This comic is a play on the Mac vs. PC commercials that were on television several years ago where the PC was the older "nerdy" guy and the Mac was the young hip guy. Both Bic and Ticonderoga are types of pencils, so the comic makes a humorous connection between the two. The comic works in the context of the blog, which is a satirical take on the use of technology in schools. The blog is written by an educator named John Spencer. It supposedly takes place in a time where pencils were first introduced to schools, and the teacher meets opposition from higher ups in the school. It is basically stating that change is always met with opposition.
Why Were You Playing Games? is another post on this same blog. This post is a short fictitious scenario where a teacher is derided by his superior for "playing games" rather than working on "rote memorization." The teacher apparently had his students drawing (gasp!) and interacting with materials in a number of different ways. While the post (and the entire blog) is a humorous and satirical take on the current state of education, the problems the teacher faces are wholly based in reality. Often teachers are chided for attempting new ideas that may go against the grain. Much like the Mr. Winkle Wakes video, the blog suggests (rightfully so) that education hasn't advanced very much since 1895.
A helpful post on the basic idea of the blog can be found in the Why We Fall Behind post. This post is an allegorical tale of the issues current teachers face when trying to use new technology in the classroom. The scenario sounds very similar to what takes place in classrooms today, albeit with more handlebar mustaches.
Scott McLeod is one of the nations leading experts on K-12 technology education. He also co created the Did You Know? series of videos, which we watched earlier in EDM 310. His Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff Please blog post makes some excellent points about the resistance against technology in education. Basically his argument boils down to: No matter what "damaging" things kids may possibly come across when using technology in education, for them to not learn to use these tools would be doing them a MUCH greater disservice. Yes it is possible for technology to be used for the wrong reasons or as a distraction, but eliminating its use altogether would leave students a great deal behind their peers.
Well done.
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