Chapters 4 and 5- Advancing Technology and Its Issues

Reading this chapter was amusing because it predicted technologies that are going to happen in the future, which when this book was written means now. Everything they say is true; the small computers, the speech recognition devices, graphics on the computer that will hold students’ attention. Technology has come a long way and is advancing everyday. There is no longer a need for a PC because smart phones are capable of doing just about everything it does. Because of my smart phone I am able to receive and send emails, text messages, voice messages, listen to music, store pictures, and visit websites such as Google and Facebook. This is important because people who are always on the move, like myself, don’t always have time to sit at a computer to do all of the things we can do while were walking or working with our phone. Nowadays there is barely anybody who stays home all the time. Men and women work and go to school, have kids, and have to do other things like pay bills. Technology has become so advanced that I am able to pay my bill from my bank account by just clicking a button on my phone! How convenient is that?
Technology is great at helping all people and people with disabilities are able to fit in much more now with the general public. Deaf people and hearing impaired are able to hear and communicate with people, thanks to listening and alerting devices. People who are visually impaired can read because of large print on the computer and in books and they can enjoy the same books everybody else enjoys because of talking books.
The integration of technology is an excellent idea for classrooms because students with disabilities can feel like they are part of the general ed population instead of being isolated. There is no longer a need for bifocal glasses, or the big hearing aids that make children embarrassed and reluctant to learn with others. In the Special Education course that I was in last semester, the teacher taught about a lot of these devices and how useful they are. Without these devices, the inclusion classes wouldn’t be as productive as they are.
Technology is a great source of education in the classroom but can also be dangerous and illegal. If it weren’t for software that allows parents and teachers to keep track of what children do on the internet, there would be way more bad things happening, like abductions. More parents and teachers need to be aware of these software’s so they can protect their children.
The internet is very helpful but also very dangerous. I can’t even begin to count how many hundreds of spam email’s I receive every week. I don’t even open them but there are people who do. That’s when identity theft and other things come in. I’ve even received several emails from websites that I’ve visited that say they’ve been hacked and my information may have been given away without permission. It is so important that teachers and parents become educated about the mishaps of the internet so they can teach the children and keep them away from the negative things that can happen on the computer.