The Benefits of Technology In The Classroom

The Benefits of Technology In The Classroom

            I believe that in today’s day and age the use of technology in the classroom is very important.  We are living in a world where technology surrounds just about everything we do during the course of a day.  This being the case our children are being exposed to technology at much earlier ages than that of the previous generations.  Our children are growing up watching television, playing on the computer, or playing with a handheld gaming device while traveling.  I think it may be a bit naïve to think that this technology should be shut off when students are in the classroom.   Students should be able to use all of the tools available to them, including technology, during the course of their school career.  To expect that students will be engaged in and stay focused during the course of a traditional “sit and get” type lesson is a bit off target.  Because students are growing up being surrounded by technology I believe it is not only important but also necessary that technology be incorporated into the classroom.  The addition of Smart Boards in the classroom is a major break through.  Using technology such as a Smart Board can in fact help students stay engaged in a lesson. 

            Although I believe the use of technology in the classroom and in particular the Smart Board is a great addition to the classroom, I do not believe it is necessary for good teaching.  After reading multiple articles on the subject I do believe that there is absolutely no substitute for great teaching.  However, the use of technology can surely aid great teaching.  I believe the one of the biggest benefits to the students is that using technology is something that is very familiar to them, at least to most, so they are able to stay focused on the lesson.  The biggest benefit to the teacher is that once the teacher becomes familiar with the technology it is a smooth and easy way to deliver a great, multi-media driven, lesson for the students.

            Although technology is great and should be used, at least in some capacity, in the classroom it is not without its drawbacks.  One of the biggest, and most frustrating, is when the technology fails to work properly.  It would be a very bad day at the office if everything you planned on doing that day was using technology, like a Smart Board, and for whatever reason it is not working.  That is why technology is not a substitute for great teaching but a tool to be used for great teaching to take place.

            The one thing that I am going to take with me from this class is that the use of technology can be fun and make life easy once you get over the anxiety of actually using it.  I challenged myself during the course of this class to try new things using technology and found that it is not as hard to use as it may appear on the surface.  In addition it can actually make things quit fun.  I hope that I will continue to have this enthusiasm about technology for years to come as I can see now how the use of technology can make life fun and easy for students and teachers.

Electronic Portfolio

I want to start out by saying nice job to everyone on the article projects.  Though we were to only choose three to blog about I ended up checking all of them out to see what everyone had to say.  The first article project I chose to take a look at is the project on video games and learning.  I did not find it surprising that video games can have a great affect on improving hind-eye coordination.  What I did find surprising, at least somewhat, is that playing video games can improve performance in science, math, and literacy.  The second project I took a look at was the project on Bugscope.  This was really interesting to me.  I had no idea that something like the Bugscope was available.  Being able to have students get so in depth into a project like this and have support available to the teacher and students, in my opinion, a very worthwhile project to do with students in the classroom.  The final project I took a look at was the video on ESL and Technology.  I was shocked to learn that there are more than 400 spoken languages in the United States public schools.  This seems to be a huge number.  Using technology to help ESL students learn seems like something we should definitely be doing.  We need to help ESL students get the same out of their school day as their English language natives.

http://durak.org/kathy/portfolio/index.html

            Above is the link to what I believe is a not so good digital portfolio.  The components seem to be there but I still feel as though it is lacking.  I think it is lacking artifacts that show how the teacher has grown professionally.  I think it is important to include artifacts showing how the teaching professional has grown along with his students.  If those types of artifacts were to be included in this portfolio then it would bring it up to par and make it a meaningful professional portfolio.

http://depts.washington.edu/tepacct/tucker/indexl.htm

            The above link is to a digital portfolio that I believe is a great example of what a digital portfolio should be.  It includes all that proper artifacts and entries and is very well structured and organized.  I will try to use this as a template for putting together my own portfolio.