Technology in Education
research project
Journalism #1
The innovating idea of technology in education has become a theme, if not, the theme, of the 21st century. As everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I believe this is a great way to be resourceful and kind to our environment, but I also don’t think it is a very efficient teaching method if it is not intermixed with some hands on activities, and plan old worksheets. In this article, a journalist is proposing the idea that the rumors about the massive change occurring are true, that technology is taking over the classroom and that everyone needs to get on board. He mentions that it is a creative and fun idea and that it is very efficient as well, on the contrary, he did mention that although it is all of these wonderful things, it does not completely band the classroom dynamic, because students need, as I said previously, a good mix. I agree with this wholeheartedly, it is a really neat idea, although a tad scary, that our generation is part of something huge, the educational system being completely renovated is something that will go down in textbooks one day. I am a little concerned about the classroom dynamic because I do agree that there still needs to be that balance, and I do not want to miss out on my college experience because it is being renovated to all online.
Journalism #2
This article is about some teachers in Florida and Texas who have signed onto BYOT which stands for ‘bring your own technology’ which is a tool in which teachers can use to enhance the children’s learning capabilities. There were some skeptics, but overall the idea was well received. In my opinion, this is a nice idea for elementary school kids who normally are not on twitter or instagram or texting that much, but come middle school and especially high school, their level of caring will be exceeded by their level of not caring and they will find ways to not do their online assignments. I do believe apps that are pertaining to a certain subject are very useful if I am paying attention and have the ability to concentrate, but that is not very often.
Academic
This article is about teachers in New York and how they are adapting to the new use of technology in the classroom. They had a professional come in to assess the situation in terms of brain damage. I agree with the main idea of this article, that technology is good and bad for its speed, and that it makes paying attention a lot harder. Teachers complained that they ‘tap danced’ around the room and the longer they stood at the front of the classroom the longer they lost the children’s attention. The professional said one thing that would help with that would be to minimize the social media, but that is pretty impossible when you cannot monitor everyone’s screens at once.
Politics
The article talks about President Obamas’ thoughts on innovating the educational system. He says it is a really good idea, and that funding will be given for the educational system to grow. Schools that don’t have the money to grow in this sort of way are at an advantage with the BYOT license which was mentioned in an earlier article. Students of all levels of society will have some sort of technological device to use in the classroom.