"What can you teach with technology that you cannot teach just as well without it?", as posed in the textbook, is a very good question. I like the way that the book put it, that it isn't necessarily that you cannot teach something without technology, but that you cannot always teach with the same amount of impact when not using technology. Unique, Powerful, and Transformative are the perfect words for the use of technology in the classroom. Unique is the impact that technology has on the learning experience, Powerful is the word to describe the longevity of learning when using technology. Transformative is the term used to explain how using technology in the class room transforms the way teachers teach and students learn. The use of technology can have an amazing effect on many aspects of a student's life, not just in the present, but also in their future. Which leads me to the next topic that greatly stood out to me...
In the Connections Possibilities section on page 50, I read about High Tech High in San Diego, California. The school, now a network of schools, amazes me. Each student has their own advisor, they create their own digital portfolios for the school year, they support full inclusion of students with special needs, and laptops are always available to them. They have semester long internships that are on the curriculum, and they shadow adults in their local communities. There is no tracking or ability grouping, teachers work as a team, and all graduates go to college. The methods and results are admirable in my eyes!
I am 24 and I thoght that I had internet literacy, but I was mistaken. I thought I knew what was educational, correct, and so on. But after reading about the project conducted by Teaching Internet Comprehension to Adolescents (TICA), I am not as sure of myself as I was. The researchers created a website about an animal that does not exist, but made the page sound academic, with realistic pictures, and what sounded like legitimate contact information. Again, this textbook has opened my eyes, happily, to new possibilities and opportunities!
The wordle below includes many, but not all, terms that technology used for educational purposes affects.
Resources:
Giuliano, J (2015, January 30). Edu-Tech. Created with http://www.wordle.net/
Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
It is always fun to watch students in this class learn new things - and sometimes, learn new perspectives to something they thought they already knew! :) I think, regarding all things technology, we need to always be learning as it is constantly changing. Information literacy is definitely one of those areas that we may assume students know and yet, many have not considered the important elements of evaluating a website and often are stumped when they are asked to determine what is valid.
ReplyDeleteLove your wordle and think it is a great visual to consider those three key words - unique, powerful, transformative - when using technology in the classroom. It definitely is not a silver bullet, nor should it be 'driving the bus' - instead it will hopefully be used effectively as ubiquitously as the air we breathe and provide an enhancement to improve learning.
I enjoy learning new things everyday. It is very interesting to learn all of the ways that you can use the internet. I really had fun with the wordle that I created. It was fun to experiment with the direction of the words, the colors, and the font. And I absolutely agree, I hope that when I become a teacher, I will be capable of using technology in my classroom as if I had always used it.
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