The Technology Explosion
If you were born from 1970-1990, you have witnessed an explosion in technology. You may have grown up with a rotary phone and upgraded to a push button then got really fancy with a wireless phone. If you are like 47% of U.S. households, you may have gotten rid of your landline completely now that you have a cell phone with unlimited long distance and data plan for surfing the web.
You may have had Introduction to Computers in school, you might even remember using DOS or Word 5.0. Now you are probably using a laptop or a tablet that's running Windows 7 or 10. You might even connect to the cloud based Office 365 or use Microsoft 2010, 2013 or 2016 to complete documents and spreadsheets. You may have had the luxury to look up information in an encyclopedia at home or perhaps you had to go to the library to search the card catalog to find a book, magazine or article. Now there is the internet, where you can use the world wide web to search information on any subject. You most likely watched the internet go through changes as well, connecting to the internet with a dial-up, which sounded kind of like an annoying fax, and the most popular service was AOL. Now most internet service is bundled with cable service and the popular search engines and email providers are Google, Yahoo and Hotmail. You probably watch YouTube videos for entertainment or to see how to do pretty much anything. You grew up with mom and dad listening to records on the living room stereo or 8-tracks on car rides and taped songs off the radio with your dual cassette boombox. Nowadays, you are streaming music through your cell phone and apps on your car connected to your cell phone. You went to school every day and the only time you talked to your teacher was at school. Now you can take classes online and you can email, text or virtually meet with your teacher online when you need help. You’ve seen a watch become something that told you what time it was to one that updates you on emails and texts you’ve received, what your heart rate is, to being able to actually answer your cell phone calls. Technology has changed our life forever, here are at least 50 Things Technology Has Taken Over that your children and grandchildren will never have to do.
Why Have Schools Not Leaped into the Tech Future?
Recently an
article about Delaware schools focused on Why Ed Tech Is Not Transforming How Teachers Teach.
Just having a computer,
iPads, or other tech gadgets does not mean that technology will be successfully
integrated into curriculum. Why? Some of the top reasons listed for public
school teachers were lack of confidence in using technology in the classroom or
knowing what types of technology to use in different lessons. Some teachers
stated that trying to create technology based lessons took extra work and time
and they felt pressured to stick to traditional teaching methods especially by
fellow teachers. Still other reasons included the pressure for student success
on standardized tests and scoring well on teacher evaluations to stay employed.
In Modeling
the World of a Child, Tracy Roden raises several possibilities that may
cause teachers to resist implementing technology with elementary school
children. Some of these possibilities include the teachers view that: devices may replace opportunities for indoor
and outdoor play, talk, and interaction with their peers. Using technology or
implementing tech devices takes meaningful time away from art lessons or dramatic
play. Still others are concerned about contributing
to the amount of time children spend on technology and wonder if the value of the
content is worthwhile.
Discussion of Solutions
The old adage, practice makes perfect comes to mind. Using technology, especially when it is constantly changing is scary. Perhaps professional development days might focus more on best practices of what types of lessons work best with which types of technology. Teachers obviously have the capacity to learn various types of software-they don't need to spend time on how to navigate a program. What they seem to need is practical uses of that program, some guidance on how to integrate it into different lessons and a support system to go to for help or advice.
My suggestions:
1. Don't be afraid to try something new and if it doesn't work out then try something else. The good thing about trying new things is, you will learn what works and what doesn't along the way. What works for one lesson may not work for another. 2. Give it a chance. Learning something new is not easy or fun sometimes. Changing the way you do something is not fun because, no one really LOVES change. You may find the one thing you didn't like might be the one that you keep coming back to time and again. 3. Ask your peers. I have learned so many things from my peers. When you find someone who is excited about learning new technology, you have probably found someone that you can ask the following questions: What are some websites you have found to decide which technology to use with which lesson? What technology have you used successfully with a lesson?
My suggestions:
1. Don't be afraid to try something new and if it doesn't work out then try something else. The good thing about trying new things is, you will learn what works and what doesn't along the way. What works for one lesson may not work for another. 2. Give it a chance. Learning something new is not easy or fun sometimes. Changing the way you do something is not fun because, no one really LOVES change. You may find the one thing you didn't like might be the one that you keep coming back to time and again. 3. Ask your peers. I have learned so many things from my peers. When you find someone who is excited about learning new technology, you have probably found someone that you can ask the following questions: What are some websites you have found to decide which technology to use with which lesson? What technology have you used successfully with a lesson?
Comment below and let me know if you have a favorite website or have had a success with using technology!
Affective Computing-Changing the Way We Learn and the Way We Teach
In the coming years, one of the emerging trends in
technology I have been researching can hopefully help with the way we learn and
the way we teach. Teachers may be able to develop their curriculum to keep in
pace with their student’s abilities. If wearable technology or facial
recognition could help teachers identify anxiety and doubt when working through
lessons, they would be able to place students into ability groups where
students could collaborate on classwork. The teacher and teacher aids would
then be able to focus attention on those needing extra help. Affective
computing could identify what student does well and what areas need practice to
personalize a learning plan to maximize the use of time in the classroom. The
teacher becomes the coach on the sideline and allows the students to become the
star of their own game.
Next Blog: Why Have
Businesses Not Leaped into the Tech Future?
The most amazing thing I have found about educational technology is that the majority of educators agree with its use, but a very small minority are actually using it. I see affective computing as a way to increase those numbers. Affective computing is a fascinating way to incorporate a major flaw with communication in online environments. Verbal communication is almost as much physical as it is auditory. Online communication lacks the physical. In traditional educational settings the teacher as a coach can use scaffolding techniques to develop dialogue for student performance. Online, there is no coach. Your search engine results are only as good as the words or phrases that you input. If computers become capable of "reading" physical cues to help identify frustration, we are on our way to a more powerful connection with the universe of knowledge contained in the internet. I am looking forward to what will develop. Thank you for your post!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment Charles. I, too, think that Affective Computing may be the link that is missing and may help to bridge the gap between online and in class learning. Teachers have a way of knowing when their students are frustrated because they get to know them over time, that is not the case with an online teacher because they do not get to experience the personality and mannerisms of their students. If computers were in fact able to interpret these cues, it may help to alert the online teacher to something they would have otherwise missed. Also, if the learning is completely computer driven, the ability of a computer to recognize and store the mannerisms of a student who takes multiple lessons could build a repertoire the 'learning coach' could use to identify patterns of behaviors to signify when a student is frustrated or lost. Thanks again for your comment!
DeleteLoved your post JoAnn! Affective computing is of high interest to me. As a special education teacher, I can see the immense benefits that this could have on not only my students, but for the educator as well. I spend so much of my day tracking behavior data and/or student responses to certain stimuli. With affective computing, this work could be done for me! This would eliminate the guesswork and help me to create a plan for that student! I love what you mentioned about how "the teacher becomes the coach on the sideline and allows the students to become the star of their own game". I would love to see that happening in my classroom with some of my kiddos!
ReplyDeleteThank you Melissa, I think Affective Computing would be another way for special education teacher to communicate and break through some of the barriers that could affect your student's learning. Your student is with you as much of the day and sometimes more than they are with their own parents. I know that as a teacher that you become invested in your student's success and their successes become yours as well. I imagine that advances in Affective Computing could give special needs students another way to become independent with personalized lessons and also biometrics to alert you without words if they are in need of assistance. Thank you for your comments and thank you for all you do each day with your kids!
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