4-4 Using Technology As A Creator - Not Just A Consumer

In this lesson you will learn that there are differences between using technology as a consumer versus using technology as a producer/creator. As students, you will be required to use technology to produce and create. This means having a different level of knowledge as well as the ability to use web based tools to create, collaborate, and communicate. 

Activity 1

Think about the difference(s) between someone who is a consumer and someone who is a producer/creator. In your personal life, you consume technology when you watch movies, play games, and shop on the Internet. As a consumer, you use technology mainly for entertainment and to get information.

In your school/student life, you are being asked to use technology in more productive and creative ways. For example, you are creating presentations, writing, doing research, making videos, interacting with others, etc. The knowledge and skills you will need to be successful as a technology using student will require you to produce more and more complex projects. For example, you will eventually be required to do research, compile data, create charts and graphs, publish your findings, and interact with others about your research in synchronous (like Face Time or Skype) meetings all via the Internet.

Being a producer/creator is way more interesting and a lot more fun than being a consumer but your brain will have to get accustomed to being turned on and busy. If your brain has gotten a little lazy (kind of like couch potato brain) it will be hard at first to make the switch from consumer to producer. This activity will help you get started.

The problem

You have just met an alien from another planet. The alien is very smart and even speaks English but she has never seen an iPad or any personal computing device. She is totally fascinated with this technology but she is from a planet where information is shared through visual transmissions (not text).

The solution

Your job is to show her how to use an iPad like the one you have without writing anything down. In other words, you have to figure out a way to give her a visual tour of your iPad. You can use symbols (like arrows, "X", and boxes) but no words. She can't read. You can record a video, do screenshots and put them in a slide show or Prezi, make a comic strip (no words) or create a game (again no words). Since she speaks English, you can explain by recording your voice but if you put something in writing, she will melt down and flee to her home planet never to return.

You can post your finished project as a Media Recording or File Upload

Activity 2

Open a Text Entry wiki and reflect on what you learned about being a technology user who had to create/produce. What did you like about the challenge? What didn't you like?