Class Reflection

            This class has both opened my eyes to many new things and also reaffirmed things that I had already learned about technology in school. Many of the things taught in this class are things that our school district is trying to implement. The schools all realize that these students are wired differently and need additional technical support to understand their lessons. They cannot just sit quietly and listen to a teacher lecture throughout the course of the school day. Implementing technology in the past has been accomplished by adding some lower tech items; replacing chalk boards with white boards chalk with dry erase markers. Then the changes started to be more advanced, putting computers in the classroom, adding interactive white boards and Apple iPads. This course also had the wisdom to note that not only must the resources change, by adding all the hardware, but the teachers must change and create ways to use this new technology to enhance student learning. Technology doesn’t teach students, teachers do. If we want to reach the students of today, we need to learn how to work with the technology. Just having an interactive board doesn’t mean anything unless the teacher finds innovative ways to use it to engage the students. This course has also come with a book that will be a great resource for years to come in finding other areas of help. It has links to sites that allow teachers to teach their students how to blog, where to find additional resources besides the traditional Google search. When taking classes in the past, many students, even adults don’t want to purchase the textbook, or sell it back immediately after class is over. But this book has some great links that I discovered that I will continue to look into long after the class is over.

           The uses for what has been taught in this class are almost endless. I have just started at a new school this year whose focus is innovation and technology. Taking this class, I feel I have quite a few more ways to deliver this type of lesson to my students. It talks about using some software that I am familiar with; Kidspiration software for understanding words and numbers, and audio recording programs like Audacity.  There were also so many more links to software and services that I had never heard of before. It will be great to be able to break the molds on the traditional diorama this year and make a movie or a podcast instead! It may level the playing field if all students are introduced to the ways to produce these new reports. Maybe even having the students complete all their work at school. It is always obvious when some students get too much help from their parents on one of these “old school” projects. It will also allow teachers to save some of the students’ things digitally on DVDs and give them to the parents. In years to come when all the paper and drawings have faded, it might be fun to watch your child discuss his assignment or watch a movie that they have developed. Technology is a difficult thing to keep up with, just when you think you know it all, it changes. Things are changing so quickly, that it is hard to keep up. Teachers need to keep an open mind when it comes to implementing things that work in the classroom Taking classes like this one can help get teachers aware of all the inexpensive technology at their fingertips. Some of the items may be expensive, computers and projectors and the hard ware; but once installed it is easy to find inexpensive ways to keep these items new and fresh for our students. Technology is here to stay and taking classes like this one, online as well as in person will help keep our teachers a step ahead of the curve. Letting the students become the new creative forces in their education. 

Challenges with Implementing Audio and Video Resources

       

                 More school districts are trying to find innovative ways to teach today’s young. They are growing up in a visual and auditory boom of information. They are no longer learning in the traditional ways of books and lectures. We must move forward with the times and teach students the same way that they live. Video, still pictures shown on large screens and audio are some of the ways to reach the youth of today. They are moving too fast to be able to sit and listen to a lecture or only read out of a book. School districts are facing some challenges in working to obtain adequate audio and video presentations for the classroom. There are several concerns; discussed here will be cost and finding proper videos and audio for use in the classroom.

          Cost is always a concern for any district. Many districts have lost money since the government isn't funding as many programs as they once did. Another concern is the implementation of the common core. Many of the books schools are currently using are outdated and need to be replaced in order for student to master these new standards. Then on top of all that, a principle has to try and order video equipment for students to record their own lessons, or audio equipment so they can tape their written papers. For some districts, these types of luxury items must stay a dream until they can purchase more essential items.  Even though these items are a necessity for the young people today, board members may feel they are an item that is not necessary and opt for the more traditional textbook upgrade. It is often difficult for the community to help a school rally for these newer technology items. Many people can’t agree on which type of items need to be purchased. They also feel that these items are not necessary and wonder why schools are wasting their money on these expensive items. Schools have to get their districts and other districts in the same area together to show people that these items are essential to the development and education of the children. I always here this saying when I take a technology class, “Many jobs that young children will be working on when they graduate from college haven’t been invented yet”. I believe this! If the United States wants to continue to be a major player in the global economy they need to invest in the education for these young people.

           The next large challenge to overcome is finding videos and audio that is acceptable for use in the classroom. Even many children’s movies are rated PG or above, and permission has to be obtained for a student to watch anything “worse than” a G rating.  Teachers will be spending exorbitantamounts of time trying to find video or audio that they can use. They also need to be careful about copyrights. Will there be a new position created in districts for a person to find and screen video and audio that can be incorporated into the new common core standards?  Most likely no, the teachers will be responsible for finding the items they want to use in their classrooms. If a great video is found, will the teacher be able to share it with others or will the districts need to look at contacting the holder of the copyright? This could cause some legal and financial concerns. It is always very intimidating wondering whether you are using a video found on line legally or if there are other things you need to take care of first, before it is shown to the class. To bypass this concern, will districts ask the teachers to create their own video or audio productions? That would help with the legal concern, but it takes us right back to the financial concerns about being able to purchase all the equipment that is necessary. Teachers could probably do a great job putting something together, but would they have enough time? If the students did the work and starred in the video, would they have to have permission from their parents before anything was posted online-or even shown in the classroom? All of these question and concerns come up over buying vs. creating your own. There are costs associated with both.  Whichever way districts choose, or maybe they will institute a combination of the two; they will need to develop rules and regulations for these new programs. Students need to have exposure to these different technologies to learn, but they must also be kept safe from others who may use these student videos in other ways.       

Instructional Technology and Media

                 Instructional technology and media are part of the “wave of the future” and for good reasons. All I hear in seminars is that students are wired differently today. This belief is based on the fact that many have technology all around them on a daily basis. They have access to the World Wide Web at home, while gaming, or even watching their favorite movies streamed via Netflix. They are bombarded with technology in many hand held devices such as iPods, iPads, tablets, and even smart phones. There are very few students who don’t have one of the devices that I mentioned. Many of them are getting these devices while they are very young. Now compare that type of world to their educational settings. Sometimes technology ends when they walk into a classroom. Many school districts can’t afford, or will not allow their students to use technology in school. That is why many believe students are not doing well in school.

          The instructional technology and media that is available to school districts and teachers seems to be endless. It is often difficult to try and look through all the options that are available to find something that will work for your classroom while also adhering to state guidelines. In our district, Mesa Public Schools, we are lucky as some of this research is done for us. We have instructional specialists who search for technology and instructional material that will meet state standards. Many teachers also supplement that by continuing to search on their own. The reason all this research is necessary is our students. Students have many different learning styles. Some can listen to a lecture and understand the information. Some can follow along while watching a video and that helps them understand. Others need a hands on approach to make the material stick. With all these different learning styles, various approaches to the lesson need to be discovered. The wonderful thing about technology is that it is right there at our fingertips. If a teacher has a lesson planned and all the students understood the material, she may want to look up some additional information to further supplement the lesson. That can be done on the fly without taking up too much class time. A teacher never knows for sure how much time the students will need to fully comprehend the material. If she thought it would take longer and had multiple ways to present the material she may want to hold off on presenting it all and move on to something that would enrich the lesson. On the other hand, if the students didn’t understand the material, having this back up of other methods would help the students even if it took several days. As a teacher, one has to have several modes of instruction planned for each lesson. Gone are the days when a teacher lectured, the students took notes, and the material was absorbed without any other method of delivery.

           Another method that could use technology would be to have students use an interactive board for a writing class. Students could use the board when editing a paragraph so they could physically move the sentences around. They would be able to change the location of sentences within the paragraph and see that the paragraph flows more smoothly. The same type of approach could be used when having the students identify parts of speech. A student may have to physically move a word into the correct category on the interactive board to show their understanding. Having the students listen to a speech by the original speaker would add to the lesson. When we were discussing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. what he stood for, why he had a holiday named for him; we discussed his famous speech. We read through the words and tried to understand what it meant to the people during that time. The students had a discussion and came up with some good ideas. Then we listened and watched the speech and it opened up a whole new discussion. Many students had never seen Dr. King in anything but a still photo and most had never heard his voice. The students noted his booming voice, the clothing worn, and the police presence-things that were not brought up in the original discussion. The impact on the class intense and the discussion went on for several days. With all the new technology and media available, students should be able to find something that works for them. The teacher is going to have to be more of a facilitator in making sure that many different modes or styles of teaching become part of all lessons.