Technology in the Classroom

Week Four

 

            This week we had the opportunity to read several articles that discussed technology, education, and how it affects our students and their learning. The articles that will be discussed are: Article 33: What is technology Education? A Review of the Official Curriculum by Ryan A. Brown and Joshua W. Brown; Article 34: Plagiarism in the Internet Age by Rebecca Moore Howard and Laura J. Davies; Article 35: Transforming Education with Technology: A conversation with Karen Cator by Marge Scherer; and Article 36: Assessing Middle School Students Knowledge of Conduct and Consequences and their Behavior Regarding the Use of Social Networking Sites by Kite, Gable, and Filippelli. This synthesis will analyze each article as it relates to present classrooms and our students.

            In the article, What is Technology Education? It discusses the concept of technology education, how to approach the concept in the classroom (its curriculum) and what standards would be sufficient to its goals that need to be met. Technology education is to produce students with a more conceptual understand of t4echnology and its place in society, who can thus grasp and evaluative new bits of technology that they might never have seen before (ITEA, 2000, 4) (Brown and Brown, 2013, 170). The overall goal of technology education is to obtain technological literacy. There are several documents that offers definition for technological literacy but the one I prefer that is the International Technology Education Associations’ which defines it as the ability to use, manage, evaluates, and understand technology (ITEA 2006) (Brown and Brown, 2013, pg. 171).

Why should students be taught technology? Understanding technology and becoming technologically literate are believed to help students achieve a better understanding of the technological society in which they live, not through vocational or specific job training. (Seemann 2003; Brown and Brown, 2013, pg. 173) When I was in middle and high school, technology education was in the form of “computer class”. In this class, that was offered once then twice a week, taught student how to type, how to use a webcam, the internet, basic presentations. Students learn visually, cognitively, and kinetically. Computer class allows students to prepare for a curriculum that no longer requires a typewriter but information, comprehensions, and being interactive.

            In the article, Plagiarism in the Internet Age written by Howard and Davies. It discussed how students use internet sources improperly and thus at times not citing at all. Students who cannot summarize are the students most likely to plagiarize (Howard and Davies, 2013, pg. 175). The article argues that students are given projects and research activities but are ill equipped (not taught) to properly summarize and cite sources within their assignments. To help resolve this issue the article suggests teachers produce lessons and assignments that will teach them how to summarize, correctly cite, and how to evaluate sources to be found credible. The best activity that that comes to mind, in my opinion is for students to select a newspaper article, summarize it, cite the source, and then turn it in with the article to assess its validity and the comprehension of the activity. Through this assignment, teachers are able to assess students understanding on how to summarize and thus evaluate and evolve their methods to increase their students understanding and the significance at correctly using sources.

            The classroom environment changes from district to district. Today, a district can have smart boards, while others still have dry erase board. The use of technology in the classroom enables students to use various means to learn, comprehend, and practice skills being taught. They will be able to perform sufficiently in today’s society. The article, Transforming Education with Technology: A conversation with Karen Cator (the director the Office of Educational Technology of the United States Department of Education). Scherer conducted an informative interview on the purpose and methods of using technology with in the classroom. She suggests that such a classroom should consists of engagement from both students and teachers, the assignment is relevant to the material and theme, and that students have their own personal touch as to what and how they at are being taught. As we transition to a digital learning environment and each learner has his or her own device; we will be able to facilitate personalization, participation, interaction and collaboration… (Karen Cator; Scherer, 2013, pg. 178). I found this interview to be informative because it provided background information as well as reasoning to how change can happen as it pertains to technology use in education. For example, Cator was asked about professional development for teachers; her response was “…the technologies we focus on need to improve teachers opportunity to be successful. If a product requires a chunk of time for professional development just to know how to use it, then it may not be well-designed. (Scherer, 2013, 179)

            How can we protect our children on the internet? In Article 36, it discusses the negative uses of the internet such as cyber bulling, and social networks. The article also discusses a survey (the Survey of Internet Risk and Behavior) that was conducted to assess students’ knowledge and behavior on the internet. During the survey, five hundred and eighty-eight students in grades seventh and eighth grade completed as series of thirty three items. Its results raised questions and assessed that teachers, administrators, and parents need to do more to protect and inform students on how to handle cyber bulling and possible dangers. Cyber bulling removes all of the social cues that are learned through face to face interactions, and the bully and victim are left with caustic words being exchanged without and other interactions. (Kite, Gable, Filippelli, 2013, p 181) “…Students of all ages are posting personal information, conversation threads, blogs, and inappropriate pictures…” (Kite, Gable, Filippelli, 2013, p 182). But in the age of smart phones, tablets, lab tops and other smart devices, how to we get through to students? Provide information and acknowledgement of the consequences for their actions. This can only be done by teachers and parents. I have been in schools, where these devices were not being allowed within the classroom, let alone the school. It provides a distraction from academics and an open opportunity for bullying and social networking updates. Educating students on the risks they may encounter through social networking sites is paramount. (Kite, Gable, Filippelli, 2013, p 183).

            Technology in education provides both a positive and negative in terms of educating students, but it is through well-developed professional developments, education programs, and a comprehensive curriculum that students will be able to move forward and be prepared for our evolving society.

           

References:

 Brown, R. A and Joshua W. Brown (2013). Article 33: What is Technology Education? A Review of the Official Curriculum. In Annual Editions Educational Psychology 12/13, 170-173.  

Moore Howard and Laura J. Davies (2013). Article 34: Plagiarism in the Internet Age. In Annual Editions Educational Psychology 12/13, 175-177.

Scherer, M (2013) Article 35: Transforming Education with Technology: A Conversation with Karen Cator. In Annual Editions Educational Psychology 12/13, 178-180.

 Kite, S.L., Gable, R. and Lawrence Filippelli (2013) Article 36: Assessing Middle School Students’ Knowledge of Conduct and Consequences and Their Behaviors Regarding the Use of Social Networking Sites. In Annual Editions Educational Psychology 12/13, 181-185.

Further Informational Links:

John Hopkins School of Education The Center for Technology in Education (CTE) http://education.jhu.edu/research/CTE/

International Society for Technology in Education https://www.iste.org/