Dr. Roberts highlighted the tremendous increase in the use
of media among children and adolescents.
With the connectivity of students today, Dr. Roberts’ lecture had me
question if I should be focused on implementing more technology in the
classroom. However, in today’s society,
technology is important, and students must have exposure to technology and be
comfortable with its uses in order to successfully enter most professions. As teachers, we are in a unique position in
that we can address this shift in media use among our students and promote its
use in moderation. Some of the questions
I have for Dr. Roberts are: How does media use differ among race, socioeconomic
status and location? Can this increase
in technology use be positively correlated with childhood obesity and
ADHD? How do we “disengage” our students
and still keep their attention?
Add high school online learning to another program meant to
cut costs but ultimately undermines the purpose of a teacher and classroom
education. Having one teacher for a
class of 150 online students is most definitely cheaper than 150 students in a
traditional classroom, but the quality of this education seems to promote
practices such as plagiarizing while eliminating the important social and
physical aspects of a classroom environment.
From what I have experienced, most high school students do not have
skills to successfully complete online learning. Many of these students still need the
scaffolding and personal encouragement found in a traditional course. However, I do believe that online learning
could be successful for highly motivated and highly skilled students looking to
increase their knowledge, as long as the course is designed to challenge the
student and maintain high standards.
With the increase in online courses at the college level, it will be
important to teach students how to navigate the Internet, select appropriate
sources, as well as define plagiarism and its consequences. My school does employ an online learning
center for students who need to recover credit, and although I do not know much
about the curriculum, I am skeptical of the actual learning that is taking
place will be concerned if the program begins to grow.
Technology Resources
for the Teacher:
Prezi: I would
love to use Prezi for student presentations.
It is a newer resource so students familiar with PowerPoint may be able
to enjoy something new and allow for more creativity. It also doesn’t require students to have
certain software, and the presentation is stored on the Internet, so it is more
accessible to students.
Quizlet: An
online flashcard resource that students could use to store their vocabulary
words. Biotechnology involves a lot of
new, technical vocabulary and I could envision either creating a bank for
students to study from, or having each student create their own banks with
definitions in their own words. Students
could also create vocabulary games and play each other’s games.
Google Sites:
Free web space to create a website. I want
to create a website that includes all of my classroom resources/activities,
homework, presentations and agendas for students to be able to access when
absent, missing an assignment, or need additional help.
Google Docs: Google docs provides free word processing,
spreadsheet and presentation tools that can be stored online and allow for
collaboration. I would like to integrate
a biotech project for students in which they learn to use the different
document tools, cloud storage, and collaborative capabilities that they will
most definitely use in college.
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