The fact that classrooms should be student-centered is something I learned a few semesters ago. It's something I had always considered a personal philosophy because it makes sense that the student should be the producer and the teacher should the facilitator of learning. In the context of technology, it is the student who makes use and takes of advantage of the technological tools and resources at their disposal to enhance learning. In addition, I think it is important for teachers to consider the purpose of the technology they use in the classroom and should never choose to use something without reason; as I mentioned, these resources should be used to enhance learning in some way or another and not merely as filler or as an alternative.
I also enourmously appreciate Blake's "teaching pigs to fly" analogy in this chapter. He suggests that trying to use technology to do what people do best can be compared to teaching pigs to fly, and I completely agree. It should not be our goal to seek out a technological tool as replacement for what teachers can do better; technology should be used, rather, as an enhancement, and with a purpose.
This chapter contained a lot of information that truly made me stop and think about how to implement some of the tools and resources we have learned about in this class. In this sort of "putting it all together" chapter, as Blake named it, I found a much needed larger perspective on technology that helped me see the bigger picture.
References:
Blake, R.J. (2008). Brave new digital classroom: Technology and foreign language learning. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
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