Missing the Snail Mail

Snail mail is a slang term for the regular postal service (for example, the Philippine Postal Service) with the implication that it is a lot slower than e-mail . It's worth noting, perhaps, that in the early days of the Internet, it was proposed that the Philippine Post Office manage e-mail. Electronic messages would come to your local post office and then be delivered to you along with the regular mail. The proposal was not considered for very long.

 

Snail mail or not, one must acknowledge that regular postal services offer a number of valuable services not likely to be available soon on the World Wide Web.

Normal postal mail, where an actual physical letter or package is delivered. The term didn't exist until electronic mail (e-mail) became so prevalent that there was a requirement to differentiate the two. Obviously, the term was invented by e-mail aficionados as a small barb directed at the relative slowness of physical transportation. 

 

 Snail mail experienced

 

  Before e-mail became the fashion, the Philippine Postal Office was my favorite bearer of (good or bad) news. As fate would have it, my young romantic relationships were carried long distance and receiving letters through the mail was my most cherished occasion. You see, the mailman often brought me letters from loved ones.

With the advent of modern technology came the most precious cyber invention ever (at least in my book)… e-mail!  Not only do we save in paper and postage costs (which has probably contributed to the Philippine Postal Service financial hardship), but people whose communication of choice is the e-mail system have found a valuable time-saver in their contact method with the people in their lives.

These days people can talk to each other despite the barrier of distance and time zones… in real time.  No doubt about it, we live in a technologically amazing world where information is available at the click of the keyboard 24/7.

 

But, honestly, I can’t help but reminisce the good old days when a handwritten postmarked letter would bring joy to my heart.  When I was much, much younger, Mr. Postman was my favorite person in the whole universe.  I longed for the moment when he would make his presence known by announcing mail in our mailbox.  The truth is, being such an incurable romantic, I lived for that moment.  Nothing else mattered but the feel of a handwritten, postmarked and stamped envelope in my young hand.

These days I am still fond of the mailman even though letters via the PPS hardly comes to me anymore.  All I get now are unsolicited mail from entrepreneurs who want my involvement in their business or letters from charities who are interested in my donation.   And because it’s election time in my neck of the woods, I receive a great deal of campaign materials from candidates who are courting my vote.

No doubt about it, we live in a fast-paced universe.  People are moving at a speedy rate as though there is no tomorrow.  Although I prefer the swift and efficient turnaround of things, I sometimes crave for the slowness of tempo… taking each moment at leisure and savoring the joy it brings.  Maybe that is why I miss letters from Mr. Postman.  You see, reading a letter gives me an excuse to pause and savor that luxury. 

On that rare occasion, the world can simply wait!

Education and Technology: What is the effect of technology? Is it worth the cost?

Take a look at how to evaluate the effectiveness of technology implementation.

·  The Technology Effectiveness Framework was developed to assist educators, researchers, and policymakers in evaluating technology and technology-enhanced programs/curricula against specific reform goals for a school, district, state, or service agency."

 

Technology Effectiveness Framework

 

       Ask yourself the following questions: What are the learning goals to which technology applies? How are these learning goals moving the school toward reform? How will a technology-enhanced curriculum support instructions that addresses those learning goals? Does the technology-enhanced approach help restructure the school to meet its plant for educational reform? Do the students achieve the learning goals using the technology-enhanced curriculum? Can the school implement cost-efficient technologies given its goals and current realities? Can the school extend or adapt less functional technologies so that they are more functional to support a global community of learners in sustained learning that is challenging and authentic? Are there funding strategies/partnerships that can reduce the cost? How can a school continuously plan to use technology to reach for more powerful learning goals and reform?

 

       Keep in mind the following variables that define learning: The goals and metaphors that drive learning and instructions (vision of learning). The tasks that ultimately define the nature and level of achievement as well as the curriculum. The assessment principles and practice. The instructional model. The characteristics of the learning context including where learning takes place, the nature of the learning environment, the nature of the relationship among teachers and students. The learner roles and the teacher roles.

 

       Maintain the new definition of Technology Effectiveness to include: Authentic and multi-disciplinary task. Addresses important issues and problems in the real world. Performance-based assessment. Interactive models of instruction. Heterogeneous groupings, collaboration, students exploration and teacher as facilitator. 

 

What are the features of technology that promote engaged learning and effective instruction?

  

       Access: connectivity and interconnectivity, design for equitable use. Operability: interoperability, open architecture, transparency. Resource location and direction: distributed, user control of input, designed for collaborative project. Capacity for engagement: provide access to authentic and challenging tasks, interesting and useful databases or information sets and powerful relationships, take charge of learning, problem solving and exploring, provide information that is just in time and just enough, make explicit what is typically implicit, diagnose learning problems, adapt the system output and learning opportunities in light of diagnoses, customize learning for specific interests, levels of ability and learning preferences. Ease of use: effective help, user friendliness, speed of processing and operations, user control, training and support. Functionality: prepare learners for diversity of technology functions used in the workplace and homes in the 21sst Century, develop skills for programming and authoring, develop skills related to project design and implementation.

 

How can the administration use technology? 

        Administrator’s new responsibilities must include supporting the efforts of their staff to adopt and adapt new technologies in order to achieve new levels of productivity and achievement. In effect, managers must provide the vision of change that includes empowering teachers and learners in new ways and then must learn how to effectively manage these empowered teachers and learners. Administration - much broader and more fluid group of players and functions to  manage.Administrative uses of technology allow teachers to spend less time on cumbersome paperwork and more time on educational content and working with students. "In many ways, the schools of brick and tradition we have built or inherited are threatened. Our schools may yet incorporate the use of the Internet deep into their psyche and embrace global learning opportunities, or they may ignore the implications of an on-line environment, only to find that they, like the clergy in a post-Gutenberg press world, are no longer the primary brokers of learning and education."

 

How will students and teachers be impacted with the implementation of new technology?

 

        There is less "teaching" when learning is happening online. "…teaching in an on-line setting challenges teachers to shift paradigms and use a constructivist model of learning that creates roles for other mentors and experts."  Teacher from sage on the stage to guide on the side: mentor and coach. Teachers collaborate more.  

 

In SRI Report (page 2) it was found that when the discrete skills approach is discarded and students are given tasks that are meaningful and challenging to them (e.g., describe your city through an exhibit for museum visitors), the result will be working on basic and advanced skills together (e.g., preparing displays will require attention to both high-level issues of content and design and the basic skills of writing mechanics). It will also usually involve doing multidisciplinary work (e.g., describing the city means assembling geographic and historical information as well as practicing composition skills). Such authentic tasks not only bread with the convention of holding off on work involving advanced skills until mastery of basic skills has been demonstrated but also transcend the traditional disciplinary boundaries that are used to break up the typical school day into short segments. The greater complexity of such tasks puts pressure on the convention of small blocks of time for individual activities. Serious intellectual activity requires more than 50 minutes of concentrated attention. 

 

Technology offers the opportunity to change the roles that teachers and students have traditionally played. With technology dispensing information, teachers are free to coach and facilitate students learning. With technology monitoring learning, students can become active learners, working to effectively acquire new skills as they solve problems. If the goal of creating high-performance learning organizations is to be realized, the reinvention of American education has to incorporate these new tools." 

 

Benefits to Educational Practices:

 

"New technologies provide the potential for drawing the policymakers themselves, information resources, and all other components of the system 'toward a politics of collaboration."

 

"Computers and telecommunication systems are driving changes in how we manage educational organizations, how we teach, and how our students learn."

 

"Technology: Equity is addressed by an increase in state and local funding, school-business partnerships, development of tech-based community learning centers."

 

"Technology-rich classrooms are most successful when advanced technologies are linked with advanced teaching strategies; such as cooperative learning, thinking skills, guided inquiry, and thematic teaching."

On Virtual Socialization

I wil c ya l8r...nice to meet ya...long time no c...wr the heck hv u bin....

 

This cool lingo being spoken (read scribbled) by every other wannabe is the new way to be spotted amongst hip-hop bunch of dudes and dudettes. Orkut, Friendster, Hi5, Facebook, and MySpace-do these names sound familiar to you? These are examples of social networking sites. Such sites allow people to make new friends, send messages, share photos, etc. In recent times, these sites have become very popular amongst old and young alike the world over. Rather than going out in the sun, they would happily dole out a couple of hours gawking on the computer screens and chatting with the friends and the strangers alike. Most of the people count heavily on the social networking sites as a mere connection that binds them to the world. When the society is undergoing transformation with every passing moment, it is more than inevitable that our routines and customs are too affected by the winds of change. The beginning of this millennium has been witnessing major technological advancements and that tiny mobile phone tucked in your hand is the beau ideal.

 

With the social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook, AOL becoming the staple of the young breed, socialization has altogether assumed a new meaning. Be it a school going chirpy kid or a professional, everybody counts upon these social networking sites to meet their social needs. Only few years' back, you would have gladly counted reading, playing, and dancing as one of the favorite pastimes. Don't retreat to that distant heaven if one of these days, someone proudly announces or kutting to be his/hers. This is the new buzzword that has completely changed the face of socialization for all times to come.

 

Earlier people dropped at each other's place out of social courtesy and to spend some quality time among their peers. With the recent metamorphosis in the social fabric and means of reaching out, all your near n dear ones are just a click away with such immensely popular social networking portals. Indeed, the world has shrunk into a small place. The netizens fix the virtual appointments on the net, make new friends, join communities, and share their opinions. It has become the hottest and ultimate destination to fall in love across barriers and to create life-long ties. These social networking sites offers you a world of fantasies and reality bites packed spruced up to your tastes.

 

But along haunts the age-old hearsay, every coin has two sides to it. Technology has its own boons and horrifying tales to dictate. Like every other technological gizmos, social networking sites too demands a dose of alertness on the part of the users. There is no dearth of people who use such portals with fake identities. People from the four corners of the world can view social networking sites like Orkut, MySpace and Facebook and a bit of carelessness with the photos and the information you post can land you in deep waters. Although, you can seek like-minded individuals and catch up with your online buddies but you need to be well aware of the potential danger of revealing too much information on your profile.

 

Also keep away from the hatred communities doing the rounds on such portals. Always bear in mind that the entertainment should have a constructive element rather than proving to be lump in your thought process. If you are outrageously taken with these portals, don't throw caution to the winds and follow everything blindly. The cyber crime is at an all time high and such criminals are always on the lookout for an easily entrapped scapegoat and you can be the possible victim. Next time you give out the personal details on a network, ensure the right identity of the other person. Remember, sometimes trusting a stranger can be life threatening. A bit of extra care will make your virtual world safe from the possible perils of the criminal's treacherous plots.