Reflection of Perception on Educational Technologies

            Overall, I would say that over the course of this term my perception of educational technologies hasn’t really changed. I still believe that the use of technology within a classroom atmosphere should be limited. The use of technology shouldn’t dominate the entire curriculum. In other words, I believe that a balance needs to be implemented within the educational system. While it is good to use technology in some instances, in others in might not have a positive outcome. I think

that technology shouldn’t been the most important part of the classroom. There are more important things for students to learn, instead of just staring at a screen for most of the school day. Students still need to learn the social skills that are so important over the course of their lifetime. I believe that students will not learn these skills if they are forced to look at a screen. However, I still think that technology should still be used as a tool within the that can push learning even further. It can bring about new ideas and understanding for the students. Technology is also another way for students to learn. Not everybody learns in the same way, but technology can potentially help with this problem.

            In conclusion, this class has made me realize that technology can be a good thing for a classroom if implemented in the correct way. There hasn’t been much research done at this time that has proven that the use of technology has a positive impact on the students that use it. It will be very interesting to see if in the future technology will still be this popular within the school system. Hopefully, somewhere along the way the educational system will begin to use technology in moderation.

EDSTU 220 slide show assignment

The Impact of Technology on My Own Learning

           Technology seems to have always been present within my whole educational experience at all levels, including elementary, middle, high school, and also college. I can’t remember ever not using technology in any grade level. It has always been very important within my education. However, I think overall technology has definitely been a positive factor in my own learning. It has been able to teach me ideas, concepts, and topics that I would never have been able to explore just from the classroom. It definitely opened up a whole new world for me in many different ways.

            One way in which technology has been able to help me is by allowing me to look at something in a different way. Whenever I struggle with a concept or an idea, I almost immediately go to the Internet in search of help. There are so many different resources and websites available that can help me understand whatever is causing me some difficulties. Often times these websites can present the information in different ways, which is always very helpful. Not all people learn the same way, and different types of technology can cater to those differences. For me personally, technology allows me to find ways where the information is presented differently. This is the main way in which I think that technology has impacted my own learning in a very positive way.

            However, I also believe that technology has also hindered me to a sense. Sometimes I wonder if I can truly do any homework, assignment, or classwork without some sort of technology.
I rely on it too much in order to get any kind of educational work done. Therefore, I think that overall my experience with technology has been mostly positive. There have been some negatives along the way, but I think that the positives have outweighed the negatives in terms of technology impacting my own learning.

Teaching Technology Without the Proper Equipment

Censorship is the Responsibility of Teachers

All around the world people use the ever-popular social media sites in order to connect with the digital world around them. This makes perfect sense because the world around us is turning into a place where it’s acceptable to put anything you want on your social media site, whether it is Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, to name just a few. It’s the way that people are choosing to communicate with their friends and family these days. However, what if you put something on one of your accounts that was considered to be unacceptable by your employer? What if you lost your job over it? Is that fair? What about your constitutional right to the freedom of speech? Shouldn’t digital media sites be a part of this right? Unfortunately, for many employed people this doesn’t appear to be the case. People are losing their jobs over what they decide to share on the internet. It seems like they are constantly being watched.That doesn’t seem right does it?

           In the case of teachers, I disagree with my last sentence. I think that teachers need to be held at much higher standards than many other professions due to the fact that they should be role models for the thousands of students they will teach over their career. I believe that it is the responsibility of teachers to provide their own censorship for what they put on the various social media sites. Teachers are responsible for the growth and development of our future generations. Where will students turn if they see inappropriate content from social media sites that belong to their teachers? What will they think?

            In my opinion, teachers are people that students should look up to. I always did, and still do to some extent. (Well at least for the teachers that I liked). Teachers have a responsibility to their students, both in the real world, and also the digital one. Actually, especially the digital one since what you put on there will likely be there forever.

            While I do believe that censorship of social media sites, to an extent, is a violation of our constitutional rights, I think that teachers have a responsibility for their own censorship of their media sites. I don’t think that it is necessarily fair for them to lose their job over what they decide to write on social media sites, however they still wrote it there. In my opinion, if some teachers are writing these terrible statements on social media sites, they probably would have said it to someone’s face as well. It doesn’t matter if it’s written down or said vocally, the teacher still meant their comment all the same.

           Teachers need to constantly be aware of the world around them. They have a responsibility for the censorship of their comments online. It is not worth writing something stupid online. There are too many consequences that can go with that, such as the cone of shame.


 

 

Technology in the Classroom

            I think that having technology in the classroom both encourages and hinders exploration or creativity in students. In my opinion, technology needs to have a balance within the classroom. It can’t dominate the entire curriculum, yet it needs to be used in some sort of way. Technology is too important in the world outside of school, such as in the workplace, for students to not learn how to use it.

            Aside from that, I think that technology can hinder creativity in many ways, but it can also encourage it. Technology gives yet another way for a teacher to be able to teach their lesson. This is very beneficial for students who feel like they don’t learn in the traditional way, such as learning through lecturing or through a textbook. Technology may help these students to be more successful in school, thus encouraging creativity for that particular student. However, I also believe that technology can be hindering for the same reason I described above. Some students may not feel comfortable having a curriculum that is dominated by technology, as they are not comfortable with the applications associated with it.  

            In every scenario that I can think of, there are two sides to the use of technology. These sides are both the good and bad, and it depends on how an individual wants to look at it. It also greatly depends on what you think about technology in the first place. Personally, I think that technology can significantly hinder the creativity of a child. Whenever a student wants to look for something or use something from, let’s say, the internet, I believe that the student is ultimately using someone else’s design. This in effect is not allowing that particular student to use his/her own creativity. Every student is capable of creativity, but with technology being encouraged in many schools, their own creativity is being stifled.

         In terms of exploration, I think that technology does some good in encouraging it. All of the information that a student needs is right there at their fingertips. It makes finding what they need pretty easy. However, the technology, especially the internet, also has a lot of information that is not correct. How are students going to know what is actually true and what isn’t if they are researching a topic that they want to learn about? In this case, I think that technology can hinder exploration for students.

         In conclusion, I believe that technology both encourages and hinders exploration or creativity in students, even if I personally believe that technology has more negative benefits than positive ones. It all depends on what a particular individual thinks about technology in general.