Blog Journal 2 - Nathan Sanborn

From elementary school until the 6th grade, we had always hand-written any essay. I remember in my first middle school English class, they finally had us use MS Word, and I loved it. As someone who always had bad handwriting, I felt far more comfortable typing and began to really like writing. I used MS Word up until high school for pretty much every class; however, in one English class, we finally used Google Docs. It was some assignment essay that multiple people had to type in, and initially I was confused because MS Word couldn't do that, so Google Docs actually surprised me. I was still stuck with MS Word though, until I got to my first English class in college, at least. That's when formatting papers and MLA actually mattered, and I struggled. A friend of mine told me to just do it in Google Docs, and it even gives you a good template to use, so I did that. Ever since then, I've been using Google Docs for pretty much every assignment. It's easy to share a Google Doc since everyone has a Gmail, all the formatting is easily done in Word, and its overall quality is far superior to MS Word. I also despise OneDrive, and MS Word is a big part of that. It just feels easier to save things on Google Docs than on MS Word.

As technology develops, I've always thought it to be of the upmost importance to integrate technology into our curriculum. As it rapidly develops, with AI for example, it opens up many different learning opportunities. This is why I believe that "Learner" is the most important ISTE Standard. If I had to choose a second standard, it'd be "Leader," but that's actually why I really like the previous standard. Any educator that is able to adapt to the environment around them is going to not only improve student learning, but also expose them to many different things, forcing the students to also adapt. I simply believe "Learner" is the best of both worlds. Although I didn't actually learn anything new from the ISTE page (which is a bit ironic), I do like how they worded one part. "Explore promising innovations" is something that sticks out to me. You're not waiting for the world around you to change; you are actively being the change that other educators may follow. I can't wait to see how teachers integrate AI, though; I truly believe it could be bigger than computers themselves. 

That technology, however, is going to be something the supposed "digital natives" are going to be growing up with. The term itself basically means that people being born are going to have a better natural ability with technology. This term has honestly always made me very angry, because it's not wrong; it's just that people use it so incorrectly. Yes, to some extent, the newer generations are going to be more comfortable with technology and will maybe catch on quicker. We also have a bunch of psychology brain stuff that involves short attention spans, but I hardly have enough knowledge on that to truly speak on it. The worst possible assumption is that digital natives already know how to use it better or can use ANY type of technology. For example, if you walked into a doctor's office, and someone told you a veterinarian would be helping you today, you'd probably be quite mad. Just because a kid has been using (probably like three apps and some games) an iPad their whole life doesn't automatically mean they're going to know how to work or build a computer. I believe that at some point, all digital natives turn into digital immigrants, because as technology develops, it's our job to make sure the newer generations can use it effectively. As a digital native myself, I feel like my teachers have always been very open and accepting of learning technology, even if they're a bit slow. That's besides the grumpy old ones, though, who claim nobody will use computers in five years. Honestly, it's always been a bit inspiring, because I've seen a lot of teachers seem so excited to have a new and better way to teach their subject, which has made it easier for me to learn. In the near future, I expect AI to be integrated into what kids use, and I think it's going to be very interesting to see how teachers overcome that.