My first reaction to reading the perspective for teaching websites was utter confusion. It was not necessarily the idea behind it; it was all the technical terms thrown at me. The Horizon Report for 2008 was a lot of reading, but I skimmed it and discovered some technologies that are emerging into classrooms: Grassroots videos, collaboration webs, mobile broadband, etc. Technologies such as these are effecting the way we learn, teach and express ourselves. Knowing this we now move to the term called School 2.0 and what it means for the future of schools. I hate to be redundant but technology is being more and more implemented in the "real world" and it is time that schools take advantage of these everyday tools to benefit student's learning. What School 2.0 means to me is technology being responsibly used for the full benefit of student learning. For example, youtube is a grassroots video. To successfully implement this into students learning, the teacher could have the children make videos of projects on the internet or videos explaining a difficult concept. Also, grassroot videos cost practically nothing, and therefore are a good tool to use if on a budget. Collaboration webs are another interesting concept. These include things such as blogs and social networks (Facebook). It is a place for people to join together and discuss common interests. Self created blogs for educational purposes lead the future for homework assignments, announcements and discussions. It is here that a teacher can post homework assignments that students can view anytime and that means no more losing homework instructions or the dreaded "I didn't know what to do" or "I didn't know we had homework." Also, the announcements can clear up any confusion someone may have about certain activities, such as the time of the parent teacher conferences or field trip days. The most beneficial aspect of a classroom blog would have to be the discussion board. It is here that students can help each other and brainstorm. The teacher would be able to see the students explaining concepts from class, and the overall atmosphere of how students understood the material. The last technology I found interesting was the mobile broadband. It seems that everybody has a cell phone now. Sometimes I wonder if kindergartners are already using them. It's inevitable. Cell phones are here and they are staying. With that said why not make some educational use out of them. The most common use of most cell phones for education is for security measures such as text alert for the weather and immediate campus news. After reading the Horizon Report I found a mobile broadband website that is amazing. It is called Pocket Virtual World which allows the student to use their cell phone to go on virtual field trips like the Amazon. It uses location so students could even explore outer space or locations in history.
With all this information, I wanted to see this technology in action so I visted the Teacher 2.0 link. Creator and teacher Aaron Smith used a podcast (a type of collaboration web) to use his blog where people contribute their tech tips or discuss things that they have done new in the classroom lately. It is a place where teachers can come and talk about ways to help their students learn more or just to vent. Remember; teachers are people too and they have feelings.
With all this said, education is taking a more technological approach. We have the tools to make learning more innovative and fun, but most importantly we have students who can use them and benefit greatly from them.
No comments:
Post a Comment