July 21, 2006: Mr. Trevor Doerksen

Entering into day two of the humanities course, I have to admit that I have really been enjoying the use of guest speakers to address different issues. Not just them addressing these issues but the platforms that have been used. Today, we listened to Trevor Doerksen and the one main thing that jumped out to me was a statement: "Life if about relationships". There is an amazing amount of technology and development happening with students engaged in many different types. The real reason they venture down this road is becuase they want to, they need to communicate. The students do want to talk and they use a number of different platforms to do this. I know that sometimes as an older person, I can look at these technologies (cell phones, msn etc.) as distractions, whereas it is just a different way, a new way to communicate. Learning and communication are directly related. It is through communication that we learn, not the passing on of information. Trevor also offers a number of virtual field trips, which certainly sound like a great resource to bring students into environments which they may not otherwise get the opportunity. It's interactive way, promotes communication and learning. One other underlying theme that seemed to be present in Trevor's presentation is the thought that we often jump into "expensive" things without thought or perhaps patience. One example given was the SuperNet, which cost millions of dollars and now we hae Ipods that can do a better job in the classroom. All in all I enjoyed the talk, but was looking forward to Matt and Trevor getting into a rather active debate...