Welcome to Students Incorporated, a podcast exploring the topics of business, education,
technology and design.
I'm your host, Mr. Jason.
Join me weekly as my team and I produce content that's informative, positive, fun and uplifting.
Episodes include student conversations, interviews with thought leaders and inspirational stories
with an international flavor.
This podcast is created and produced with the help of students from the International
Community School of Bangkok.
In today's episode, we get into some tech talk with Mr. James about the subject of educational
technology, then followed by a discussion about the pros and cons of technology.
I'm joined by co-hosts Rebecca and Premi.
Before we get into segment one, let's hear our quote of the day and get some headline
news.
Our quote of the day comes from George Corros.
He is quoted to have said, technology will never replace great teachers, but in the hands
of great teachers, it's transformational.
This quote emphasizes the importance of teachers in the educational system, acknowledging that
technology alone cannot replicate the impact of a talented teacher.
However, when used effectively by skilled educators, technology has the power to revolutionize
the learning experience.
Here are some tech-focused news headlines.
Our first headlines come from two days ago, the Global Tech Summit 2023 held in Seoul,
South Korea, where business and political experts came to discuss the role that technology
could play in solving global issues.
The summit also provides participants the opportunity to learn from talks and connect
with speakers.
The Global Tech Summit also works with local host country partners, providing better insights
into some of the local tech trends.
And now onto the topic of blockchain.
Blockchain event organizer IBEO will be collaborating with its partners to host a 2023 tech investment
show at the Queen's Seiriki National Convention Center from October 26 to 29.
The event will be mainly focused on business and technology with an additional focus on
sustainability.
There will be speakers from around the world attending different panel sessions and activities
that will allow participants to develop sustainable business practices and more.
And finally, in another controversial move after taking over Twitter and rebranding it
X, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has recently stated in an interview that X will be considering
adding a small fee for all its users.
This is to help combat the many bots on the platform.
The statement was met with widespread dissatisfaction with X users voicing their disapproval on
the site.
The addition of a monthly fee to the site may cause more users to withdraw from the
platform, which could then have effects on its short-term profitability.
Thank you for the quote and news headlines.
Speaking of tech platforms, did you know Students Incorporated is listed on six podcast streaming
platforms such as Spotify, Apple, Google, and several others?
We're also on Instagram, YouTube, and X, formerly known as Twitter.
I wanted to point that out so our listeners know we are not just a one platform show.
So depending on your platform preference, you should be able to find us.
Okay, let's jump into our first segment.
Welcome to the show, Mr. James.
Would you like to introduce yourself and then tell us a little bit about yourself, as well
as what inspired you to major in technology?
Hi, thank you for helping me.
I have been a teacher at ICS for 15 years, always in middle school, loving it and enjoying
it.
Oh wow, that's great.
That's quite a long time too.
And thank you so much.
Now jumping into our first question, if you could change your name for a day, what would
it be?
I probably wouldn't change my name because Student Ori is calling me Mr. Handsome James.
So I want to keep that not just for a day, but just for a year maybe.
What's some of the coolest technology you've seen in a movie or TV show recently?
I love Mission Impossible.
I like the theme sound too.
Yeah, and I don't want to spoil the movie, but the last one is Involved with AI.
To talk about technology is probably the previous one.
Remember the one that they used to grow up to climb the building?
That one, that's probably the one I love the most.
I keep saying I'll watch it, but I never get the time to, so I'll have to watch it.
I have to, I have to.
All right, now easing into tech talk with intersecting with education.
What are some key skills necessary for students within the field of technology?
Basic one, they have to be able to turn on the computer.
They use a lot of laptop, right, but the PC or the one at home that you have to actually
put the button to turn it on.
And believe it or not, a lot of teachers also need that skill as well.
I said, my computer doesn't turn on.
Okay, check the switch.
So that's basic thing that they need, everyone need that.
Now what are some of the biggest challenges you face when teaching technology in a classroom
setting?
Right now, students have been using iPad or touchscreen at home all the time.
So they assume that everything is touchscreen.
We have iPad, right?
Yeah.
So they thought it's touchscreen.
So I have fingerprint all over my screen.
Oh no.
So that's the challenge to tell them, no, this is not a touchscreen.
That's right.
That is some challenge.
That is a challenge indeed.
And how do you expect educational technology to change in the future?
I think AI has been involved with a lot of things, not only in education, but in other
parts as well.
So I think AI is going to be a part of things that we have to adapt to.
You probably heard of chat GPT and those sort of things.
I think that's going to be involved in education even more.
Oh, I see.
It'll be really interesting to see the changes technology will bring for education.
Now diving deeper, administrators, teachers, students, and parents are all stakeholders
for education.
With that in mind, what kind of advice would you give to each of these groups about the
use of technology in school and at home?
I don't have specific advice for each group, but I have all our advice for all of them.
My advice would be don't be afraid of them.
Just get into it, embrace it, and learn from it together.
Not just from one part of the society.
Just do it together.
I think I'm excited to see new things and I believe that God has given us the brain
to create new things and technology is a part of that.
And I'm excited to see new things coming up our way.
And that concludes our first segment.
We'll be right back with our second segment right after this short announcement.
The schedule for ICS students athletes seems to be very full these days.
Both our girls and boys varsity volleyball teams are traveling abroad to play in ACSC
tournaments.
Let's go Eagles!
Moving on to some college admission news.
We've had several college representatives visit as well as college information seasons.
Make sure to take advantage of the opportunity to visit with the college reps.
Lots more will be coming soon.
October is a busy month on the Thai event calendar with several festivals and celebrations
that reflect Thai traditions and cultural values.
Make sure to check it out.
We are back with our second segment with Mr. James and we're still talking about technology
and specifically we wanted to discuss some of the pros and cons associated with today's
youth and the use of technology.
Premi will start us off.
To start this segment off diving right back into technology.
What are some big pros of technology when it comes to today's use?
Today all information is available for them to search and find at their own fingertip 24
7.
And whenever you want to look for something it's there for them.
Also the other pro that I can see is that it seems like technology is getting cheaper
and cheaper.
It can get cheaper than back in my time.
What are some big cons of technology when it comes to today's use?
Since we have technology available and information available so that's become too much.
It's like information overload, there are so many sources and you have to decide which
one is reliable, which one that you should trust and some of them even contrast with
each other.
And that's one thing that confuses to other people and the fear of being left out from
social media.
That's the other con I can see that oh what if I don't know about that.
Another thing that we see happen even at school is either online or offline, cyber bullying
and other things that are happening.
And the isolation is when kids have devices on their own by themselves and they keep spending
time on that.
They can be lonely, they can be depressed and be isolated in their own corner.
Yeah for sure and there's like a fear of missing out or just like yeah mental health impacts.
There are drawbacks to reverse like to counter the positive impacts that technology brings.
And out of some of these cons, which ones would you say seems to cause the biggest issue?
I would say the isolation, the one that being alone with the device and then can cause other
things and can cause you to become depressed and can cause you to become like the fear
of being left out and other things.
And I heard that it becomes a disease that when you don't have your phone with you,
it seems like something is missing from you.
It's like you have a headache, you have all sorts of symptoms because you don't have
your device with you.
So I would say that's the biggest thing if it goes that extreme.
That's when technology and phones like devices became our master instead of thought.
Are you seeing or hearing about any type of solutions that may help us mitigate the negative
impact that comes with the cons you shared?
I don't think we have any solution yet, but I have some suggestion.
I think that the time limit, to set up the time limit for screen time, limited to one
hour a day if possible.
I don't know if that could be possible or not.
But if we can set up the screen time or even set up the age limit, like wait until they
are in middle school before giving them a phone or something.
I'm not sure that you agree with that or not.
But even if it not solve the problem, it will reduce the problem that might come later.
Yeah, right.
For sure.
And I feel like all of the solutions that will be proposed are like very nuanced in
a way that everyone will disagree and not there is no one solution that everyone will
agree on and there's no one solution that will be beneficial to everyone.
So it's like very nuanced in a way.
And it's such a big problem that it's hard to find like one simple problem, one simple
solution that would be like the answer.
Yeah.
And it's not only up to one person.
It has to become as a community to help.
Yeah.
It's not just like the child, right?
It's like the child, the parent, the teachers, family.
It's like a joint effort for this issue.
I feel like if we work on it more, we think about it more and work together more, it can
be promising.
Yeah.
And I think we already start to see that this is a problem and we are looking to it and
everybody is in that thing and try to find a solution.
Yeah.
The first like step to solving a problem would be like acknowledging it.
Yeah.
Right.
So we're on that that step.
And now back on the topic of challenges, but this time with the historical twist, what
were some of the challenges you had with technology back in your day?
How would you say this has changed now?
Okay.
How long do you have?
I have so many.
Oh, right.
Okay.
Let's.
And we can like trace back from there and we can gradually go to right now.
Do you want to start?
Let's start with my first computer.
All right.
The challenge that I have is it took 15 minutes at least to boot my computer.
Oh, wow.
Once I press the power button, I just go make a cup of coffee, come back.
It's still loading.
Even Windows 95 is still loading.
You always finish your coffee and then it's ready for you to use.
And the problem with computer that I have back in my day is like we use for this.
You know, I've heard of it.
Yeah.
The for this so small.
So one point four.
Oh, wow.
One point four.
But even gigabytes.
All right.
I'm imagining that on my phone right now.
It doesn't work.
So you probably can save one document.
Not even a picture.
Oh, no.
Yeah.
So if you have a movie, it's impossible to put it in.
But I'm glad that there's no ping.
We have everything, even the Internet to get online.
You need a modem.
You have to dial a modem, wait for it to connect and it's so expensive.
Yeah, I can't imagine.
It must be rich to get online in order to access Internet.
So I'm glad that I'm past that stage.
And I'm right here with all the technology that we have right now.
Well, that sounds crazy.
We have more advanced technology right now, like faster Internet.
And there's still complain that my computer is too slow.
Yeah, that's true.
What are your thoughts about a free Internet and the idea of open source?
I love it.
I supporting this.
I think we already start having free Wi-Fi everywhere now.
So with free Wi-Fi, you can access Internet.
I think it's a good thing is when people have free Internet, you can get information anytime
we want.
And that's a good thing.
And with open source, that's even better.
When there's open source available, people can come and try new things.
They can code a new thing.
We can have a new app.
We can have all new technology from open source.
I'm supporting this 100%.
Do you think there should be a limit to how much information is accessible to everyone
anywhere, any information?
Or do you think there still should be some limit or boundary as to where that extent
should stop?
I don't think the limit should be with the information.
I think the limit should be on how people use it.
When you have that information, what are you going to use that information?
I don't think the police of this who can check the Internet.
It's not happening yet, though.
Something that we're looking forward to.
But I support this idea.
When we have everything open, good things should come out of that.
What do you think of having an open source or having access to anything and all information?
I feel like in terms of that would be great for transparency.
Because it helps with unequal distribution of wealth, too.
People who tend to be more impoverished tend to have less access to information.
So having an equal access to information for everyone would help, in a way, close that
gap.
But I do feel that with transparency, would you feel like governmental officials or governmental
documents?
How do you feel about that, being in the open and being accessible?
That's a good point.
I didn't think of that.
Some information has to be confidential.
That's a good point.
I didn't really think of that.
So definitely some personal information.
I don't want to be open to the public.
Anyone can access that.
So that scares me now.
Oh yeah, now you mentioned personal, right?
That just made me think, too.
I feel like one of the dangers or one of what people find scary with today's how open information
is is your personal privacy.
Yeah, and the need to access it.
And sometimes I feel like it scares a lot of people, too.
If you go to Google and you search up your full name and then you see a picture of yourself
and you're like, wait, wait, wait, wait, I did not upload that to Google.
How do they have that?
That's very interesting.
Yeah.
So I think we do need someone to govern that and look into that.
And how that will be governed will be another interesting thing to think about.
But yeah, I see where you're coming from though with information being out in the open and
being accessible.
And so certain information.
Right, right, right.
Yeah, for sure, for sure.
And now we know that some technologies like social media can have a negative impact on
a person's mental health.
In fact, research shows that teens who use technology for more than an hour each day
are more likely to report feeling depressed, lonely or anxious.
And this report is by the Children's Health.
What are your thoughts on the impacts of technology on mental health and how we can help each
other in that area?
Yeah, definitely anything that do that's too much is always harmful.
If you spend too much time on anything and social media or technology can be addictive.
If you scroll down through Instagram, the feed just keep coming.
It does keep coming.
Yeah, it gets longer and longer.
My suggestion would be just put it down.
But it's hard.
I understand.
Myself is like, oh, I've spent half an hour on this.
All right.
You don't realize it.
If they can put it down, go out, play some sport, play volleyball, play basketball, do
something with your friend, do something that team sport, do something that together with
your friend or even have a cup of coffee, go out in simple coffee, have a cup of your
friends or something.
Yeah, there's some ways we can help lessen and reduce the negative impacts on a person's
mental health.
But I feel like mental health and technology now is so intertwined in a way that the use
of technology or how long you use it can definitely impact mental health.
Like I said, anything that you spend too long on it.
But if you're too long, then you can get injured.
I'm not going to blame so much social media for that.
I get connected with my friend 20 years ago through Facebook who live far away from each
other.
So it's a good thing.
But when you spend too much time on it, depending on how you use it, technology is good, but
don't spend too much time on it and then that will cause mental issue, depression or other
things.
I agree.
So like technology is only a tool and don't let it be part of us.
Thanks for today's talking.
Thank you.
And with that last helpful piece of advice, we have run out of time.
Thanks again for joining us, Mr. James.
This is an important topic to always keep talking about, especially with today's youth.
As we end this episode, I'm reminded of our talk with Mrs. Heather about the topic of
having a healthy balance in our lives.
That same concept could be applied to how we use technology to have a healthy balance
and not let technology rule us, but rather we rule technology since we're the ones that
created it and maintain it.
Some food for thought.
Stay tuned for our next episode as we jump into a discussion about politics with several
student council members.
As always, this podcast would not be possible without the hard work and support of our international
student production team.
All music and sound effects are courtesy of Pixabay.com, a vibrant community of creatives
sharing copyright free images, videos and music.
And we are signing off until next time.
Be your Students Incorporated, because your voice matters.