For this blog, I’m going to respond to Gloria’s discussion questions she had included in her Planning & Implementing Technology PowerPoint slide show. The questions were:
How is your experience going to differ from the experiences your students will have? What will you want to know about the implementation of technology in your school division? What key indicators will you look for? What challenges do you foresee?
My reply would be…
When I was in high school everything I used technology for was very teacher directed. If, and when, we were allowed to use the computers there were some very specific rules in place that really set limitations on how much we could explore the programs and use computers as a tool for learning. More and more families now are going to have computers and other computer technologies in their houses. I found a study on the Internet, written by Bradley A. Corbett and J. Douglas Willms in 2002, titled “Canadian Students Access To and Use Of Information and Communication Technology” (http://www.cesc.ca/pceradocs/2002/papers/BCorbett_OEN.pdf). They stated that, out of about 30, 000 15 year old Canadians, 9 of 10 of them have computers at home. This was only in 2002. There are many new computer technologies being made and I feel that I’m not very proficient at using them now because I don’t have them, like a digital camera (which I’m very interested in learning about next week). I can’t imagine how many teens have cell phones that you can do all those cool things like text message, take pictures, and record videos. These are just a few of the many experiences my students may have that I didn’t have when I was in school. Not only are these different experiences, they may also be a challenge for me as a teacher. There are so many neat things you can do in your classrooms using new computer technology that it’s hard to learn about them all and keep up with what’s new or upgraded. All I know is that when I was a student I would have much rather had a small little digital camera take a few video clips then to have to lug around those old, huge video cameras.
…(I was going to put a real picture of each camera right here so you could really get the image in your head – but then I started thinking about copyright issues so I decided against it because I couldn’t find the information that said it was okay. Even Clip Art wasn’t working, but I’ll keep working on it.)…
When it comes to knowing about the implementation of technology in my school division I will want to know the following key things:
1) How much lab time will my class have and when will it be? How do students log on to the computers and what are the rules for signing out and using other technology equipment?
2) What are some rules for using technology that the school has? (This way I can add to them or note other things my students need to be aware of; such as, creating well written search strings, what to do when something inappropriate accidentally crosses your path on the computer, or how to properly use the technology equipment.)
3) Who is the technology support person and how do I contact them?
4) What kinds of technology do you have available for classroom use, both for teachers and students?
5) What grade do the students begin to learn about and use the technology themselves? Is there anything specific things students I will be teaching may already know or have had some experience with?
Of course, a challenge will always be that technology is moving so fast that it will be difficult to keep up with. I want to be able to teach my students the new things about technology; such as, how to email, how to set up a web page, how to begin blogging, how to search effectively, etc, instead of just sticking to things that will be “easy” for me. I want my students to create technology based presentations and learn new things from the technology they are using. I still believe that exploration is key to learning about computers. There are “right’ ways to shut off, turn on , and use technology (computers, scanners, digital cameras) but I don’t want to be so restricting of what you “have” to do when you are using the technology that exploration is limited.
~Linsey~
