Let Them Blog

I just got finished reading through the handout from class on Wednesday, and I couldn't help but being reminded of a similar article I had read recently. I am a very "pro-technology" type of guy. Over the course of this blog, I will certainly make reference to several educational thinkers and advanced philosophies regarding the use of instructional technologies, and this was the first.

Huffaker refers to the use of blogging as a great way to teach "verbal, visual and digital literacy." Similarly, Marc Prensky (who I reference... often) believes that computer PROGRAMMING is the new literacy. Now, I'm sure some people see these as completely separate schools of thought, but to me the bottom line is the same: Gone are the old traditional philosophies of rote teaching methods (like... A,B,C's are what we need to be teaching first to our Kindergartners) and here are the days where technology education will form the very basis for what are students will need to be able to know or do.

The article is literally titled "PROGRAMMING: The New Literacy", and I promise I will TRY to find a copy available online to link to here, but for now, the hard copy (and the copy in my head) are all I have. Prensky has several other works out there, some of them with notions too radical even for me, but you should check him out. A lot of what he says will shake many of your fundamental educational philosophies to their core.... And that's a good thing!