Project Classroom Makeover By Cathy Davidson's 'Project Classroom Makeover'

Ever since the existence of civilization, a fine boundary exists between human’s self-motivation and the expectation of social mechanism. As society progresses, this boundary is being gradually pushed against the will of individuals and favors the social construct. Unlike how people in the past were often inspired by their individual desires and goals, members of the new generation develop a perception of success that is heavily bounded by society’s expectations. Nonetheless, there are still individuals who are also motivated by their own values and dreams. These people are willing to step outside of the realm of ‘standard success’ and strive for what constitutes as success in their opinion. The following texts- “Project Classroom

Cathy Davidson is an English and humanities professor at Duke University. She has published over twenty books, many dealing with technology and education. In “Project Classroom Makeover,” she argues that the way the United States teaches students is not preparing them for the skills needed for success in the twenty-first century. To illustrate her point, Professor Davidson presents the historical development of the educational system in the U.S. She differentiates “high standards” from “standardization” and stresses the need for education to offer rigor, relevance, and relationship (201).

In earlier times, the acquisition and spreading of knowledge was not used to improve society. Instead, it was used to have control and to exclude certain groups. It may have been agreed that there needed to be a change in the way that the education system was set up. In her essay, “Project Classroom Makeover”, Cathy Davidson discusses how the “one size fits all” model of learning hinders students from learning in a new and modernized way. She suggests the notion that using technology to teach and learn can be effective in many ways. Davidson shows that using technology presents the opportunity for a traditional classroom to become more inclusive and creative. The “democratization of knowledge” is the improvement and modernization of how information is taught and learned. Having a modernized and advanced learning system is a vital point for students because they gain insight and experience with what is considered a society dominated by advanced technology. Since technology has become a dominant resource in the 21st century, it should be used as a teaching tool in order to produce educational, professional and overall success.

As society advances and the boundary between people becomes seemingly less apparent, many individuals attempt to promote various plans based on the concept of equality. Anyhow, many so-called egalitarian plans would inevitably result in failure because their proponents blindly believe in the efficiency of equality. They neglect how people are motivated to improve and to test their limits by their instinct to compete. In her writing “Project Classroom Makeover”, Cathy Davidson proposes egalitarian plans consist of a “democratization of knowledge” (54) which depends on crowdsourcing and “working together collectively” (51). In Davidson’s perspective, problems will be solved by allowing everyone the equal opportunity to express themselves. However, Karen Ho’s research directly shows the impracticality of her plans by explicitly revealing the existence of hierarchy in her writing, “Biographies of Hegemony”. As shown by Ho’s research, no matter how alluring Davidson’s plans seem, they will not come about. Because Davidson’s idealistic plans disregard human beings’ instinct to strive and fight for what they valued. Such egalitarian plans will not be executed with hierarchy deeply rooted in our society, results precisely from human’s desire to compete with each other.

The present is always changing into a better future. There have been many jobs in the past that do not even exist now due to the presence of technology. Nowadays, technology has become a major part of our lives and created a huge change in this world, and gives an opportunity for children to enhance their creativity and adapt to change quickly. In Cathy Davidson’s article, “Project Classroom Makeover”, Davidson discusses how vital the process of unlearning is to students and present education system. Unlearning discourages students from learning in a fashion that has all the pre-set directions, and gives independence to students so that they can explore with creativity. The process of unlearning is quite beneficial as it gives an opportunity for contemporary America to enhance creativity, embrace change, and become more independant.

In this information age, most people have access to multiple high-tech devices and they start to become dependent on those devices. Cathy Davidson, a famous American scholar and university professor at Duke University, proposed some new ideas of technology to change people’s lives from the perspective of education. In her article “Project Classroom Makeover”, she argues how the information age has created a new model for education which further change how students learn as well as how instructors teach. The participatory model, she promotes is described as a “student-led curiosity, whose object was not a bunk of white plastics, but the very nature of interactivity, crowdsourcing, customizing and inspired inquiry-driven problem solving” (54).

In today’s world, many people believe that technology’s sole purpose is to draw young people away from the real world and reality. Just because you do not realize it, it does not mean it is not happening. If you think back to when you were younger, was technology the same as today? However, technology is forever changing and improving. It affects everyone, not just the young group of people. Technology changes our brains, souls, and our very being. Once technology sucks you into the whole of its essence, you will have a hard time changing your life style.

Today’s society is more affected by technology than it ever has been and it is changing every second of every day. Advancements in technology have been changing our culture and society for hundreds of years; from hunters and gatherers to information overload to a future of the most advanced technologies we could imagine. These fast advancements in technology quickly change our society. This statement was greatly expanded upon by three people: Gerhard Lenski, Leslie White, and Alvin Toffler

Technology has played an integral part in shaping society in many different ways. Throughout history, technological inventions have changed everything from the way humans are clothed and fed to the very ways we communicate and interact as a species. Examining the effects technology has on society illustrate both how technology shapes culture and society and how society can affect future technology. This can be seen by examining a few of the major technological innovations in human history followed by a look at a new technology and how it may shape future society.

The critics of the computer revolution recognize the adversities of utilising computers that ranges from personal to communal to societal.

The evolution of technology has changed society in both positive and negative ways. People all over the world use and benefit from modern technology. Technology has simplified the access to many tools people need in education, medicine, communication, transportation, etc. However, using it too often has its drawbacks as well. In most cases, the time of finishing projects is cut by more than half with the help of technology. Many people do not realize that technology has its negative affects society as well, and its rapid advances has changed life for worse in a number of different ways.

Technology is continuously developing and has begun creating shortcuts for the American society. As a society we need to find a balance between our technological use and our everyday life. In my opinion, society has become too dependent on technology. The more advanced technology becomes, the more it seems to be gaining control over our lives. Even though technology is offering society many beneficial qualities; it also is causing many negative effects to occur. Technology is affecting society socially, mentally, and physically.

During the nineteenth century, a new piece of technology sewed its very first stitches into the evolution of man. This piece of technology is no other than the beloved computer. Computers seemed like something that would be impossible to be made widespread, and something that would never enter people’s personal lives, but because of the willpower of man to create, these obstacles were easily surpassed and led to new ideas. Computers help business, science, manufacturing, and many other fields of work flourish. People were able to become more productive, and many new tasks that were impossible to achieve before became very easy to solve.

As someone with extensive computer literacy, I understand the importance of being able to be efficient with the use of computers. Whether it is at school, or at the workplace, the struggles and inefficiency I see people have with computers results in a lot of wasted time and effort. The internet, and computers, play such a giant role in the day-to-day life of human beings that if computers were all wiped out tomorrow, humans would have a very difficult time in adapting to life afterwards. If you do not have the proper computer literacy in 2017, you are at a significant disadvantage to the rest of your peers. In this essay, I will highlight some of the causes of computer illiteracy, its effects on people’s

Microsoft’s Bill Gates once said “I think it 's fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we 've ever created. They 're tools of communication, they 're tools of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user” and I agree, computers have become powerful tools to many of us. Offering adaptability to create and share all sorts of