Applying Creativity Through Technology Can Expand Learning

Technology is just a modern tool that is the same as whiteboards and posters. Creativity can be used with technology to create wonderful lessons for students. But this creativity can also expand learning in many ways. One reason is that technology can be a good visual tool for students. Teachers can use Smartboard, video clips, etc. to show visually what they want their students to learn. Another reason that creativity with technology can expand learning is through projects. Teachers can assign projects that has the students create amazing projects with different types of technology like Powerpoint, Captivate, etc. The teacher would need to teach their students first how to use this technology so that they will not be confused when they are doing their projects. One last reason is that teachers can create lessons with technology to advance interactivity with the students. The biggest example of this is Smartboard because teachers can have the students come up to the board and solve problems like math equations and that is good practice for the students. Overall, I think that technology creativity can really expand learning in classrooms because of what these different types of technology can do for students and teachers.

Does Online Classes Eliminate Inequality?

Online classes do have their advantages and disadvantages. But do these play into reducing inequality? In a way they do because of several reasons. One reason is that children who are handicapped or mentally challenged can benefit from online classes because they are able to get an education that they are never able to get in a regular classroom. Another reason is that online classes can eliminate gender inequality and racial discrimination. Technology cannot get rid of these fully, but online classes can do it better than regular classrooms. Online classes can also benefit students who would learn better online rather than in the classroom. But this cannot help every student because while some students can learn better online, some cannot learn very well online. This leads into some of the disadvantages that online classes cannot eliminate inequality. The main reason is that online classes cannot eliminate inequality fully because online classes cannot benefit everyone. Another reason is that the online teacher cannot help reduce inequality when he or she cannot interact with his or her students face to face. Online classes can reduce inequality of students in some ways, but inequality cannot be eliminated completely. The world needs to start eliminating inequality completely before online classes can.

Does Technology Eliminate Gender Inequality?

There are many rumors that technology causes gender inequality in classrooms. This technology tends to more favor boys because men are supposedly more "tech smart" than women. Also, most software is said to be more geared toward boys and boys spend more time with technology than girls. But there are some ways that this gender inequality can be reduced in schools. One way is that when teachers are giving assignments for students to do with technology, group the girls together with no boys because girls love social interaction. Another way is to have more female role models for technology in the schools. For example, my library teacher in elementary school was also the computer teacher and she enforced gender equality with the computers. Another way is to give longer amounts of time on technology projects because then both genders will have equal time with technology. For me, I know that outside the classroom men do spend more time with technology like computers than girls do and they know more about technology than girls do. But, trying to have equal technology time with both genders can help reduce gender inequality. And there are many women today that are tech smart as much as men, so that means that girls in classrooms can be tech smart like boys.

iSchool: The Way of the Future?

This week in my Technology in the Classroom class, I watched a Youtube video that discussed this potential new technology for schools called iSchool. The student in the video explained that iSchool could replace textbooks and become personal tools for the students. But can all of this really be the future for education? I think in a few years, but not right now. iSchool does sound like a good idea on paper, but how will the teachers and students react to this? iTouches and iPads are expensive and some students probably cannot afford to buy one. Even if the school pays for them personally, some students may not have used one before or they may not have internet access at home to do their schoolwork. All of this negativity makes it sound like I do not agree that iSchool is the future for education. I think that this technology is still too new and needs to go through some more development. When the technology is just right, then it can be used in classrooms. Since I am a fan of Apple's technology, I can get right into it and play around with it for me and my students. This idea is a good idea, but not for right now.

K-12 Online Classrooms

Listening to Beth Day talk about online classrooms for K-12 was interesting because of the things that an online classroom can do. This is a great way to use technology for the classroom because of the fact that these classes are on the computer. There are great benefits that she mentioned like organization, knowing the students better, and schedule flexibility. However, there were some disadvantages to online classrooms that she mentioned like classroom management and not being able to interact with the students face to face. I can relate to these advantages and disadvantages to online classes because I have taken some online classes for Cedarville. Some of the advantages for college online classes are that the classes are easier and I can work on homework from those classes at any time, but I cannot interact with my professor if I need help face to face and some professors are hard to reach. So I can see why online classrooms can and/or cannot work. But, it does seem like many classes will eventually be all online. Beth Day did answer this in her lecture and said that it may happen, but not in the near future. Overall, her lecture was an interesting one to listen to and I feel that she did a great job.

Default Culture vs. Culture of Possibility: Improving Student Achievement Through Technology

Sam Roberson made many good points in his article "Defying the Default Culture and Creating a Culture of Possibility". He states two opposing school cultures: default culture and culture of possibility. With default culture, he says that schools are bound and chained by teacher-centered classrooms, have rigid and often scripted curricula, and are narrowly focused on high stakes testing with a limited understanding and application of learning. With culture of possibility, he says that this is "characterized by student-centered classrooms, flexible and interdisciplinary curricula, formative and authentic assessments, and a generative understanding and application of learning," (p. 2). From these two sides, Roberson seems to be more in favor of culture of possibility. He goes more in detail with this side by listing characteristics and stating why this is better than default culture. After discussing both of these sides while favoring culture of possibility, he asks if default culture will remain or if culture of possibility will be adopted into schools. So how can this relate to technology improving student achievement? Well, a culture of possibility can relate to technology improving student achievement because this side of the debate is more engaged with student learning and improving students' knowledge, skills, and behavior.

What I Learned This Week

This week in Technology in the Classroom I learned that there are many different types of technology that can be used in a classroom. But I also learned that different types of technologies could be used for different subjects. I created a math lesson using a Smart Board that my students and I would interact with it. I did a lesson similar to this my senior year in Teacher Academy with 6th grade math students and the only thing I updated was the type of technology I used because I used an overhead instead of a Smart Board. Compared to other lessons that my peers created, I think that I could have been more creative. Some of the lessons that I heard from my peers were very creative and interesting and the feedback from them was good. When thinking about my future classroom, I think that many of the types of technology that are being used in classrooms today will be great for me to use. Like I said in my previous blog post, I think that technology is the future of education and many lessons can revolve or use technology to help students to learn in a different way and for teachers to use for teaching in a different way.

Technology as the future of education

As a future teacher, I need to know all of the important things that happen in a classroom. One of these things that I need to know are the types of technology that my classroom has for my use and for my students. I know that technology is changing and many schools today are using more technology in the classrooms. From my field experiences during my senior year in high school and my freshman year in college, I have seen and worked with many different types of technology in the classroom. The piece of technology that I have used the most in a teaching setting is the overhead. This piece of technology may be old compared to the newer types of technology that are used in classrooms today, but it still works perfectly to display overhead pages for the students to see and the students and teacher can interact with it be writing directly on it. I have also used computers in teaching lessons and students can use them also for school work. I have never used advanced teaching technology like Smartboards but I have seen them being used by other teachers and I feel that this new technology is the future of teaching.

Summer of Movies

I saw a grand total of 14 movies this summer. The most I have ever seen in one time period. The movies that I saw are:
Thor
Bridemaids
Pirates 4
Hangover 2
X Men First Class
Super 8
Green Lantern
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Cars 2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Captain America
Cowboys vs. Aliens
Glee 3D Concert
The Help