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Before I go to class, I know a little bit about this educational initiative because I myself, as a student, we through this situation in middle school. In 8th grade, my school gave each of us an older version of the MacBook. It was sued for educational purposes only. They were able to block social media and games that were not on educational websites in order to keep our attention on the tasks that were presented to us. So before class, I kind of know about classroom technology a little bit because of my experience. Because of my experience, I do know some of the positives and negatives to this notion. I think that this topic is tricky because there are such positives and such negatives that it is hard to decide what it best for the students. While preparing for class and going to class, I am excited to learn more about which technologies are better for specific students and how do they plan on implementing this initiative, because my experience was not a very successful one, so I am curious to see how they make it so it is successful.
I learned a lot about this topic while preparing for class this week. First off, I did not know that so many schools were looking into doing a 1:1 student to technology school. From the video on this website, I learned about how a middle school and a high school in the Passaic City Public Schools adapted this 1:1 ratio for their students with the use of chromebooks. They had a huge success with this system and think that it is a great idea because it not only helps to further their future, but it also helps to prepare for the future. Also, I learned about from this website is that there are a lot of features that have to be considered when picking out what type of technology to use in a 1:1 classroom. First, the device should have a long battery life in order to allow students to work on it throughout the day without having to have the hassle of charging it. Next, it should have a good sized screen so that students are able to read off of it without struggling with the words being too small. The device should also have a good exterior design so that it can withstand the wear of students and their usage. The device should have a well built keyboard in order to have students to be able to type with great efficiency. Next, the device should be mobile and easy to bring from place to place. The device should also have lots of creative tools that students can use to make their projects and assignments creatively. Lastly, the device should have a google formate because in the end they end up costing less. After learning all of that information about what a device should have in order to meet the criteria for 1:1 schools, I learned about how to implement this system into school’s classrooms from this website. In order to implement this efficiently, there are 5 steps. The first is defining what you want the goals to be for the program as a whole, meaning what is the school hoping to get out of using these devices? Second is defining the role of the device inside of your own classroom, meaning what will you as a teacher want to use the devices for? Third is model how safe power when using the device, meaning how to make the power last as long as possible so students get the most usage out of it. Fourth is establish how to put the device away appropriately in order to ensure the devices safety to prevent broken machines. Lastly, demonstrate information literacy, meaning teach the students how to sort through all the information that comes up when doing searches. This is what I learned about when preparing for class.
My understanding of this topic increased as I went from experience, to learning about it myself, to learning about it in the classroom. I have learned how beneficial it is to have 1:1 ratio classrooms and I have learned how to initiate this notion into classrooms. My understanding of different types of technology has changed as well because now, I know a lot more about iPads, chromebooks, computers, and smartphones and how to apply the usage of those into a school setting. From learning about this information, I can look back on my experience with technology in the school and say that they had the right idea about what they wanted to do but they did not do a very good job at executing their plan. Overall, I have learned the pros and cons to 1:1 classrooms, how to implement this system into a classroom, and which technologies are best to use. Now that I know more about this, I can see that technology in the classroom can really be a good thing and can further student’s education.
I learned a lot about this topic while preparing for class this week. First off, I did not know that so many schools were looking into doing a 1:1 student to technology school. From the video on this website, I learned about how a middle school and a high school in the Passaic City Public Schools adapted this 1:1 ratio for their students with the use of chromebooks. They had a huge success with this system and think that it is a great idea because it not only helps to further their future, but it also helps to prepare for the future. Also, I learned about from this website is that there are a lot of features that have to be considered when picking out what type of technology to use in a 1:1 classroom. First, the device should have a long battery life in order to allow students to work on it throughout the day without having to have the hassle of charging it. Next, it should have a good sized screen so that students are able to read off of it without struggling with the words being too small. The device should also have a good exterior design so that it can withstand the wear of students and their usage. The device should have a well built keyboard in order to have students to be able to type with great efficiency. Next, the device should be mobile and easy to bring from place to place. The device should also have lots of creative tools that students can use to make their projects and assignments creatively. Lastly, the device should have a google formate because in the end they end up costing less. After learning all of that information about what a device should have in order to meet the criteria for 1:1 schools, I learned about how to implement this system into school’s classrooms from this website. In order to implement this efficiently, there are 5 steps. The first is defining what you want the goals to be for the program as a whole, meaning what is the school hoping to get out of using these devices? Second is defining the role of the device inside of your own classroom, meaning what will you as a teacher want to use the devices for? Third is model how safe power when using the device, meaning how to make the power last as long as possible so students get the most usage out of it. Fourth is establish how to put the device away appropriately in order to ensure the devices safety to prevent broken machines. Lastly, demonstrate information literacy, meaning teach the students how to sort through all the information that comes up when doing searches. This is what I learned about when preparing for class.
- "Using Smartphones in the Classroom." Rss. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. This website is very informational about the usage of smartphones in a classroom and teaching how to use them for educational purposes, showing that they aren't all for bad uses during class. It talks about how not every family can afford to have smartphones, computers, iPads and so on, so teachers should embrace the usage of smartphones. The only problem is that it is difficult to monitor whether they are using it for academic purposes or for personal purposes, such as social media or texting. This website give you, as a teacher, ideas about what you can use smartphones for, like keeping yourself organized, assessing learning, using apps to further learning, and so on. Smartphones have much more academic abilities than people lead on. I found this website helpful because it went into detail about how smartphones can be a helpful learning tool to students and that they have a bad reputation about how they are always a distraction. I think this is important for teachers to read because it can give them more insight about how to embrace everyone having smartphones these days.
- "Integrating Tech: More Than Just Having Computers." Education World:. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. This website talks about how to integrate technology into the classroom and into the learning experience, because it is too frequent that they are considered “separate” in schools today. The author of this website talks about how integrating technology into daily routines in order to have the technology to have meaning and specific usages in the classroom. The website also gives links to a ton of different websites that could be helpful when making the usage of technology into a daily routine. This is very important to show the students that there are specific uses for technology and important to show how to use their technology correctly as well. I think this link is really helpful because it gives teachers ideas about how to incorporate technology into the classroom because that can be a difficult topic to tackle effectively. It is nice to have examples to reference from.
My understanding of this topic increased as I went from experience, to learning about it myself, to learning about it in the classroom. I have learned how beneficial it is to have 1:1 ratio classrooms and I have learned how to initiate this notion into classrooms. My understanding of different types of technology has changed as well because now, I know a lot more about iPads, chromebooks, computers, and smartphones and how to apply the usage of those into a school setting. From learning about this information, I can look back on my experience with technology in the school and say that they had the right idea about what they wanted to do but they did not do a very good job at executing their plan. Overall, I have learned the pros and cons to 1:1 classrooms, how to implement this system into a classroom, and which technologies are best to use. Now that I know more about this, I can see that technology in the classroom can really be a good thing and can further student’s education.