Blog Post #2

    I have been using Microsoft Word for many years, as have most of us, I'm sure. It is the most widely used word processing system for a reason, as it is intuitive, user-friendly, and has many features that make both simple and complex projects easy. As a Literature, Media, and Culture major, I spend a great deal of my time academically in word processing systems. The two I use most frequently are Microsoft Word and Google Docs. Although Microsoft Word is the system I have used primarily throughout my education, during my time at FSU, Google Docs has become the tool I use the most for word processing for several reasons. Firstly, the collaborative functions on Google Docs far outshine those of Microsoft Word. During my time on the executive board of Dance Marathon at FSU, Google Docs was used to create and share meeting agendas, work together on POAs for our major fundraising pushes, and to receive feedback and comments on the work I was doing by others on my team. I would not have been able to accomplish these tasks with the same ease on Microsoft Word that I was able to achieve on Google Docs. Also, the auto-save function on Google Docs has been my savior more than a few times. I can be quite a forgetful person at times, and I have lost entire papers in the past for neglecting to save them on Microsoft Word. The auto-save feature on Google Docs has kept me from repeating that mistake and has saved me more time than I would like to admit.

    Of the ISTE Standards for Educators, the one that resonates the most with me is 2.3 Citizen, and more specifically, 2.3.c: Model Safe, Legal, Ethical Practices. As technology becomes more prevalent, it unfortunately becomes increasingly unsafe for all people, but especially those who are young and vulnerable. As a teacher, I think it is important to model for students how to use these resources in a way that is helpful to their education, but more importantly, in a way that keeps them safe. Ensuring that students know how to spot unsafe or potentially dangerous websites, messages, and the like is critical when asking them to be online. Also, doing things in a way that is legal is especially important for an English classroom when teaching students how to properly cite sources and find information in a way that is acceptable. Teaching students how to use technology is not enough. We also need to be teaching students how to do so safely.

    I think the topic of a "digital native" is quite an interesting one. I do think that there is truth to the idea, as it seems that those who grow up with technology seem to be much more adept not only at using technology, but also to adapting to its changes. While I believe that "digital immigrants" are very capable of learning technology and become just as proficient as "digital natives," I think that it requires more work for them to do so. It reminds me of a native speaker of a language and a speaker who learns the language later in life. While a later-in-life speaker of a language may be able to point out exactly why a sentence is grammatically incorrect, the native speaker can tell simply by the way it feels or sounds. The later-in-life speaker may understand the technicalities and rules, but for the native speaker, the language is ingratiated in them in an entirely different way. I find that "digital natives" and "digital immigrants" are similar in this way. While a "digital immigrant" may be able to use technology just as well as a "digital native," the latter understands the underpinnings of technology in a way that goes deeper than a "digital immigrant" could hope to learn.