Friday, October 30, 2009
Technology and The Classroom
Over the last four weeks most of us have been introduced to some fascinating new technologies that schools have the opportunity to integrate into the classroom. With that said, I am wondering if anyone actually witnessed Smart-Boards, Clickers, Blogging, Blackboard etc being used during their observation experience. Although I did notice that about 50% of Limerick’s classrooms were equipped with projectors (along with 20 feet of extension cords and power bars hanging from ceilings) I didn’t see any other technologies being used. In fact one teacher actually used a 30’ T.V. to show a piece of footage, when he had access to an 80’ screen via the projector! Out of the 12 classes that my buddy and I observed only one went as far as using PowerPoint to deliver a lesson. One teacher (SS10) actually preferred to use the text Crossroads: A Meeting of Nations, printed in 1987, over a new text that was in the library. This was a surprise to me. Parts of me actually found some comfort in the fact that high school had not changed that much from when I graduated (2000) however, I was a bit surprised to see most textbooks that I used (that seemed dated even then) still being used. I am interested to hear about other people’s experiences during their observations, and particularly about how technologies were integrated. Although Lambrick Park is a “middle class” school, in my opinion they are slow to integrate technologies into the classroom, at least the technologies that we have been learning about. Is Uvic perhaps out of touch with the reality of most school budgets, and what most schools have access to? What are your thoughts?
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I think they are trying to prepare us at UVic for the reality that classroom teaching is going the way of technology. That being said the school I was at had 4 Smart boards that I heard of, and with those came projectors and computers. However, only of of those four used their smart board the way it was meant to be used. The science teacher just used it to project his power point and the french and math teacher did not really use theirs...why? Because they have been waiting for over a year to get the proper software installed in order to make it work. There was absolutely no tech support at the school to help these teachers out. Most teachers had white boards, but some still liked to teach on chalk. The teacher I will be working with, is the head of the Socials dept. was filling out request forms for money to buy one more projector, and smart board for his dept. he was asking the PAC for the money. I think that these technology issues come down to money...money coming from within the district and the Provincial Government. Some schools choose to use the money elsewhere. But The classes that did use projectors with PowerPoint and had Internet access, it definitely enhanced the learning.
ReplyDeleteGood topic to bring up Cullen! During our undergrads I think we all got pretty used to the use of power point in our classes and lectures. It is a way of the times right? And our technology classes are almost teaching beyond that, like power point is going to obsolete soon and we need to be familiar with the most modern technology out there. In my opinion that is great but like we have previously touched on it is not reality for all schools. Some schools are still using over head projectors and don’t even have access to internet in all the classrooms. Before observation I had seen a presentation on Smart boards and thought to myself they were pretty cool and could be of great help in teaching. But I also thought they were not realistic and figured I wouldn’t see them in schools in our area for years to come! To my surprise, my first day of observation I sat in on two different classes that had them! It came in really good use in a math 9 class and the students were definitely motivated and eager to go to the front of the class and solve problems so they could use it! In a history 12 class it came in use to draw battle lines on a map of Europe during a WW II lecture. I think I have lucked out and I seem to be at a school that has the funds to keep their technology up to date- I never saw an overhead projector, it was either power point or smart boards in each class. Technology is a great way to enhance learning but I guess we need to keep in mind ways to have same teaching effect if having access to technology is not an option.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree that money is probably a key factor in the amount of technology in a classroom, I think it also has a lot to do with the teacher and their initiative to incorporate technology into their lessons. I visited a lot of teachers who have been in the same position for years, and had to do little prep because they had so many resources from previous years of teaching. The only setback was that the majority of the information they were using was printed in overheads! For some teachers I think it is probably a comfort thing. For others, maybe they just don't want to waste time transitioning to a new technology when the one they are currently using still works just fine!
ReplyDeleteI think we will see a wave of new technologies being incorporated into teaching as our generation of teachers enters the schools. And with the rate of technology today, when we host our first student teacher practicum, they will probably be busy blogging about how "outdated" our classroom is, with silly old PowerPoint!
To be honest, some of the best classes I saw did not include technology. Sometimes there would be a few power point slides but only every four classrooms had a projector so they could not always be used. The best note taking structure I saw was in a biology class that used overheads. I think we have talked about how technology cannot replace a good teacher. I observed a planning class that was researching jobs on the internet and the teacher used that time to go down and get a coffee with that day’s presenter. I stayed in the class and was surprised at how many students actually looked at the website that the teacher had pointed out but there were still many that just checked their facebook. I agree that technology enhances lessons by giving us the tools to incorporate multimedia information in the classroom but I think we need to be ready for both situations: with technology and without technology. And to reiterate what Haley said, the technology that we think is so innovative now will become outdated. I think that the key to using technology in the classroom is to be flexible enough to try new things but prepared enough to deal with technology failing or not working well for that particular class.
ReplyDeleteI found my observation experience to be quite reassuring in terms of the use of technology. I am admittedly a non-techie, and I was at a school that was arguably one of the most well-equipped in terms of technology. They had projectors and computers, TV's with video or DVD players were common in all classrooms, there were some smart boards (unfortunately I did not get to see any in action), and they had multiple computer labs.
ReplyDeleteDespite this abundance of technology nearly all the English professors I observed relied on their trusty overhead projectors and white boards. No two teachers used the overhead in the same way - it was used for group work, for performing close readings, and for modeling editing to the students. Some power-point was also integrated and I saw a video malfunction (the teacher improvised an activity). All the teachers I saw were extremely effective and engaging and I believe it had much more to do with their teaching persona and the strategies/activities they employed than the medium they used. Now I'm sure Marshall McLuhan would disagree, but so much came down to the teacher - maybe the teacher is the medium?
I guess what I am getting around to is that technology, if used in a productive and creative way, can be very effective. Like Kim, I believe technology cannot replace a good teacher. I was engaged in every class that used an overhead projector because the teacher was engaging not the technology.
Well what do you know its the start of December and we got things to do. I find myself back tracking in order to get these blog entries done. When this was a topic I didn't comment on it as I found it difficult to remember to check in on our thousands of moodles, blogs, blackboards, course sites, e-portfolios etc... In regards to what I saw when i was on observation way back, i saw it all. I was at St. Michaels University School and well I guess they may have a bit extra in regards to resources to draw upon but they had the works, smartboards, projectors, tablet PC's computer labs, and whatever else. It was pretty crazy and I was surprised but the teachers used it effectviely to. However im still skeptical about some aspects of technology, especially it use in our classes at UVic. I think that there are to many Blog sites and things to check on to get all the information we need. There needs to be a centralized location that all the prof's use rather then 10 different things it becomes to difficult to keep track of everything. Especially for high school students if they are using course websites they should have one common school website that serves as a collective for all courses and not have the teachers use ten different independent websites for each of their courses.
ReplyDelete