Class Reflection

This is the age of technology.

Over the past half decade our world has experienced a technological revolution. The technology that is readily available to the public today has blown away all expectations of past generations. It has become so ingrained in this generations lifestyle. We, as teachers, need to acknowledge this fact, and take advantage of it.

That is what this instructional technology class has been about.

Through this class, I feel I have been equipped with resources that will help me in the classroom to achieve three different ends.

The first two types of resources we learned about were for the teaching and learning of general subject matters. An interesting thing about these resources is that often, they are interchangeable. We learned about making podcast, book-trailers, and movies, as well as using tools like SmartBoards and iPads. All of these resources could be used in our teaching presentations, or turned over to students for interactive assignments.

The final type of resource we learned about were for the explicit instruction of technology. In an age were technology plays a role in almost everything we do, it makes sense that we should set some time aside to teach children a bit about how it works. One resource of this type that we learned about was the website scratch.mit.edu. This website introduces users to elementary coding, helping them to understand the basics of how code works.

Until this class, I had never given much thought to this side of technology education. Once it was mentioned to me, I saw how much sense it made and how practical it was.

I learned a lot this quarter that will be a great help to me as a teacher. But of all the things I learned, that was the newest and most interesting point I will remember and I will try to integrate into all my future classrooms.

The First Blog Post

         

           We live in the age of technology. There are new gadgets and gizmos coming out every day. This has posed a dilemma for educators. Some teachers view these things as distractions and want ban them from their classrooms. Others think there is a way to use technology to make instruction richer, more interesting, and more comprehensible to learners.

           

            Technology, if used wisely, can be a bridge that connects all our students to the learning we are trying to help them reach.  It is not always helpful; texting in class, pointless games, and mindless movies definitely do not increase student learning. But with technology, students can have access to whole worlds previously inaccessible to them. Students learning a new language can quickly find pictures or look-up translations to aid their understanding. Other various special needs can be met through computers, personal devices, or special equipment. Finally, technology can link a student’s home into your classroom, through blogs or other websites. If technology is shunned, teachers would miss out on all these great benefits.