Tuesday, November 22, 2011

TOP 10 reasons to use technology in classroom

3 comments:

  1. Kate,
    what is your view on this, what is the context, is their praise/critisism of this?

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  2. “Teachers will not be replaced by technology, but teachers who don't use technology will be replaced by those who do". This is not a threat, but a reality. Nowadays, the majority of children use technology since their 4 or 5. It is impressive how a 5 years old child is able to open the PSP game for example, without any knowledge of english or computers. They are familiar with this kind of life. They borned in this period where every house has PCs,electronic games etc. So, what does this means? That even we want it or not, we are "obliged" to be a part of the game...We have to use in a beneficial way the way of learning that they love. On the other hand, it is very helpful for us, as teachers to use technology in classroom.

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  3. I’m an enthusiastic user of technology (Smartboard, youtube, presentations, Flickr, Wikipedia, mobile phone, all kinds of websites, Webquests, …) in the classroom – even when I have to admit that I could do a lot more – and I agree with the fact that we have to update our way of teaching. It is indeed important to integrate ICT in the classroom in order to prepare pupils for the future but that doesn’t make me a 100% believer of technology improving students’ learning achievements. Some remarks on the “top 10 reasons to use technology in the classroom”:

    - Students love technology, but that doesn’t make it a valuable reason to use it in the classroom. I encourage a learner-centered way of teaching but I think technology especially has to be integrated where it is functional, where it adds value, for example for some chemistry tests that are impossible to accomplish in the classroom.
    - Technology engages the four key components to learning, amongst others active engagement and participation in groups. I thought these components were possible without technology as well?
    - Further, I’m not so sure if technology makes life easier for teachers. Since I use the internet for my preparations it takes me more hours to finish a lesson for example. It maybe is a personal deformity but sometimes you keep on looking for interesting and up to date materials. Though, it makes your lessons more interesting. And yes, it can simplify some tasks, for example the creation of your lesson plan or the sharing of important information on students in a central school system.
    - The top 10 doesn’t mention anything about the lacking ICT knowledge of teachers (see for example a post of Joe).

    I see potential in a nice balance of using ICT and teaching without technology. And I don’t believe that teachers who are not using technology will be replaced by those who do. Are you a bad teacher when you don’t use technology?

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