Social/Legal Issues of Technology in the Classroom

I think one of the main issues with using technology in the classroom is making sure that, as educators, we find a balance between when to use technology and when the "old fashioned way" would work better. For example, in the book it talked about using virtual field trips as a supplement for the real thing. I think that this could be beneficial to students as long as they are able to still experience field trips outside the school as well. I do not think that teachers should assume that just because students are more involved in technology these days that using a virtual field trip could replace the experience that they would get out of the classroom. This is an important issue because as educators we need to be aware of the various resources that we have that can enhance student learning, however we don't want to be so caught up in using those resources that we lose the use of the more "old fashioned way" teachers used to do things.

Distance Education

A pro of using distance education would be that it allows students the flexibility or structure that they need in order to be successful. In a distance education program where the student is not required to be online at a certain time, it would allow the student to work during "normal" school hours. This is a benefit to using a distance education program because it allows students to obtain their education during non-traditional times. Another benefit to using distance education would be a program that requires students to sign on during certain hours and complete assignments by certain dates. This is a benefit of distance education because it allows students flexibility as well as structure for students who would otherwise procrastinate.

A con to using distance education would be that is doesn't allow for student interaction. This is a very important life skill that children learn throughout their school careers. They learn how to work in group settings and they also learn how to listen to authority figures other than their parents. I think that distance education would hinder a students' ability to interact later in life especially if the parents were just relying on the program. There are some situations where students who are involved in distance education get together to interact with each other, however it takes parent involvement and dedication in order to make these situations happen.

In order to determine if a student was ready for distance education I would need to be sure that they were very self-motivated students. This would be essential for students to succeed in distance education programs because they would need to have the skills to self-manage their time as well as motivate themselves to complete tasks on time and do their work. I would also need to make sure that, if the student was young, their parents were devoted to the work they would have to put in outside of the program requirements. Parent involvement would be something that I would to make sure was essential in the eyes of the parent before I let a student participate in distance learning.

In order to teach in a virtual school, I would need to be extremely creative and time efficient. I would need to be creative because I would have to make the material we cover that much more exciting because the students are not in an interactive classroom with visual stimulation and other student's excitement. I would also have to increase my time efficiency because I would have to plan out lessons and then be able to transfer them onto the computer. This is something that I think I would find especially difficult because I think a lot of teaching comes from spontaneous teachable moments inside the classroom.

Emerging Technologies in the Classroom

A web camera is a digital camera that streams video over the Internet. The images that are streamed over the web camera can be picked up on other web cams across the country or the world. Web cams allow people to pick up videos on current weather conditions, animals at the zoo, teacher's lectures, and much, much more. The great thing about web cameras is that they allow people to communicate face to face over the Internet. This is beneficial to users because it is much more personal than using Facebook or E-Mail. Web cams are great for teachers because they can allow their class to collaborate with another class across the state and the teachers can speak face to face to discuss the unit. A web cam would impact my teaching becuase it would let me show my students see, with their own eyes, what is going on all over the world. If we were doing a unit on natural disasters, the students would be able to watch a web cam broadcast the images from that area into our very own classroom. A web cam would impact student learning in a positive way because they woudl have the opportunity to see the events we are talking about in class and it would make the unit more realistic.

A SMART board is a large, interactive white board that involves using a projector and a computer. SMART boards allow users to draw with digital ink, manipulate applications on the computer's home page and use their fingers as a mouse. The great thing about SMART boards is that they allow teachers to manipulate items after they have been projected up onto the screen, unlike powerpoints or other traditional projector-friendly applications. A SMART board would impact my teaching because it would allow me to have more flexibility with my presentations. I would be able to work through corrections and editions with the students without having to tell them what corrections they need to be doing. A SMART board would impact my student's learning because they would have the opportunity to see and do corrections on the board in a real word document instead of a overhead film copy. This would be great for students because it would give them practice working in a word document and doing editions.

Second Life is an online, virtual world that allows users to communicate over the Internet. Users are represented by self-created avatars that can accumulate property, travel the world and interact with other user's avatars. Second Life does cost money, however there are free trial versions that are more limited than the real thing, but still allow the user to get a feel for the game. Second Life would have a limited impact on my teaching because it is more geared towards older children ages 13 and up. It could affect my teaching because it would allow me to meet other educators and potentially communicate and come up with new lesson plans or fun ideas for my students. Second Life could impact my student's learning because it would potentially give them a virtual world that they could express themselves if they felt to uncomfortable to do it real-life. However, they do not yet have a Second Life world for children younger than 13.

Web Cam: http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech100.shtml
Second Life: http://secondlife.com/
SMART Board: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_board