Technology Today (BP1)
In today's world, technology is everywhere. You can pay for things through apps and by touching your phone to a device. Students walking to class almost always have headphones in listening to music, podcasts, or something else. Even adults and teachers have implemented technology into the workplace by using Skype and FaceTime for business meetings or messaging apps to get messages to a big group of people. This implementation of technology is extremely important, however. For the purposes of this blog, technology is specifically important to teachers and students. This new found appreciation for technology in classrooms comes from many different influences. One of them is the widespread availability of technology. As we saw in class, laptops can have limited availability in households of a certain race or income level. However, we can see that the access to smartphones is almost the same among all levels or income, race, or region. This is an influence on teachers by showing that they have a new means of not only teaching, but getting information passed on. For example, teachers will no longer have to rely on writing a note to a parent about their child. Instead, teachers will be able to send a message directly to the parent using a messaging service or app. Another influence on teachers and students to use technology is the convenience and efficiency. When turning in papers, teachers are now able to use a website that checks for plagiarism, rather than the teacher having to guess at what sounds like the student and what doesn't. This can cut down the workload immensely for teachers and encourage students to do their own work. One more influence can be how effective and personalized technology can make learning. For example, in high school I took a handful of fully online elective courses. I loved being able to do this so that I could learn at my own pace and when it was convenient for me. There were also more options of electives classes offered online than in school. Overall, technology has much more positive influences than negatives and is becoming more and more of a crucial part in our lives.
When we look at the ISTE Standards, we can see a plethora of learning goals for each role of education. Whether you are the student, educator, or coach, there are many different standards to reach. Being the student, I would have to say that I have mastered the role of Empowered Learner. While I have been using technology in the classroom, I have figured out what websites or resources I prefer to use to benefit my learning and have altered this network over the years. I would also say that I have made steps toward mastering the role of Global Collaborator. My experience studying abroad has really helped me with this one by doing group projects with people overseas and using resources I gained while overseas. The one standard that I do not have much experience with is Creative Communicator and this is the one I would like to try to work on this semester and in future learning. Since high school, I have wanted to start my own blog. However, my creative talents are severely lacking which has inhibited me from following through with a blog. For a blog to be successful, it needs to stand out and be different from all of the others. I plan to work on things such as using different platforms, using digital objects and visuals, and customizing the message that I intend to send to my readers. By doing these things, I will have hopefully become a Creative Communicator.
I would have to agree when it comes to the newer generations being referred to as "digital natives". I would even argue that my generation would be considered digital natives. Younger generations grow up and have smartphones as their first phones and know exactly how to use it when they get it. Oppositely, my mom didn't get a cellphone until she was in her 20's. If you told that to a middle schooler they would freak out. You can usually tell pretty quickly when someone is a digital native or digital immigrant. Personally, I see the difference often in my classes when the professor does something on the computer they didn't intend to do and doesn't know how to reverse it. Then, one of the students offers to help fix it. Another easy way to figure out whether someone is a native or immigrant when it comes to technology is how they type or what kind of phone they have. For example, someone with one of the older model phones (either flip phone or older version of smartphone) and types with one finger on one hand is your perfect model image of a digital immigrant. Someone who can walk, text, and talk on the phone all at the same time is your cliché image of a digital native. Although this version of multitasking can be a good way to manage time, I think this can often interfere with our learning. I often hear my peers saying that they learn better with music. I can agree with this as I almost always have my headphones in. However, I believe music helps you focus, not learn. As a psychology major, I have learned that the brain can only take in so much new information at one time. So if you are listening to music while reading, you often won't retain much of what you read. Similarly, if you are sitting in a lecture listening to music while the teaching is lecturing, you won't remember much of the topic when you go home that night. Music is good for focusing on practicing information that you have already learned and retained. In my future classroom, I would like to implement the role of no technology unless used for learning purposes. Notes are better to take on paper because you remember things better if you physically write it, rather than typing it. Especially since I intend to teach psychology, I plan to do a lot of interactive and discussion based learning so the students will not be tempted to use their technology either.
When we look at the ISTE Standards, we can see a plethora of learning goals for each role of education. Whether you are the student, educator, or coach, there are many different standards to reach. Being the student, I would have to say that I have mastered the role of Empowered Learner. While I have been using technology in the classroom, I have figured out what websites or resources I prefer to use to benefit my learning and have altered this network over the years. I would also say that I have made steps toward mastering the role of Global Collaborator. My experience studying abroad has really helped me with this one by doing group projects with people overseas and using resources I gained while overseas. The one standard that I do not have much experience with is Creative Communicator and this is the one I would like to try to work on this semester and in future learning. Since high school, I have wanted to start my own blog. However, my creative talents are severely lacking which has inhibited me from following through with a blog. For a blog to be successful, it needs to stand out and be different from all of the others. I plan to work on things such as using different platforms, using digital objects and visuals, and customizing the message that I intend to send to my readers. By doing these things, I will have hopefully become a Creative Communicator.
I would have to agree when it comes to the newer generations being referred to as "digital natives". I would even argue that my generation would be considered digital natives. Younger generations grow up and have smartphones as their first phones and know exactly how to use it when they get it. Oppositely, my mom didn't get a cellphone until she was in her 20's. If you told that to a middle schooler they would freak out. You can usually tell pretty quickly when someone is a digital native or digital immigrant. Personally, I see the difference often in my classes when the professor does something on the computer they didn't intend to do and doesn't know how to reverse it. Then, one of the students offers to help fix it. Another easy way to figure out whether someone is a native or immigrant when it comes to technology is how they type or what kind of phone they have. For example, someone with one of the older model phones (either flip phone or older version of smartphone) and types with one finger on one hand is your perfect model image of a digital immigrant. Someone who can walk, text, and talk on the phone all at the same time is your cliché image of a digital native. Although this version of multitasking can be a good way to manage time, I think this can often interfere with our learning. I often hear my peers saying that they learn better with music. I can agree with this as I almost always have my headphones in. However, I believe music helps you focus, not learn. As a psychology major, I have learned that the brain can only take in so much new information at one time. So if you are listening to music while reading, you often won't retain much of what you read. Similarly, if you are sitting in a lecture listening to music while the teaching is lecturing, you won't remember much of the topic when you go home that night. Music is good for focusing on practicing information that you have already learned and retained. In my future classroom, I would like to implement the role of no technology unless used for learning purposes. Notes are better to take on paper because you remember things better if you physically write it, rather than typing it. Especially since I intend to teach psychology, I plan to do a lot of interactive and discussion based learning so the students will not be tempted to use their technology either.
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