Part of my final for this Com 6910 class has to do with the problem of the educator’s anxiety when it comes to the use of media/technology in the classroom. As far as teacher’s anxiety with new media is concerned, the basic conclusion to this issue stems from generational gaps.
The problem of educators and their hesitation of the integration of new media has to do with the fact that unlike millennialist (Which make up a majority of college students today), they themselves were not brought up in the educational system with all the technological luxuries that are available today: they learned differently- were pretty much taught to synthesize information logically rather than referring to Wikipedia or simply googling something off the internet in order to do research on it.
A solution to this problem is that marriage of the two schools of thought: A synthesis of technology in the classroom as well as reasoning and logical methods of the traditional lecture. One few suggestions* that I can offer in order to make this happen and to help relieve stresses that teachers may feel in regards to being leery about the merging of technology in the classroom is conveyed as follows:
- Teacher Training- studies have shown that educators who utilize a mentor system or asks students who are more computer literate than they are to assist them in the classrooms are more likely to have a boost of confidence so to speak in the classroom (BNET, 2004)
- Improved school budgets in order to install better software/equipment in general
- Attitude/paradigm shifts
*These suggestions are provided by:
Another suggestion that is useful for this technology anxiety issue is this:
The intermingling of games such as Civilization and World of Warcraft in order to teach civilization courses on the aspects of peoples like Aztecs, Romans, and Mongols
This is a pointer and also a corporal punishment device. Seems like both this and the Horn-Book had dual purposes in terms of ‘educating’ the youths of that era.
Used throughout the 19th century in nearly all classrooms, a Boston school superintendent in 1870 described the slate as being “if the result of the work should, at any time, be found infelicitous, a sponge will readily banish from the slate all disheartening recollections, and leave it free for new attempts.’
Still going strong to this day, the chalkboard is one of the biggest inventions in terms of educational technology.
Just like the chalkboard, the pencil is also found in basically all classrooms in the U.S. In the late 19th century, mass-produced paper and pencils became more readily available and pencils eventually replaced the school slate.
At the turn of the century, the Keystone View Company began to market stereoscopes which are basically three-dimensional viewing tools that were popular in homes as a source of entertainment. Keystone View Company marketed these stereoscopes to schools and created hundreds of images that were meant to be used to illustrate points made during lectures.
Similar to the motion-picture projector, Thomas Edison predicted that, thanks to the invention of projected images, “books will soon be obsolete in schools. Scholars will soon be instructed through the eye.”
New York City’s Board of Education was actually the first organization to send lessons to schools through a radio station. Over the next couple of decades, “schools of the air” began broadcasting programs to millions of American students.
Initially used by the U.S. military for training purposes in World War II, overhead projectors quickly spread to schools and other organizations around the country.
While it was originally invented in 1888, it was not until 1940 that the ballpoint pen started to gain worldwide recognition as being a useful tool in the classroom and life in general. The first ballpoint pens went on sale at 
Surviving into the Xerox age, the mimeograph made copies by being hand-cranked. Makes you appreciate your current copier at least a little bit now, huh?
What would school be without videotapes? (Thanks to Jaume in the comments for reminding me about this one!) The electronics division of entertainer Bing Crosby’s production company, Bing Crosby Enterprises (BCE), gave the world’s first demonstration of a videotape recording in Los Angeles on November 11, 1951. Developed by John T. Mullin and Wayne R. Johnson since 1950, the device gave what were described as “blurred and indistinct” images, using a modified Ampex 200 tape recorder and standard quarter-inch (0.6 cm) audio tape moving at 360 inches (9.1 m) per second. A year later, an improved version, using one-inch (2.6 cm) magnetic tape, was shown to the press, who reportedly expressed amazement at the quality of the images, although they had a “persistent grainy quality that looked like a worn motion picture”.
With an adjustable metal bar that helped students tamp down a page, the reading accelerator was a simple device designed to help students read more efficiently. Personally, this looks like a torture device and is probably the least portable thing to bring along with a book. Is turning the page of a book or holding a book really that difficult?
B. F. Skinner, a behavioral scientist, developed a series of devices that allowed a student to proceed at his or her own pace through a regimented program of instruction.
By the early sixties, there were more than 50 channels of TV which included educational programming that aired across the country.
Xerographic office photocopying was introduced by Xerox in 1959, and it gradually replaced copies made by Verifax, Photostat, carbon paper, mimeograph machines, and other duplicating machines. The prevalence of its use is one of the factors that prevented the development of the paperless office heralded early in the digital revolution[citation needed].Photocopying is widely used in business, education, and government. There have been many predictions that photocopiers will eventually become obsolete as information workers continue to increase their digital document creation and distribution, and rely less on distributing actual pieces of paper.
A secretary made this white liquid in her kitchen and sold the company to Gillette for about $50 million. The rest is (redacted) history!
A precursor to the iPad perhaps, this filmstrip viewer is a simple way to allow individual students watch filmstrips at their own pace.
The predecessor of the much-loved and much-used TI-83, this calculator paved the way for the calculators used today. There were initial concerns however as teachers were slow to adopt them for fear they would undermine the learning of basic skills.
The Scantron Corporation removed the need for grading multiple-choice exams. The Scantron machines were free to use but the company made money by charging for their proprietary grading forms. Sneaky stuff.
Personal note: I love the two-tone outfit.
A single CD could store an entire encyclopedia plus video and audio. The CD-ROM and eventually the CD-RW paved the way for flash drives and easy personal storage.
The successor to the hand-held calculator (see above), the graphing calculator made far more advanced math much easier as it let you plot out points, do long equations, and play ‘Snake’ as a game when you got bored in class.
The chalkboard got a facelift with the whiteboard. That got turned into a more interactive system that uses a touch-sensitive white screen, a projector, and a computer. Still getting slowly rolled out to classrooms right now, betcha didn’t know they were first around in 1999! (I didn’t know that, at least)
There are many similar tools available now, but 
The ‘One Laptop Per Child’ computer was built so it was durable and cheap enough to sell or donate to developing countries. It’s an incredible machine that works well in sunlight, is waterproof, and much more. 
Just like the original school slate, could the iPad bring Thomas Edison’s statement to life? Could the iPad make it so “scholars will soon be instructed through the eye.” Only time will tell.
This Communications Convergence class has been interesting thus far; even from reading some of the fascinating posts that my classmates have posted on our facebook page, there is much to consider in the realm of media and social networking.
diamondintherough25 
