- 15 pg English paper can not be done on wiki or blog
- 5 pg book report can not be handed in on a blog or wiki
- Cover letters are done in a word processor
- Resumes with special formatting are done in a word processor
- Writing a paper for class in college requires you to write in a word
processor
- Accounting requires the use of Excel
A wiki, blog, online communities are another form of communication. They
don't replace the communication we use now. If you have all of your
students say, my report is on a blog, go read it. It's not a polite thing
to do.
I still believe in understanding the basics is very important. It will come
in handy when they go to college. My brother who was in the Navy once
observed personnel input data into Excel, and did the calculations on a
calculator because they didn't know how Excel is used.
We can also look at different scenarios:
Scenario 1:
"Hi teacher. You can read my book report on my blog on myspace. Here is
the link. Sorry, I didn't hand in the paper. Just go visit the website
when you get home."
Scenario 2:
"Hi teacher. My blog does not allow me to do footnotes, and I don't know
how to use a word processor. I'm sure you will understand. I put the
references at the end of my blog for you to read. When you get home, just
access my paper, print it out, and write down your comments for me"
Scenario 3:
"Hi college professor. My chemistry homework is online. Here is the URL
for my assignment."
Scenario 4:
"Hi teacher. I printed out my homework from the blog. Ignore these online
advertisements. I don't know how to use a word processor, so I printed this
from my web page. Also, the tables may look messy because I don't know how
to use the tables in Excel, yet."
New technologies does not replace the existing forms of communication. They
either enhancement, or they add on to it.
Television did not replace radio. Internet did not replace television.
Satellite television did not replace Cable companies. Satellite radio did
not replace terrestrial radio.
Brian Lee
On 2/15/09 12:42 PM, "Norman Constantine" <nconstantine@wakefieldschool.org>
wrote:
> "I've been surprised to see students who can run a blog, a wiki, etc. without
> problem really struggle with the basics of writing a paper with a word
> processor"
>
> So why not let them use the tools that they know to do the
> assignments......why use 20th century tools to do 21st century problems in
> 20th century ways..
>
> Norman
>
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