Is Google Making us Stupid?
After researching and reviewing both the affirmative team arguments and the negative team arguments my opinion remains the same. I do not think Google is making us stupid. There were some legitimate arguments in favor of the theory, but overall my opinion stands.
As with any new technology it can be used as a source for growth and development, but can also have negative effects. Google and internet access has been a source for people to access information easily and efficiently. Information that took hours to find can now be found in minutes. We still need to cross check our references for accuracy and authenticity, but that is also true when researching in the traditional sense. The web 2.0 has increased our ability to access tons of information and anyone with access to a computer could essentially educate themselves on just about any topic, both informally and formally. The argument that we are merely skimming rather than deep reading is valid. Observation of my own behavior since reading this information has proven this true, however that is probably equally true when researching in the traditional sense. Finally, the idea that students are used to being entertained and expect to be entertained in the classroom is arguable as well. I question this notion again from my own experience. I was bored throughout most of my secondary education. Traditional lecture based courses were un-engaging and most courses were taught in the traditional agrarian style learning environment. Students today know there are alternatives. They know they don’t have to sit through a boring presentation in a traditional classroom structure to get the information, they can simply turn to the internet to get the information they want and need. Learning Designers should embrace technology and the power is holds as an alternative to presenting course information in a creative and engaging format.
My contribution to the voicethread debate consisted on helping Misty coordinate, researching and organizing information for the initial post as well as providing comments to the slides. For the rebuttal I also researched and organized information. Our group worked well together. We cooperated in dividing up the work and then collaborated and pulled it all together. In my opinion the rebuttal went a little smoother than the initial post.
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