Two More for The Roll

I’ve found two more interesting blogs  to follow, both dealing with technology in the classroom.

The first one is through edweek.org This blog is titled Digital Education. It is written by two of the staff writers for Education Week (Katie Ash and Ian Quillen). The most recent post is about a survey. The survey asks parents and teachers if they think that technology will be important in the classroom over the next 10 years. The other posts also deal with technology in the classroom news and issues. The posts are all well written and easy to read. The only thing that I don’t really care for is that the blog is within the edweek website itself so the layout is kind of boring. If you are looking for strictly information however, this blog might be for you.

The second blog pertains to students and teachers a little bit more directly, as the author is the teacher of a technology for teaching class. Technology for Teachersis more of a personal blog than the first one I talked about. One of the posts is an explanation and description of smartboards, another is about google tools (I personally LOVE google, and all the amazing tools that it offers). The most recent post is an online book club this teacher provides for his students. The posts are filled with lots of links and outside resources to add extra information.

My Beliefs about Technology and Learning

I believe that technology can be a tremendous aid in teaching. Power points have become a regular method in many schools for giving information and notes. Prezi presentations are a more creative way for students to present a project. Smart boards provide many opportunities and are very versatile.  

A teacher can utilize technology in the classroom to make lessons more interesting, and engage students. What does not engage students, is a teacher who fumbles with their power point notes because they don't know how to open the file, or a professor who tries to give notes with a smartboard but doesn't know how to use one. 

Pauses during the lesson to fix the technology that can sometimes be full of glitches can distract students and break their focus during the class. That is why I believe it is very important that an instructor become very comfortable with the programs they are using in the classroom. This is especially relevant to me as an early childhood major. I won't be able to afford a 10 minute break to fix the computer, leaving all the students in the class without my full attention. Young children need to constantly be engaged and need to see the lesson as fun and interesting in order to keep their attention.