Technology - Why are you using it? (Week 6)

An article on ReadWrite caught my interest.  Perhaps, it's because I can personally relate to it.  Sometimes technology is not good for an industry, and it can actually dumb it down.  Dan Rowinski recently contributed a post entitled "When Smart Phones are the Wrong Tool for the Wrong Job."  "The Chicago Sun-Times, a newspaper with a long and rich history, just fired its entire staff of photo journalists. In their place? The Sun-Times is going to teach every reporter the basics of iPhone photography... This comes under the category of, 'just because you can do something and it will be cheaper and easier, doesn’t mean you bloody well should.'"    Essentially, the paper is firing photographers who have trained and studied the craft and art form.  Instead, reporters will pick up their responsibilities and cover the photography end of the business with their iPhones. This certainly will save the paper a ton of money because surely the reporters aren't going to receive a salary increase when this duty is added to their day.  What's more - I believe the content and quality of the images will certainly suffer.  The biggest impact will be on the group that paper serves, and that's the community.

Technology, especially in the world of news media, has made it possible for nearly anyone to capture photos and video just about anywhere.  Video and photos from citizen-journalists are everywhere, and news outlets seek this type of eyewitness element.  However, the individuals who are studied, trained and hired in this area, still need to be the ones who are out doing the news-gathering.  Otherwise, the product will suffer, as it certainly has.  As a former journalist, I worked in a newsroom when the station made a big switch in technology.  The new technology was great in that it allowed everyone to be able to edit video - not just the editors.  This took work away from our trained editors who were top-notch in creating news stories for viewers.  It also added a ton of work onto my day with ZERO compensation for it.  I could go on and on about this, and unless you have actually experienced something like this, it may be hard to comprehend.

Bringing this back to the classroom - I think this relates.  It's great that we have technology and that teachers are furiously trying to incorporate it into the classroom.  However, I think that we have to step back sometimes and look at why we are using the technology.  Are we doing it just to say we are?  Or does it actually support and enhance a lesson or learning activity?  We shouldn't "fire" or get rid of a classic activity just to put the smartphone in the hand of a student.  Sometimes paper and pencils are still a good thing to have.

Rowinski, D.  "When Smart Phones are the Wrong Tool for the Wrong Job."  ReadWrite.com.  31 May 2013.  Web.  Retrieved 2 June 2013.  <http://readwrite.com/2013/05/31/when-the-mobile-ification-of-business-goes-horribly-wrong>