The author of this article believes that in a few years many hand-held devices
will be able to store the entire human knowledge base and, in addition, that we
will be teaching students through online courses aka MOOCs. We will also be relying on Big
Data which enables teachers to provide differentiated instruction to students
with very little difficulty.
Are you comfortable with this hi-tech classroom of the future? Do you feel prepared to
teach in this type of an atmosphere? Does the preponderance of this type of technology make
you nervous? In your opinion will
this classroom of the future produce better students? Better teachers?
I believe that children now start off extremely young working with technology. I know my students are 5 years old and they hold conversations with me about the hand-held devices. I feel as though there are some advantages with this hi-tech classroom, and considering it broardens different techniques on how to teach I think more children might respond better to this type of classroom. I do feel one negative is the lack of interaction between student and teacher this is cause. I believe this relationship is very important in every aspect; learning, social, emotional, etc. I do feel prepared and I am not nervous about teaching this type of way because I can almost grantee teachers will all get appropriate training on this new approach. I can only hope and wait to see if the classroom of the future produces better students.
ReplyDeleteTechnology is coming to classrooms regardless of us being ready for it or not. I believe that technology in the classroom benefits the teacher in terms of increasing creativity in lesson design, execution, and delivery. However, in regards to students and increased technology I worry for them. Already with the little technology we have in the classroom students are dependent on spell check, dictionary.com and the like. I firmly believe that we are slowly straying from the basics and foundation needed to have a solid education and understanding of language. Students are arriving in grades with less and less of a solid basic information. What is to happen when a hurricane such as Sandy or another event happens to rid us of our technology? With the younger generation survive with the holes in their knowledge? They will have to find a way. LAL classes in my district are starting to stray from handwritten assignments and increase the amount of computer based assignments in preparation for the new standardized testing in our near future. I believe our tech savvy world is moving too fast for our own good. I also agree with Steph on her point of fearing the lack of face to face interaction and the effect it will have on social and emotional development.
ReplyDeleteAs the article mentions, education is one sector that tends to always lag behind when it comes to the area of technology. However, I believe this does a huge disservice to our field and makes it seem that we are unwilling to adapt to the ever changing times. While it is easy for anyone to get set in our ways, we cannot allow ourselves and our field to become complacent. It is important to evolve. It is important for us to keep an open mind, and accept change when necessary so that we can continue to grow, adapt, and advance our society. I for one am all for the integration of recent technology coming into the classroom and am comfortable with it as I am constantly trying to work it into my unit. It is our goal as educator's to prepare our students for future success in the "real world", and as we all know, technology is very integrated with our daily activities. So it seems only logical that we welcome technology into our classrooms.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as I've found from my own experiences it is important that we integrate technology in an effective manner and not just use technology for the sake of keeping up with the most recent trend. While iPads can be helpful in the classroom, if they are not used in a way that enhances your lesson, then it will more than likely serve as a huge distraction to the daily objective. Using technology just for the sake of using technology is ineffective. It is important that we continue to teach spelling, grammar, mathematics, etc. Technology is there to serve as a way to check your work but we cannot have students rely solely on it. If we use technology as a way to support and enrich our lessons rather than become our entire lesson then yes, I believe the future will produce better students.
How did all of us learn when we were students? We did not have the luxury of having so much technology all around us when we were students. I remember watching Channel One News every morning in my Social Studies class, and that was pretty much all the technology that was provided in the classroom. Sometimes, the class would go to the computer lab to work on some projects, but using computers was not the main component of my day in high school. It was perfectly fine that the teachers were writing things on the blackboard and had us copy the information in our notes. We learned the materials that we had to learn. In math, we did lots of drill and practice work, and in writing, we had to write our spelling words five times each. We did not have a computer software or an interactive website that would create flashcards for us to study or have cute animals jumping across the screen as we tried to memorize our multiplication facts. We learned just fine with the traditional ways of teaching.
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree with Amy who wrote about how students enter the next grade with less and less solid basic skills. We really are moving way too fast for our own good. I recently had to create a sheet called, “Spelling Homework Choice Board,” simply because I felt forced to give them a creative homework assignment instead of telling them to write the words five times each. What good does a creative assignment for spelling do other than making the students think it’s just slightly less boring than the other traditional way of studying the words? Furthermore, why do we have so many students who come to the upper grades not being able to answer what is 7x5? I’m sure they have been working on these cutesy interactive sites to memorize their multiplication facts since the third grade. Glad to see that worked out really well. Maybe, just maybe if they had actually written down those multiplication facts over and over like we used to when we were students, then they would be able to answer 7x5 right away.
This does not mean that I do not agree with using technology in the classroom. I’m all for it, and I feel very comfortable with incorporating technology into my daily lessons. Nevertheless, getting the basics down is much more important and takes priority above everything else. I don’t think we should focus so much on incorporating technology that we lose sight of what’s really important. The rest of the world can move on with technology, but our students will not be able to join that world if they do not have solid foundations.
Having a hi-tech classroom would not make me nervous, but would make classroom instruction interesting. Students now, rely a lot on technology. There are students as young as three, that know how to turn on or off a computer and work an ipad with no difficulty what-so-ever. A hi-tech classroom would make no difference, but I do feel that it would have a very positive impact on instruction. It would grasp the students attention on a whole different level. I don't know if it would create better students, but I do believe it would facilitate teaching to a certain extent. Websites could be tied in with instruction, students would be able to teach each other or share the resources that they have used to help them with their studies.
ReplyDeleteThe only downside to having a hi-tech classroom, is what if it breaks down, which can then take weeks to fix or if there's a power outage or if certain tech materials go missing. Also, many students in poor communities or low income families are not able to afford a computer to help with their studies when a hi-tech classroom or instruction calls for hi-tech homework. These are the factors that teachers will have to face and figure a way to accommodate all students.
Whether or not I am prepared for such a hi-tech classroom, my level of comfort would make no difference, since this is the direction that education is going towards to. Obviously the district would have to send it's teachers on workshops to ease nervousness of those teachers that are not used to be surrounded by so much technology.
I've been torn for some time regarding the benefits and disadvantages of a high-tech classroom. On one hand, there's a lot more that we can do now than in the 10-15 years since most of us were students. However, as a couple of my colleagues here have eluded to, are we straying away from the natural human interaction that's supposed to occur within classroom walls? When students reach the college undergraduate level, then certainly I'm all for online classes considering often times, students by then are around age 20-22, they may be juggling jobs or even families, so it makes more sense mostly because they have already learned a lot of the social skills needed to adapt in the world. But students ages 5-15 typically haven't been 100 percent molded in these areas and this is important beyond definition. Not to say that schools necessarily should be the primary driver of a child's level of social aptitude, but let's face it: this is where they spend at least 1/3 of their day and they are with a large group of their peers. What better time to learn how to properly engage in face-to-face interaction with others? The idea of being able to DI quickly and efficiently would probably be something very beneficial to most teachers and students. However, in answer to whether or not I'm completely comfortable with some of these above-mentioned technological changes, I don't think that I am not because I'm behind the times or refuse to progress, but because I don't fully agree that this is the best way to educate our youth.
ReplyDeleteDonna Russamanno's comment is below:
ReplyDeleteI do believe that schools are unfortunately behind in technology and I don't think it is the fault of the teacher, at least not all the time. I don't feel schools have the funds to properly infuse up to date technology in schools. The problem in my school and I think in many schools, is not enough computers or Ipads, and having to sign up for it and predicting the day you will need it to fit in to what your teaching. So, yes I would love to see more technology in the classroom. I was curious if this article was referring to high school and up, or did the article hope to have online learning from k-12? I believe it would be a big mistake to take away the social aspect of learning in schools. A tremendous part of preparing students for the world around them is to teach them how to behave, socialize, to handle themselves in certain situations, and to work in groups. Children need interaction, with other children, with their teachers. So I think it would be great if schools can get funded for more laptops (that work!) and computers for more students, would be a great start.
Schools are way behind in technology. There need to be more computers and IPADS in the classroom or at least at our disposal. I have been in a few different districts and one had no IPADS for the students but the last had them for rent in the library. Because of the budget cuts, schools do not have the money to put into upgrading technology for our students as much as they should in my opinion. This is interesting as we are required to add a technology piece to our lesson plans and encouraged to use technology as much as possible. How can we do this when there are 10 special education students in one classroom and 3 computers? Some do not like to wait and this could cause behavioral problems that will cause a problem for the whole classroom. I think schools need more technology. Some districts are giving each student a laptop. I think this is a great idea. In the last district I taught in all teachers had laptops to work on at home or at work so why not let the students do the same? This would be a great start.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great question Jennifer, it has been puzzling me for quite some time. I’m teaching in a kindergarten classroom now, and the level my children came in with surprises me completely. They are having such a difficult time grasping what Im teaching on paper; however the moment I use my Active Board they seem to understand it so much better. Technology has taken a huge turn especially in schools today. Children are given ipads at such a young age and they are able to figure out so much even things adults such as myself can’t do My little cousin, 5years old, has an IPAD and does amazing things on there; not only the games but academic applications as well. Now, do I think this should be the way we turn, just to computers absolutely not. This takes out from essence of learning. I mean think about it this way. What happens if computers were to crash one day and no one was able to get on due to some mass destruction in the world. Will our children of today, who are our adults of the future, be able to handle themselves in a world without technology? I guess we may never know. In our books, Orienstein stresses the need for technology in our schools and how much they help the classroom and yes they are an asset in many ways. They are great for the students that learn better visually and need the extra resources.
ReplyDeleteDistricts absolutely should put more money towards technology in the classroom. For example some districts don’t have a Smartboard which amazes me considering how important they are. They not only make the lesson go by smoother but they are mandated in our school. Our principal will write us up if we weren’t to incorporate technology in our lesson plans. So as you can see there are many positives and negatives to the amount of technology that is used in schools today.