Brandy Brown

EDU 225
October 5, 2014
David Larson
Technology to Support Communication
Technology has made some impressive advancements in a short period of time. When
you wanted to contact someone you would either have to write a letter by hand or call someone
on a community line. We now have private landlines, but even those are becoming a thing of the
past. Many people use their cell phones for their sole communication with the outside world.
Although there appears to be a reluctance to embrace new pedagogical approaches in the early
years, the research in this field suggests that the funds of knowledge children bring with them to
learning include technological funds which should be used for literacy learning (McLean,
2013).We can communicate many ways with technology such as, email, social media, and video
calls (Skype, FaceTime, etc.).
Communication is absolutely essential between parents, students, and teachers. Email is a
wonderful way for teachers and parents to have a conversation throughout the day whenever it is
convenient for them. If parents have access to a computer with a modem, survey them once a
year to find out what they would like you as a teacher to do with the computer. Much of my
communication occurs via e-mail. This is the most convenient form of communication for many
people (Ramirez, 2001). They are able to respond with information that could be useful for
either party. One of the best features about email is that you can save them and reference them at
another time. Technology can be used as a communication tool in both pleasant and unfortunate
circumstances.
There has been an impressively large wave or communication occur through social
media. Parents can check in and see what their child is doing by looking at their childs social
media page or pages. A teacher can create a group for the parents to view to see upcoming
events, updates, and even create topic discussions that would benefit their relationship with the
parents and students. Social media has also allowed nations to converse with one another without
having a long distance fee. One of the advantages of this would be a teacher reaching out to
someone in another country to understand their culture better. Once the teacher would deem this
person reliable and safe, she could allow class projects and communications with this person.
This would be an experience for the students to learn about a different culture and communicate
with someone who is outside of their community. The teacher can even provide parents with this
persons information so that they can see who their children will be talking about and research
the person and their page themselves, so that they will be offered peace of mind.
Another great resource would be video calls. The most popular tools used for video
calling would be Skype or FaceTime. These forms of communications could allow the teacher
and students the chance to even talk with the person who they are researching and
communicating with via social media. This would provide the students an opportunity to see a
different side of the world without having to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles away.
This would be an experience for them to witness a different culture and lifestyle of others in a
different country.
Overall, technology can bring us together in ways we might not have thought possible.
We can communicate with each other on a daily basis. We are not limited to how many times we
can interact with someone and we can even do it at our own convenience. Even though
technology is a wonderful thing, there still are dangers. Students should always feel safe. A
complete prosumer would be a Booster of the communication and interaction between emitters
and receptors, the Organizer of the resources that are required for the production of creative,
critical and responsible content, favoring democratic participation, and the Producer of new
messages, shouldering the responsibility of caring for the technological, artistic, ethical and
moral quality of the final product (GARCA-RUIZ, RAMREZ-GARCA, & RODRGUEZ-
ROSELL, 2014). Technology is a wonderful resource and should be used properly. As long as
we are using video calls, emails, and social media properly, technology is a step in the right
direction.










References
GARCA-RUIZ, R., RAMREZ-GARCA, A., & RODRGUEZ-ROSELL, M. M. (2014). Media
Literacy Education for a New Prosumer Citizenship. Retrieved from
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=1feaf4d3
-b8f5-44de-ac63-257fd94badd5%40sessionmgr4001&vid=10&hid=4111
McLean, K. (2013). Literacy and technology in the early years of education: Looking to the
familiar to inform educator practice. Retrieved from
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=1feaf4d3
-b8f5-44de-ac63-257fd94badd5%40sessionmgr4001&vid=27&hid=4111

Ramirez, F. (2001). Technology and Parental Involvement. Retrieved from
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=1feaf4d3
-b8f5-44de-ac63-257fd94badd5%40sessionmgr4001&vid=14&hid=4111

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