There are many reasons why a teacher would integrate technology into the classroom. Technology helps the teacher with outside of the classroom tasks, such as administration, lesson planning, and communication, as well as inside the class with teaching. Have you ever had a professor who still uses a composition notebook for grading as opposed to an online program? The difference is pretty apparent. It makes their lives easier and helps them more efficiently plan for the class. Additionally, they can adapt to the students' different learning styles. Not everyone can learn through lecture, so technology provides the visual and interactive aspects to keep students engaged. Teachers may also be influenced to use technology because state standards are requiring that students be responsible citizens in technology. These two chapters actually coincide well with the ISTE standards. A good point the second chapter makes is that the information age requires students to be adaptable and innovative. A student can foster these skills through communication and practice, and track their progress through assessments. Lastly, technology gives equal access and opportunity to students with disabilities and students in underprivileged communities who may not have access to technology.
I really appreciate the ISTE standard for teachers that encourages their students to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity--especially the creativity part. Channeling learned information into innovative processes demonstrates proper achievement and advancement in the subject taught. But then it's funny because this is the one standard for students that I can't really identify with. I learned about certain media from a young age, but I feel like I learned about blogging, MS Excel, etc., too late, and in these areas, I feel like a digital immigrant. So I really do value teaching this to children, because it's a critical skill to have for later in life, especially when you're taking classes on education in technology.
The term "Digital Native" seems pretty accurate to describe youth in technology today. In short, this term is used for people who grew up in the modern world of technology; for example, most of us probably don't remember living without computers or phones, or at least we began using them very early on in life. In contrast, a Digital Immigrant is someone who first began using technology in their teens or early adult years. Though both types of people can become technologically proficient (or equally technologically impaired), the way in which they use technology differs. The podcast states that digital immigrants will often begin using different medias and devices by instruction, whereas digital natives would explore the same media and navigate it naturally. A lot of times, some of my teachers that I've become friends with on social media (primarily Facebook and Instagram) will use it to browse other people's feeds, but hardly post on their own. I did have one instructor Fall 2015 that encouraged us to use different medias for her class such as Tumblr and Twitter. In the end, it did help us communicate more with each other, and I liked that aspect. I'm scared for my future students because all of them are going to understand technology much better than I do. As time goes on, perhaps students will become more naturally adventurous with technology and more easily adaptable, which challenges instructors.
I totally agree with the reasons you mentioned about teachers using technology in the classroom. All my teachers that I've had have used an online program to teach, grade, and communicate!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that the ISTE standards that encourage creativity are the way to truly teach kids and give them an advantage that I think even our generation lacks in some aspects since like you mentioned, some of us were only taught more recently about these things.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with the third paragraph. As I mentioned in class, "teacher's belief toward technology" is very important. As long as they have a positive belief, they tend to have a positive behavior toward learning a new technology.
ReplyDeleteI love that you also mentioned that it's great that the ISTE standards encourage creativity! That is the one that really stuck out to me because I know how creative children are and how education can sometimes stifle that creativity, so to have it as a standard definitely makes me happy as well. Not every teacher/generation of teachers really prioritizes individual expression, and I think that's where we go most wrong.
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