Nena's Blog!!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Chapter 4 and 6


    Chapter 4 focused on how teachers can create change by integrating technology in various ways. One statement made in this chapter that stood out to me was “technology integration is more about how technology is used by teachers than about the amount of technology a teacher has to use” I think this statement should be an eye-opener for teachers because it doesn’t matter how much technology one uses if the students aren’t gaining anything valuable from it. Like the chapter mentioned technology in schools is being used in two ways.  One is inclusion, which means technology is used to transfer information and practicing skills. The other way is infusion which means that computers and other online information are ongoing-features in the classroom. I think every teacher should use technology as an infusion rather than inclusion because technology should be ongoing. Teachers should use to for professional usage as well as for academic usage to get the maximum effect out of them.

     Chapter 6 focused on the use of teaching with educational websites and other online resources like virtual field trips and web quests.  The chapter made a good point on information management when it comes to teaching. Teaching requires sharing information between the teacher and student.  A lot of times this sharing is done through an outdated textbook with complex language that students cannot even understand.  Reading this chapter made me think of the TED conference video I mentioned in my storyboard reflection paper.  This science teacher stated making YouTube videos to teach his students because the textbook method was just not working for his students. http://www.ted.com/talks/tyler_dewitt_hey_science_teachers_make_it_fun

  As I was looking through the top 50 free education apps, the one that I thought was very interesting was the Quizlet. This app allows you to insert information that you need to study for and then you can quiz yourself with your phone. I would use this for not only my personal use but this sounds like a great tool to recommend parents to use with their children. You can be studying anywhere!

     

 Focus Question

Do you think children who have iPads and laptops at home, should be allowed to bring these devices to school for note taking or for class work?

For many research projects teachers require students to have at least one of their sources to be a printed book. Do you think this is necessary when there are numerous educational websites and other online resources that can provide the same information?

3 comments:

  1. No, I don't think children should bring their iPads or laptops to class to take notes or do classwork. They'll end up getting sidetracked by surfing the web or doing something else on the device. I mean I see college students doing this while taking notes during lectures and I don't think it's effective if you're not 100% focusing on taking notes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Nena, to answer your first question I do not it would be a good idea to have iPads and laptops from home allowed in school. the main reason like Michelle mentioned is being sidetracked/distracted. More than often you will find children with lots of educational or games on their iPad and that will lose their students focus if they decide to go on it. If the school provides iPads or laptops then i don't believe its necessary to bring it in. It really depends on the student as well. if the students are serious about their work then i would say no problem but young children will have more difficulty staying on task.

    ReplyDelete
  3. i think a student should be allowed to bring there laptop or tablet to school for education reasons only. if there is a way that the students computer only allows them to access a word processor or note taking tool than i dont see any harm within. but if the computer didnt have this type of tool than the students would be surfing the internet and playing games instead of focusing on the teacher.

    ReplyDelete