Module 3: Critical Thinking

Teachers and Technology: English with an Edge

The main idea behind this article is to use technology to get students to challenge the status quo. Today students are so caught up in using technology in everything they do. As a Graduate Assistant in the Physical Education department at IUPUI I have come to realize that students in higher education cannot function without technology. If I lecture without using PowerPoint the students act like they are lost. They want notes prepared for them so they only have to jot down a few important parts of the lecture. Because the students rely on technology so much I decided to make their final project a creative technological assignment. I did not go as far as making all the students create a short film but I am giving them the option to use YouTube as a means of getting their point across to their classmates.

I am hoping the project will give the students that are bored with writing research papers the chance to expand their thoughts and help them come up with creative ways to get their point across. Quoting the article, Teachers and Technology: English with an Edge, “I recall a young man who was amazingly intelligent but so bored with school that his grades were average and below.” I feel that this is a problem when it comes to students in higher education as well. I have extremely intelligent students that challenge the information from their assigned book during lecture but when it comes time to turn in an article review or some other written assignment their grades are way below the rest of the class.

If I can get these students interested in some type of assignment that makes them expand their thoughts maybe they would not be so bored with the homework and earn better grades. “Many educators use the term educational technology very broadly. Educational technology for those educators includes any media that can be used for instruction” (Lever-Duffy, McDonald, 2003). I want my students to be able to use educational technology to complete their final projects. I believe this will give them the chance to be creative in the way they complete homework and teach classes in the future.

Another aspect from the article that caught my attention was the fact that the teacher was nervous that an administrator might happened into her room while students were presenting their short satire film. I have had the same feeling when using the Weefit in a classroom setting. To an administrator it may look like we are just playing games when in fact we are being physically active while we are learning different types of exercises that can be used to stay in shape. My biggest question however, is what to do for the students that do not have access to computers at home. Just like in the article, how would the students that don’t have access to a video camera or a computer at home finish the assignment? Here at IUPUI I would expect them to find time to complete the assignment using one of our computer labs. When it comes to high school and middle school students it would be hard to expect them to have the time to get to the computer lab. This could be one of the biggest challenges to using educational technology for students to complete their assignments.

Technology: Toward a New Model of High-Tech Schoolrooms

This was an interesting article. The main idea was that there should be high-tech schoolrooms instead of high-tech schools. I had always thought that having a school updated to a high-tech school was a great idea. This would give students the opportunity to expand their knowledge of computers used for educational purposes. My kids have gone through school in Perry Township and every since elementary school they have had the classroom set up just like the room mentioned in the article. Each room had four computers and one on the teacher’s desk. I asked my kids if they ever used the computers in their classes. They both said that they did not get to use the computers very often and when they did they did not get enough time finish all of the assignment. This did not seem like a big deal to me because we have a computer for the kids at home. Again my question is how do I help the students that do not have computer access at home? If I give them more time in class to finish their computer assignments they will fall behind in other areas of the class. One way to fix the problem could be to split the class into sections giving each student ample time to complete all computer assignments in class. The problem with this is that it would be hard for the teacher to have the time to help different sections within one class. Teachers would have to have an assistant to help them keep things in order. This is a problem because of the lack of funds that schools have to pay a teacher assistant.


High-tech schoolrooms sound like a great idea. My biggest concern is how to pay for them. The author of this article seems to think it would be easier to afford the high-tech classroom if you did one room at a time. However; it seems to me that the classroom would have to have replacement computers just like a high-tech school would need them. With a high-tech school room you have up to 30 computers in one room causing a big expense when it comes time to upgrade. One idea that I like about the high-tech schoolroom is the fact that you can match the class room set up to the subject being taught.

A quote that I found interesting was “one computer used four hours is equal to four computers used for one hour a day”. As far as the expense of using a computer for four hours a day compared to the expense of using four computers for an hour a day they might be the same. However; it seems to me that a teacher would be able to make better use of four computers in their classroom than they would one computer for the whole class to share. Again by splitting the class into sections they students could have one or two days a piece to use the computers. I am teaching an exercise science class this semester and we split our class into three sections on Wednesday: section 1 goes to the computer lab to do case studies, section 2 goes to group fitness class led by a professional trainer and section 3 goes to the gym to lead a group fitness class. We rotate the sections so that each section to go to the computer lab every third week. This works out well for our situation however; I can see how it would not work in a high school setting.

The article also mentions a 1 on 1 set up. In this scenario each student gets a lap top computer to take home with them every day. This would be beneficial for the teachers and the students. However; it raises a concern of the student’s family or friends using the computer for personal use. My nephew went to a charter school for 3rd-5th grade. He was given a lap top to take home and bring to class every day. I personally witnessed his mom’s boyfriend looking at pornography on his computer. His mother also used it as her personal computer keeping my nephew from doing his homework. I know from experience that you can block access to many sites which would help with some of this problem. However; when the student gets home the computer can still be used by family and friends and the student may have no control over who is using it because ultimately they have to do as their parents say. It would also be a very costly expense for schools to supply lap tops for all students.

Reference

Lever-Duffy, Judy, McDonald, Jean B., (2003). Teaching and Learning with Technology 3rd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson.