Well let me tell you first: I am a fan of technology. In my home my 3 children have lots of electronic toys -educational and the pure entertaining kind. My oldest daughter has her own Ipod, DS and computer in her room with internet access and a printer. My Wife and I are discussing getting her a Cell Phone and for the most part I believe she needs these technologies to function in the modern world. My next two children 9 and 5 years old don't quite have all the electronic devices that my oldest has yet but will probably follow her. In my home we have a laptop, a desktop, VCR, DVD, Dish TV, Internet Phone, smart cell phones, GPS and Ipods. -So even if I don't always understand the technology I try to embrace it.
Now having said all that I am not so sure I know how to use technology enough to make it effective in the classroom and as a teaching tool. I am 40+ years old and when I went through school, technology was films and VHS tapes -the big ones. In college Computers started to show up but I never had one in my dorm room...
So what do I think about the use of technology in education???? Well if the teacher is properly educated then absolutely there are so many wonderful things available we have to use them! The education on how to incorporate the technology is critical though (I'm thinking back to whenever a teacher couldn't get the projector to work). if the teacher can't make the technology work then that runs the risk of boring the children and losing the time that could have been used in a more traditional teaching method. With all that we have to cover in content now time is critical!!
"I'm thinking back to whenever a teacher couldn't get the projector to work..."
ReplyDeleteYour comment made me smile. I thought back to when I used to show movies in the classroom. You had to thread the 8 mm film in and out through the reels and the other equipment. The only way I could get it done was to follow the diagram glued to the inside of the projector cover... every time! Thank goodness using technology today is easier than that. :)
You raised a really interesting point. Having three children, there is a lot of technology in your household. God willing, our future students will also be using the same technology. If our students are interested in computers, ipods, smartphones, etc., than why not incorporate this into our classrooms. We need to get our message across and keep our students interested. There is nothing wrong with traditional teaching. We all need to find our own style. For me, I believe I will combine traditional teaching and technology. Thank you for raising interesting points!
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