EDUC 638_Week 6

What a week to reflect on technology!  Let me tell you it's a bittersweet one.  This week I was driving up to Vail, CO for the weekend.  I put in the destination's address into my "normally" trusted GPS system for the hotel I was going to stay in.  My GPS started to take me the route I was familiar with, but then wanted to take me a different route to avoid strenuous traffic.  I decided to let the device configure the distance and move on, and why not I would love to see some amazing scenery in the Rockies.  As the GPS toke me through the most amazing windy rode, I drank in the beauty of the color changing aspen leaves and recently fallen snow, almost forgetting the unfamiliarity.
Enjoying the view the device told me to go down this somewhat rocky rode.  I was skeptical at first but trusted the technology device.  Before I knew it I was making my Ford Explorer a work horse or some extreme adventurer on an off-roding expedition.  Before I knew it, I was in a narrow ravine with boulders and a river running through the middle of my car.  I was then cursing my (now untrusted) GPS system and trying not to roll my car.  The only way for me out of this situation was to go through because turning back wasn't an option.  The floods in Colorado which was two weeks ago cause this rode to be even more damaged...shocking I know because it technically wasn't a rode to begin with (but according to the GPS signal it was???) was washed away showing an antique aqueduct about 4 feel deep.  I decided to try and go over the side of this aqueduct, and it became stuck.
Extremely angry with technology I started to cry, curse, pray, problem-solve, survive, etc.  Me, now stuck in the middle of nowhere is wondering what I can do next.  I decided to let technology redeem itself by using my phone to call 911 and get a tow truck to help me.  Still having an argument with technology because my cell phone service keeps cutting out unless I stood on on foot and leaned my head a little to the right.  I managed to save myself with limited technology service.  I was rescued by 3 tow truck drivers and a sheriff and off I went back home, missing my Vail weekend.
The point being is that technology isn't always reliable but when it is it can save your life.

Hall, D. (2008). The Technology Director’s Guide to Leadership . Eugene: ISTE.

Picciano, A. (2011). Educational Leadership and Planning for Technology (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.