Chapter Four:
Integrating Technology and Creating Change
Focus Question #5: How does
technology promote educational change?
Technology
is constantly changing keeping up with it through education seems necessary. When
you integrate technology into the classroom through assignments, instruction or
file recording educational change is happening. There are Type I and Type II of
technology applications. Type I is automate which means to incorporate
technology into your everyday life. For example a teacher that instead of using
a pen and paper to calculate grades would now use a calculator. The tools available
have changed but the work being done has not. It represents traditional uses of
computers in schools with only a focus on instruction as opposed to thinking
outside the box with interaction. Type II is Infomate. Infomating is when
technology changes an activity by redesigning and refining it. An example of
this is a runner whose distance is being tracked by her running shoes and that
information is sent to her Ipod. It represents new directions with technology
use including interactive software and programs that problem solve. Technology makes
learning more exciting and innovative with every new invention that comes
along.
Tech Tool 4.1: Online Technology
Integration Resources
This tech tool is geared towards new teachers and to give
them tools to master technology integration. Edutopia is an information and
inspiration based website with a collection of technology integration
resources. National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) has
two different resource types, the first is digital edge learning
exchange, which involves videos about tech integration and there are also
rubrics you can use to assess how affectively you are integrating technology in
your own teaching. NCTE Inbox
and NCTE Inbox blog were interesting to me, the inbox is a weekly summary in
email form of important stories in the language arts field as well updates on technology
related updates and issues. The inbox blog explores different topics of
interest to technology using teachers for any specific subject.
Summary/Interesting Points:
There are
many ways from taking screenshots of notes taken on a tablet, to online
assignments and grading, amongst others that technology is being effectively
integrated into the classroom environment. I was interested in the
one/two/three time activities. It is a way of structuring students learning environment
for teaching purposes. The classroom is split into one/to/three time groups and
this splits a classroom into three smaller instead of just one large one. It promotes
group work, this wouldn’t be possible with younger age groups if it wasn’t for
computers to occupy the groups while the teacher has the chance to work one on one
with students who need it. The fact that technology is constantly changing and
we need to keep up with it to keep children up to date and interested is a
concept to which I am now painfully aware.
Resources:
Transforming Learning with New
Technologies
Matt Malone via
Flickr
Flickr.com
The Creative Commons licensed photo is a good one and definitely relevant to the post! Good description of the two types and there's a place for both. Education is a microcosm of society and thus, the ubiquity of technology!
ReplyDeleteFor future, you will want to take just one specific Tech Tool and really delve into it. Explore the website (or whatever) and reflect on it, personalize it (i.e., how would you use it?, etc).