The two articles I used.
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/the-state-of-ipad-in-education-a-giant-mess
http://www.zdnet.com/ipads-and-tablets-in-k12-when-will-we-get-it-together-7000004656/
There has been a big push for schools to get iPads, tablets, etc. However this article poses some good arguments for why the iPad wouldn't be very good for the classroom. The main problem that the article states is simply the cost. Besides the $399 that it cost for one iPad, there are more expenses that go along with these. The article states that "That $399 cost doesn't even begin to address the less obvious costs of appropriate content and device management systems, school bandwidth, teacher training/professional development, and network infrastructure required to fully leverage the hardware." Teacher training is the biggest part of the cost of bringing iPad into the classroom. Teachers are now getting hounded to integrate technology into their lessons, but they can't keep up with the expectations. There are a lot of teachers that are going to need a lot of training to incorporate these technologies.
Besides what the article says, I think that these can be very helpful when it comes to the "campfire," and they are worth the cost. New teachers will have a good understanding of these new technologies. These tablets provide so much more material for a teacher to use. There are apps. that the students can use to help them understand a lesson, and students can even access the internet for even more uses for the student. With these tablets, it makes the teacher able to access tons more information that they can then pass on to the students. This makes the "campfire" more like a bonfire.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Downside of Technology and Education
Link to the Article
In TEAC 259 we talk about how technology can be a huge advancement in the classroom. New technology will make teaching easier and better. With all this praise about education and technology, we forget to think about the downsides of technology in education. One major downside to technology and education is cheating. Many students cheat because they want to do as best as they can in their studies, and they don't really care how they do it. Advancement in technology have made it way too easy for students to cheat with their school work. There are infinite ways for students to communicate and collaborate about school work in the wrong way. There is even more ways to find information on any topic imaginable, and it could be on a students paper with two clicks of the mouse. With it being so easy I think that schools need to step up their enforcement of their cheating and plagiarizing rules.
Preventing students from cheating is a mighty task. However, this is where technology could be useful again in the classroom though. There are many anti-plagiarism software that are already available for schools to get. I think that the biggest place schools need to focus on is online assignments/test. It is too easy to have another tab open and Googling the question while doing an assignment. Companies that make this software should do something about that because that is probably the most common way that students cheat.
In TEAC 259 we talk about how technology can be a huge advancement in the classroom. New technology will make teaching easier and better. With all this praise about education and technology, we forget to think about the downsides of technology in education. One major downside to technology and education is cheating. Many students cheat because they want to do as best as they can in their studies, and they don't really care how they do it. Advancement in technology have made it way too easy for students to cheat with their school work. There are infinite ways for students to communicate and collaborate about school work in the wrong way. There is even more ways to find information on any topic imaginable, and it could be on a students paper with two clicks of the mouse. With it being so easy I think that schools need to step up their enforcement of their cheating and plagiarizing rules.
Preventing students from cheating is a mighty task. However, this is where technology could be useful again in the classroom though. There are many anti-plagiarism software that are already available for schools to get. I think that the biggest place schools need to focus on is online assignments/test. It is too easy to have another tab open and Googling the question while doing an assignment. Companies that make this software should do something about that because that is probably the most common way that students cheat.
Monday, September 10, 2012
12 Tech Trends
Technology is always changing and improving. It has improving exponentially for the past couple of years. Teachers are using smartboards in the classroom and students are getting their own iPads to do all of their school work on. The present normal classroom is changing dramatically. There are many educational tech trends that are emerging right now. The biggest trend from this article that have to do with high school math teacher is the and the "web apps."
The next tech trend that will be useful to me is the web apps. I think that hands on learning is the best way for a student to learn, and i think that there is not a better way to get the student involved in the material than web apps. These apps let the student have freedom of exploring the with the lesson rather than just sitting in a chair listening to the teacher lecture the students. I think this will come in handy with me because most kids are not that interested in math to begin with. If I could find a way to let students interact with the lesson, this would make my chances higher that a student will understand that material or even find it interesting. I know when I was in math class, the teacher used some apps to go along with the lecture they gave. These made the those certain lesson so much better because it was easy to understand when you see the material on something other than a book. If I could incorporate these apps into my lessons, I think that this will help my students greatly. With the way technology is advancing, I think that I won't have any problem incorporating apps into all of my lessons.
The next tech trend that will be useful to me is the web apps. I think that hands on learning is the best way for a student to learn, and i think that there is not a better way to get the student involved in the material than web apps. These apps let the student have freedom of exploring the with the lesson rather than just sitting in a chair listening to the teacher lecture the students. I think this will come in handy with me because most kids are not that interested in math to begin with. If I could find a way to let students interact with the lesson, this would make my chances higher that a student will understand that material or even find it interesting. I know when I was in math class, the teacher used some apps to go along with the lecture they gave. These made the those certain lesson so much better because it was easy to understand when you see the material on something other than a book. If I could incorporate these apps into my lessons, I think that this will help my students greatly. With the way technology is advancing, I think that I won't have any problem incorporating apps into all of my lessons.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Technology and Learning Objectives
I think that technology can play a big part in helping teachers write and communicate their learning objectives with their students and fellow teachers. With students, teachers can post their learning objectives on a website like Edmodo the day before class. This would let the student be able to look at what they are going to learn the next day and possibly read and study the material before that class so that they can have an understanding of the material. Then if the student has an understanding of the material going into the class will be able to learn even more from the lesson. Also, posting learning objectives online will help a student that has missed a day of class. The student could easily access the learning objectives for that day. Then the student will know what to get out of doing the lesson by themselves.
Teachers can also benefit from technology and learning objectives. Teachers could post their objectives in a database. Then other teachers would be able to access these objectives and use them to help write their own objectives if they are having trouble writing themselves. Teachers could also go straight to another teacher with an email to get help with an objective. Technology could also help substitute teachers. If subs were able to access what the real teachers want the students to learn, it would make the subs job easier by knowing what to teach. The real teacher then could come back and make it seem as if they never missed a day.
Teachers can also benefit from technology and learning objectives. Teachers could post their objectives in a database. Then other teachers would be able to access these objectives and use them to help write their own objectives if they are having trouble writing themselves. Teachers could also go straight to another teacher with an email to get help with an objective. Technology could also help substitute teachers. If subs were able to access what the real teachers want the students to learn, it would make the subs job easier by knowing what to teach. The real teacher then could come back and make it seem as if they never missed a day.
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