Teaching with Technology

I believe that technology can improve the quality of education if in fact teachers follow the model of adoption for both idea and product technology. This means have a teacher familiarize themselves with the idea or the product, utilizing the idea or product in the classroom, integrating the idea or product, then reorientation of using this information in a classroom setting, and then finally evolution that allows for continued learning with a variety of educational technologies.

There are many reasons why technology has failed to impact a student’s educational experience. Two of the most important ones that I think are 1) the financial constraints that school districts have in regard to their technology budgets, and 2) the resistance of teachers to learn new technologies for educational advancement.

I believe technology is underutilized in the classroom.  In my practicum experience I have observed the computers in the classroom and they are older than old. They are slow, and have small amounts of memory so they are limited in the software programs they have available for students to use.

As a future teacher I would hope to use computer more extensively, so students can work cooperatively on research. Realistically I know that access to high quality computers might hinder my personal goals.  Another consideration has to be the fact that dependent on the economic environment your students are living in will hinder their access to technology at home.

There are several projects that we used in this course that I would incorporate into my teaching. I love the puzzle maker, and can easily see myself using this for weekly spelling word, homework activity sheets.  I will also encourage students to create power point projects, or use publisher to create flyers, newsletters, and I would use the calendar function to send home monthly calendars to families.