This is my first blog ever.
After reading Chapter 1, I never knew they used computers in the classrooms in the late 70's. It amazes me that the computer industry is always trying to improve and incorporate educational programs in classrooms. With bringing in technology and incorporating into lessons, is a challenge for educators. Some teachers have trouble setting up for the lesson, the technology doesn't want to work, or they don't know how to use it. When I walk around the school between classes, I can see the teachers who uses the technology we have in each class and there are a few teachers who may not use it as often.
As we move into the technology education age, we still have to worry about teaching the standards until the state decides we need to teach more skills that are useful for the students. With the state breathing down our necks, we have to worry about other critics who believe that technology is useless in the classroom. When we have people do research, they only use standarized testing to see if the students are understanding the standards. I have yet to see the results of students learning from a lesson using technology. All we have are opinions instead of facts. The only ones that can see actual results are teachers, but should we put a price on learning.
Incorporating technology into schools is expensive. When my county was putting in wireless and interwrite boards, I thought they were a little crazy considering the economy was starting to shake or falling apart. We had to get trained on the new programs. Not everyone could understand the steps the first time because they were more hands-on. The head of the technology department went to different grade levels to have the teachers play with the boards so they could try to incorporate into the lessons. It did get the students attention. Some of the teachers found on-line educational games for the students to interact with. Our students love video games because that might all that they do at home.
This year, we are getting a refresher coarse on using the interwrite board. I am very excited because I'm going for the second grade team. I am hoping to lead them into refreshing their memories on the board or finding new sites they may use it. It gives me a chance to starting getting my feet wet into leading a meeting. I usually don't like to talk to a group of adults because some of them are too critical. I will let you know how it goes.
I did find an article on edutopia about leaving students leaving their footprint into the digital world. It talks about putting a portfolio on-line on social networking sites other than facebook. The teacher wants his students to become socially involve in the media to get ahead in the job market. Its a good read. www.edutopia.com/blog/using-social-media-for-interview-20.
Do you know that in the late 70's I was using the computers in school, but they were nothing like what we use them for today. Instead of typing class we went to Keyboard class and along we could now take a business class that "aided" us in in becoming professionals in the corporate world of secretaries. Anyhow, that was years ago and times have changed. I think you'll be great in leading meetings with your interactive board. I look forward to reading the success stories as the surface. - Melissa
ReplyDeleteI never knew that computers were in classrooms in the late '70s! I know that when my mother went through college in the '70s she chose a degree in computers. It has paid off well for her, so I am hopeful that our choice in instructional technology will be as powerful!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree that incorporating technology into schools is expensive and with the economic situation we are currently in, it is getting harder to keep updating or fixing our current technology. My school is having difficulties keeping the projectors running with the cost of replacing the bulbs. On top of keeping the technology running, it is hard to retain the training information so the working technology can be used. After a long time without using the technology, I always have to re-teach myself. It can take time and lots of trial and error, but it is cheaper then re-training every few months. Hopefully we will rise out of this economic slump and be able to fix our current technology!
Your article was very interesting! I like how the student is using her Facebook page to promote her creative writing, but doing it responsibly. With the Internet playing such an integral part of our society, it is important that students know that not everything is as private as they think, so they need to be responsible with what they put out there, no matter what!