 the teachers need to learn it too. And and some 0:23:11.960 --> 0:23:14.880 teachers are going to find that more challenging than others 0:23:14.960 --> 0:23:18.560 because this is a completely new way to them. Um. 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:21.399 And often a lot of our school systems don't have 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:25.479 the real they don't give the teachers the resources they 0:23:25.520 --> 0:23:28.840 need to increase their skill sets in such a way 0:23:28.840 --> 0:23:32.600 that's meaningful. Yeah, and again, you know, my heart goes 0:23:32.600 --> 0:23:35.440 out to all the teachers out there. But yes, sometimes 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:38.920