Feelings on Technology in the Classroom

I think that within the K-12 classroom, one of the biggest difficulties with creating a lesson plan involving technology is being able to adapt to the technologies available to a school.  Some schools will be very out-of-date, and teachers will not only have to learn (or re-learn) older computer programs and processes, but will have to limit their students’ progress to the capabilities of the available technology.  For example, in our elementary school, there was a row of computers in the front of our lab that still used tiny monochrome screens.  Working on these computers slowed you down incredibly, and the teacher had to consider this when making the lesson plan for the entire class.  It was kind of one of those “you’re only as good as your weakest link” situations.

A lot of schools, my high-school included, have access to great amounts of technology, yet a lot of it goes unused, and the students don’t even know what’s really available to them.

On top of the school’s limitations, you have to consider the limitations of the student’s home computer setup.  One way to address this is to make sure the school has computers readily available for students to work on after and before school so that they have a fair chance at completing assignments.

 

What I Hope to Gain From ECMP 355?

I’m hoping to further my own technical skills, most notably my Internet skills, so that they are more efficient.  Most of my technical knowledge is based on my own problem-solving, so sometimes I am unaware of more efficient means of using this technology.

I’m also really, really hoping that we learn how to stay up-to-date with technology in our future classrooms.  I know that computers and other technical devices are always advancing at alarming rates, and I personally feel that if a teacher can’t keep up with technology, they won’t be able to use it to it’s full benefit, and the students could be missing out on a lot of educational aid.  For example, in high-schools today, some teachers are struggling with how to effectively use smartboards, and therefore can only bring themselves to use it as a glorified chalkboard.  Yet, if a teacher understands how a smartboard works, they can use it to bring about a more in-depth learning experience for the students.  One of the best ways I saw a smartboard used was in my Physics 30 class, where the teacher not only pre-typed all his notes and added lovely images, but added hyperlinks to Internet demos of physics experiments.  That definitely stuck with me, and it was all possible because the teacher was able to keep up with the advancing technology.  Are there any need-to-know techniques for this?

 

What I Know About Technology- Mostly Cameras

I can deal with most technological problems that come my way.  It’s kind of my role in my household.  I get lots of questions like “Nikki, how do you order things on-line?” “Nikki, how do I download this song?” “Nikki, can you install this printer?” and “Nikki, how do I run this old Windows ‘95 program?”  Yet what I know about technology I learned through a lot of trial, error, and just plain fiddling.  I would in no way, shape, or form consider myself a tech expert.

Yet, there’s one little bit of technology that I absolutely love.  I’ve found it to be an essential tool to my artwork.  My digital camera.

In  grade 10, I realized that the wimpy little not-even-a-mega-pixel-of-resolution camera I owned was not meeting my needs, and that it would be a good investment for an art student to have a better way to capture the world around them for later use.  After some searching, I went out and bought a 4 mega-pixel HP Photosmart camera.  (no, not a great camera, but a far cry from what I had been working with).  I picked up various photo editing systems quickly (unfortunately, I’ve never had the chance to work with Adobe Photoshop , however I’ve gone through Adobe Photoshop walk-through’s using equivalent functions on my Corel system).

My digital camera was a great deal of help in my Concentration project for the AP Art class.  I took photos of the people I interviewed for the project so that I wouldn’t have to draw them on the spot.  I also was able to take photographs of the work I did and create a website for my art.

On top of that, I used it for projects throughout high-school in practically every class.  For example, this is one of the pictures that I took, later edited and added to a magazine article I was creating on vegetarian ettiquitte.