Mod. 1 Blog Trends

Mod. 1 Blog Trends


(Taken from: technology-to-enhance-ed.wikispaces.com)


• Identify a current technology that has emerged in the last few years that shapes learning or productivity in your industry.

Smartboards have definitely helped shaped the teaching profession in how we get information to our students and how we grab their attention as well. Smartboards also assist with getting students more involved with the daily activity as well when they are called on to come to the board now because it is not like the days of old just working out problems on a chalkboard. Students can be more interactive activating website links right at the touch of a stylus on the smartboard or also activating various colors as well. Little things like this makes learning more fun for the students, which in turn makes the teacher’s journey more enjoyable.



• What problems or challenges have been associated with this technology?

One major downside to having a smartboard is the cost of actually purchasing them for every classroom in a district when budgets are being cut for once necessary items such as busing that is now being eliminated for those students that wish to attend magnet schools far away from their neighborhood schools (http://www.duvalschools.org/ psas/District%20Info/ Magnet%20Transportation%20Letter2.pdf). Asking for smartboards, no matter what their benefits may be would ultimately just seem frivolous and expensive at this point, no matter how great a deal and discount the school received unfortunately.

• What societal need does it meet, and what are its benefits?

Students that often tend to stay at the back of the room or fail to share-out come out of their shells more and get more involved with the lessons when a smartboard is involved because they are intrigued with the technology that is in place and they want to use it. They want to play around with the board, the stylus and the colors. They want to write on the board and see their ideas come to life in front of them, because it is much different than simply writing with a typical dry erase marker on a white board. It allows students to be more in tune with their creative sides, without holding back as much and I have noticed that they are thinking more about the board at first and less about the actual activity that they are working on, so then it actually ends up being less about what they know or may not know right at first and they are more at ease.

• What would make this technology even better, avoiding the pitfalls you identified?

Costs associated with the smartboard would of course make it even better. Being able to install smartboards in every classroom would also be wonderful as well and having every teacher trained thoroughly on the smartboards would also be ideal. Most importantly though, making sure that the students spent a majority of their time on the smartboards doing their learning, more so than the teachers spent their time on the boards just teaching. The boards need to be for the students, they do not just need to be another advancement for teachers to be in front of the class being center stage.

-Brandy 

Pratt-Dannals, E. (2011). To whom it may Concern. http://www.duvalschools.org/psas/District%20Info/Magnet%20Transportation%20Letter2.pdf