Thursday, April 18, 2013
Technology in the Classroom
A few people in our class have posted infromation on this topic and I believe that this is one of the most important topics in technology. How do students in the classroom learn the best? Many have said that the problem is that children need to be "entertained" which I agree with to an extent. The younger the child the shorter their attention span, this is true, but is technology the answer? Should laptops and ipads be allowed in the classroom? Should they be considered a learning tool or are they just a distraction or a way of "not being in class". Just with my experience, I honestly believe that laptops and ipads are more of a distraction than a tool used to make progress in the classroom. Children and even older generations use laptops to get on facebook, twitter, and all of these other social networks because they are bored of the information being taught to them in class. I do believe that we as a society need to find a new way of "entertaining" students but, I am not quite sure technology in the classroom as a primary source of learning is the answer.
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3 comments:
Personally, I think technology is a huge distraction in the classroom. My old high school just got iPads for all students who attend the school, and I've actually asked a few of them what they think about having the iPads. All of them say that it's cool, but all they do is play games. Even if the computer center "blocks" websites, students can easily get around the barriers. Everyone thinks technology is so cool, but doesn't think about how it is affecting his/her learning experience.
Along with the students being distracted, most of the faculty are not up to date or resist the change, meaning they do not know how to use the technology they have. So then you have students' not staying on task and you have teachers' wasting time trying to figure out the technology in the long run, which in the end leads to very little learning occurring.
Technology in the classroom may seem at first like the new and hip way to provide a new learning experience for children growing up in a technological age, but teachers do not realize that we are humans with brains that need real-world interaction and hands-on learning. That is the best way to learn, and I think teachers should be striving to reach students even more in this way, instead of trying to be super cool by using iPads, which distract, or YouTube, which distracts even the teacher, sometimes... these things are irresistable, yet it is still relatively brand new in its integration into the classroom.
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