The idea of technology in the classroom is not new, but they
type is new. While in the UK, I helped build a Student management system, a
database to track your students. In 2010 this was the state of the art, and it
was connected with an awarding body’s data system. I put the new student’s information into the
system, checked the other database (awarding body) to see if there was an
existing student. If there was not, it updated both systems. We tracked the
entire student journey from induction, assessment, attendance, training,
assessment, grades, certification, exit strategy and progression. This was a
very good digital tool, but pales in comparison to some of the tools today. We have digital tools for creating,
publishing, presentations, file management, discovering information, collaboration
and productivity. Almost everything that
used to be done on a paper, black board or an overhead projector can now be
done digitally.
In the forum there was talk about the technology taking over
as a novelty and the idea of teaching being a second. People lover their gadgets
and latest tech. I have had an iPhone, but that was only because my company
bought it. My two year old son uses my wife’s iPad more than she does. And the
quest for the latest toy is never ending. Now to be certain, they are fun to
have, but are they needed? For certain, you can still teach a class without
them. And in some cases, if they are not available because of an internet
problem, they are not useful.
I have a Sync account, Dropbox, Google Docs and One Drive
(formerly Sky Drive). And I have something stored in all of them, because it is
free and it is readily available. But if I don’t have the internet, I don’t
have access to any of this data. This idea is most apparent when you use
Microsoft products. If you do not register a Microsoft product on the internet
with in a week (like a Windows install) it will stop working. Without the
internet, you cannot use the templates or clipart, etc. At one time, not
everyone that bought a computer necessarily went on the internet, now it is
usually. What about learning out in
nature? It is hard to use digital tools without electricity and data from the
internet. You can still use some, but it is just not as effective.
Of course this being said, there are a lot of really ‘cool’
things you can do digitally that if you have the resources. And when was the
last time that you went to the library to read an encyclopedia?
- · This course for example
- · Flipped classrooms
- · Digital projects
- · Social media and blogs
- · Videos
- Skype
- · Research
- · Etc.
There are many free tools, but the best ones cost. The
problem is knowing, where they are and what they are. In the forum we only
listed a few tools (Prezi, Wordpress, Wordle, Moovly, Glogster). However, there
really are a lot more. We all know the Office suites of programs. We use search
engines and storage. Basically anything that can be an aid for class in
presenting information and getting the student to learn would be considered a
learning tool. The digital part is just the electronic version.
No comments:
Post a Comment