Cool School

October 3, 2005

It was question and answer night in technology class and the format of the class illustrated one of the key benefits of technology in the classroom. That key being that technology provides a clear avenue for the student to become the teacher. A panel of students in grades 5-8 answered questions from the teachers (students in a continuing education class). Students commented on opportunities that technology gave them, what types of technology had the greatest impact on them and talked about different technology projects they had completed. A key element that was revealed was that different students liked different types of technology and technology gave them opportunities to excel in their major areas of interest. Types of technology that were mentioned as favorites included: smartboards, I-Movie, Palms and Laptops. The class format was interesting and informative. It gave insight into the future of education while at the same time reminded listeners of a staple that has been around as long as education itself; if you really expect to understand something you teach it someone else.

Dr. Soos

The article on multimedia projects was centered around a statement made by a San Jose St. professor in the late 1970's. The statement was that all learning is self-taught. One of the students in the class in which the statement was made was Richard Soos. Soos took the statement to heart and in doing so has spent much of his career in education developing programs that integrate technology into the classroom. This, he believes, leads students to be self-directed learners who develop the skills necessary to compete in today's world. He emphasized the importance of cross curricular projects that include a variety of technology types. The article went to suggest a variety of project ideas for several grade levels. A particularly interesting point to me (and one that I had not considered previously) was Soos noted that technology opportunities in education could be a great equalizer between different socio-economic classes.

Point Blank

After week # 3 of class it's obvious than I am the Rip Van Winkle of the class. We talked about Power Point. Everything presented was new to me. We analyzed the do's and don't(s) of Power Point and looked at different examples of how it can be used in the classroom. One thing that surprised me was that Power Point was created for the business world. I assumed it was first developed as a tool in public school education. I also learned about hyperlinks and animation features.

The More Things Change....

Reading the article "Technology Integration as a Transforming Teaching Strategy" reminded me of two books from the past. The first is Future Shock, a book from several decades ago that warned that a time would come when society would have great difficulty keeping up with rapid advancements in technology. The second is Catch 22 which of course is a phrase that refers to a lose/lose situtation. Before I continue I want to make it clear that I don't mean to take a negative approach to the article but instead found it very interesting. It did however present several problems that have occurred as technolgy becomes more prevelent in education. Today's teachers face the problem of how to integrate technolgy into the classroom while still teaching basic information required by government education standards. The article emphasized the importance of teachers being flexible and willing to accept change. These are difficult problems for many educators to overcome especially those veterans who were largely educated in a pre-computer world. Many times young teachers who are more technologically advanced are called on to be school leaders in this field but at the same time they are struggling with classroom management and trying to gain expeience. As technology continues to be more and more common it is important for educators to stay informed on the latest procedures. To a certain extent this problem will eventually solve itself because those in grade school and high school now will constitute many of the teachers in the next two decades. Obviously technology is here to stay but students, teachers and administrators need to remember that it is not the curriculum but is an excellent way to enhance the curriculum.

on the record

I am very fortunate that there are people in this class who have good computer skills. This blog project is fun but I took baby steps to get to this point.