7 smart ways to use technology in the classroom

This article discusses how technology can be utilized to produce the most effective outcomes for student learning. Something that was emphasized was to embrace the age of technology and stop trying to limit student interaction with a resource that will be such a substantial part of their adult life. Whether we like it or not technology is here to stay and we need to embrace it in our classrooms. Perhaps the most alluring suggestion was to not use technology that does not 'transform' your classroom. If it is something that could be done using a paper in pencil it is not a piece of tech that will be highly beneficial to learning and other avenues should be pursued.

The article also discussed how technology can be a tool to encourage student leadership and motivation. When we allow students to take control of their learning we are instilling in them self-efficacy and responsibility. Technology also presents the opportunity for educators to learn from their students. With so much new innovation we are bound to gain great insight from the tools are students are using on a daily basis. Most importantly, we should allow technology to grow our classrooms not inhibit them.
https://ideas.ted.com/7-smart-ways-to-use-technology-in-classrooms/

'How Technology is Moving Arts Education Beyond the Classroom'

'How Technology is Moving Arts Beyond the Classroom'

I chose the article, “How Technology is Moving Arts Education Beyond the Classroom”, which overviews multiple programs being implemented across the country which aim to engage students in a more participatory art classroom using technology and various other sciences. Art has a reputation for being interdisciplinary and bonds quite well with technology which is what we are seeing happen inside and outside the classroom. Students today are born in to a time in which technology engulfs their everyday lives and schools are finding various ways in which to integrate it into daily curriculum.

The first program in which author Barbara Ray examines is based in Pittsburgh where students are engaging in the process of developing and shooting their own movies with the use of Super 8 film. Program mentor Maria Mashyna says “Learning about film helps them understand the current digital world more.” These class offer a number of ways in which to engage students in the use of digital tools, which is what these programs aim for.

Further reports mentioned in the article take a look at cloud based social learning networks such as ‘Remix Learning’ and ‘Digital Youth Network’ are allowing for students to connect, share, and give feedback to their peers through their art making. These programs allow for students to post what they are making or doing to a network of their peers and receive real time feedback, in which mentors are able to monitor and model what it looks like to give constructive and positive criticism.

Another way in which art and technology is being utilized in the classrooms is through the STEAM program, where science, technology, engineering, art, and math being joined together to encourage students to control and take charge of their own learning. It’s exciting to read and find more ways in which art is being embraced and not cast aside due to it being seen as expendable to many districts. I see these programs as a chance to really showcase what art can do for student’s learning and how it will greatly impact our future.

Virtual Reality in the Classroom

http://blogs.edweek.org.proxyweb.doane.edu/teachers/teaching_now/2018/05/virtual_reality_how_can_teachers_practically_use_it.html?qs=technology

I just finished reading the article 5 Ways Teachers Can Use Virtual and Augmented Reality in the Classroom By Kate Stoltzfus.  Kate spoke with Jamie Donally, who is an advocate to using some virtual reality in the classroom.  As a younger teacher, I do use some VR in my classroom.  We have some headsets available in our media center, and I check them out for beginning or ending of our science units.  I can see why Donally runs into hesitancy with teachers- if you aren’t given training or support of how to use something new, it is a lot more work on your end!  I have helped my team use our provided VR technology, as well as some books in our library that come to life, and once they had a hands on experience with the virtual reality, it was easier for them to find a time when they could fit this into their teaching.  I totally agree that we had to have conversations with students about appropriate amounts of time on technology, and that is something we teach at the very beginning of the unit.  The first time my classroom gets to see and use a VR headset is with our rocks and minerals unit.  We use the VR world to explore caves, canyons and glaciers.  It is really cool to get to see the children get excited because they are no longer seeing just a picture, but feel they can actually explore!  Overall, I plan on using VR technology in my classrooms, and hopefully we continue to receive the newer versions of this technology as they become available.

A Response to "The Deconstruction of the K-12 Teacher"

I selected this article, “The Deconstruction of the K-12Teacher”, because it ran in The Atlantic, which is a favorite publication of mine. Despite this, I have to say this article clearly falls into the trap of alarmism. The main idea of the author, veteran English teacher Michael Godsey, is that in less than 20 years—perhaps as little as 5 to 10—traditionally trained teachers will be completely replaced by online and screen-based instruction. Further, Godsey theorizes that the adults in the room supervising this instruction won’t even be “teachers,” but instead “techs,” paid $15 an hour to provide classroom management in classes of as many as 50 students.

            If you think this sounds ridiculous, believe me, I agree. However, Godsey attempts to make a convincing case for this future. Throughout this article he provides quotes from seasoned educators who bolster his ideas, including superintendents: "I ask teachers all the time, if you can Google it, why teach it?" principals: "We’re at the point where the Internet pretty much supplies everything we need. We don’t really need teachers in the same way anymore," to high school teachers like himself: "I don’t ever write my own lesson plans anymore. I just give credit to the person who did." While I’m sure these educators are telling the truth as they see it, I believe that Godsey’s imaginings of the future of education are far-fetched at the very least, and that if they came to pass it would be to the absolute detriment of our students, our culture, and our society.

            Let’s begin with the basis of Godsey’s tech-centered classroom. To support his idea that students will just be herded into a room and deposited in front of screens pre-loaded with professionally-developed videos, worksheets, games, and assessments, Godsey points toward the booming industry for lesson-sharing websites (Teachers Pay Teachers, Kahn Academy, Edmoto…), as well as the rise of teaching trends such as student-centered learning, flipped learning, and problem-based learning. What all of these trendy new learning techniques have in common is that they rely on technology as a replacement for the instructor rather than an enhancement of instruction. However, a brief examination of John Hattie’s 2016 meta-analyses of factors that relate to student achievement reveals that problem-based learning methods have an achievement effect size of .26 and student-control over learning only has an achievement effect size of .02. For reference, an effect size of .40 is the average of all 196 interventions Hattie’s meta-analyses looked at, and is thus Hattie’s “hinge point” of positive effect. If, as Hattie’s research suggests, these technology-as-replacement techniques really are not any more beneficial than positive student-teacher relationships (achievement effect size of .52), explicit teaching procedures (achievement effect size of .57), or—most ironically—direct instruction (achievement effect size of .60), why would an expert educator even consider implementing them on a broad scale?

            Hattie’s findings on positive student-teacher relationships do not show an extraordinarily high achievement effect size, but a rate of .52—again, above the hinge point—does beg the question: if all teaching will eventually come from a computer, where will these relationships come from? As instructors it is not just our job to know content, but to know out students. Even when only using outside resources occasionally, it is the instructor’s job to be especially cognizant of their individual students’ backgrounds when selecting a resource. For instance, are my students at Lincoln Northeast High School going to enjoy a video featuring John Green as much as my friend’s students at Lincoln East would? My majority Hispanic/Latino and Middle Eastern students may not even know who John Green is, much less trust him to teach them about Romeo and Juliet. And why should they trust this random YA novelist to decode Shakespeare for them? He hasn’t been in the classroom with them all semester debating Rinaldo vs. Messi vs. Neymar or helping them understand the scary voicemail LPS left on their parent’s phones warning about “hurt a Muslim day.” The danger of handing over our classrooms to mass-produced pre-curated content is that we lose respect for the individuality of our learners, and in turn they lose respect for learning itself.

            Now, in the end, this vision of the computer-run classroom is not a happy picture for Godsey. In fact, he notes that his one “firm line” is that there is “a profound difference between a local expert teacher using the Internet and all its resources to supplement and improve his or her lessons, and a teacher facilitating the educational plans of massive organizations.” This line, Godsey posits, is what must be protected and defended at all costs; I agree with Godsey here. Where I disagree is in the idea that in just five to ten years teachers and public school districts will have unknowingly abdicated their role as instructors to the extent that this “firm line” no longer exists. If that were to happen, then maybe Godsey’s hellish dreamscape would become a reality. Technology is reshaping learning—of course it is—but so long as educators and administrators rely on data-collection and research-based learning methods when designing instruction they will never conclude that herding children into a room and letting a computer run the show is the best way, or even the right way, to run a school.

6 pros and cons about technology in the classrooms

https://tophat.com/blog/6-pros-cons-technology-classroom/

6 pros and cons about technology in the classrooms

Technology can be both a blessing and a curse! We need to keep in mind that the generation of students are born using technology. It is changing rapidly, but it is here to stay. As teachers, we need to remember that technology needs to be viewed as a tool, not the replacement of teachers. As mentioned in the article, schools have always been about the teacher-student relationship and this is when the education happens. Technology can be frustrating and time-consuming, but it can bring new experiences, new discoveries and new ways to learning and collaborating.

Here is what we can do to incorporate technology into our classrooms:

Pros:

·        Use technology to increase engagement, have a more active learning

·        Ensure full participation

·        Use it to make it more fun and effective by inserting games, role play and healthy competitions.

·        Automate the tedious tasks: attendance, performance, assignments…

·        Have access to fresh information to supplement the older textbooks

·        Practice the skills: creating presentation, learning how to find reliable sources, use proper online etiquettes.

Cons:

1.      Technology can be a distraction

a.      Identify projects, time during class and what the intention of technology use will be during the class

2.      Can disconnect students from social interactions

a.      Create assignment that uses both technology and oral presentation/group collaboration to learn how to interact with each other

3.      Foster cheating! Students have always found ways to cheat

a.      Design assignment where is will be difficult to cheat. Make them open books, focus on problem solving, focus on mastery versus retention.

4.      No equal access to technology

a.      Don’t make it a barrier for those how don’t have access. Use it in a inclusive manner.

5.      Quality of research and sources may not be great

a.      Guide the students on finding reliable sources

6.      Lesson planning might be more labor0intensive!

a.      Check if the software has a training section and give yourself time to learn!

One-to-One Technology in K–12 Classrooms

Many districts and schools have found technology to be an area of needed focus.  They have found, with research evidence, that students can benefit from 1:1 devices.  This can positively impact student achievement, classroom learning experiences, differentiated instruction, and engagement and motivation.  Although there are many benefits to this added focus on technology, there can also be some challenges that districts and schools can face.

A huge finding in the study was that students who used the devices more out of the classroom had a significant impact on their math achievement.   There was also better performance for students that were in a 1:1 program as opposed to a 1:5 program. Although screen size was not a significant difference, bigger screens helped keep the students engaged for longer.  These achievements were also across content areas, not just for math, although some state the contrary.

When students with devices, as opposed to students without devices, studies found that the classroom environment was run differently.  Students were encouraged to work in small groups and utilize more collaboration on activities and they communicated more effectively. They found the students felt a sense of accomplishment and showed more leadership skills.  This shows that not only were there positive quantitative results, there were also positive qualitative results for students with 1:1 devices. Not only did teachers run their classrooms differently, they were also found to implement research-based lessons and differentiate for their students. Students had more creative responses and a higher level of motivation and engagement in these lessons.

Although there are so many positive findings in research with 1:1 programs, they also found that there were some challenges.  While some teachers are eager to utilize technology in their classrooms, there are teachers that are not that tech savvy and need added professional development.  With the use of more devices also leads to more technical problems. Sometimes the internet can go down and leave the teachers to think on the fly as to what the students can work on or how to change the activity.   

I think the benefits outweigh the costs with use of technology and 1:1 programs. I found this super beneficial to read about as our district implemented a 1:1 program for our middle school last year.  We are learning how to make this program better and what professional development we need to add. Everything is a learning experience and if there are so many benefits, then not only do we need students buy-in, but we need teacher buy-in.  Teachers also need support in their schools.

Technology as a Tool to Support Instruction

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech004.shtml



The article I reviewed was titled Technology as a Tool to Support Instruction. This article states the advantages of using technology in the classroom. I do think that using technology in the classroom can be positive, but I also think it can be negative.  One line in the article that caught my attention is that "technology encourages exploration". I feel unresolved over this statement because it can encourage exploration, but educators are also tasked with the job of making sure the students are using the technology in the classroom appropriately. However, I do think it is important to include technology in the classroom, which the article supports.  This is important so that students are up to date, and have the knowledge of how to access and use all this information.  The article makes a good point in stating that technology allows the student to be active in their learning, and allows the student to use their own learning style while acquiring and presenting the information.  All in all, I believe that technology should be used in the classroom with caution.