I, like Kathleen, found it very interesting that there was such a strong emphasis classrooms combining personal computing devices and interactive whiteboards. In many schools' cases, funding these technologically advanced learning tools could be a great issue. Of course it is ideal, and there are numerous advantages that result from such great tools, but it would be extremely expensive for every classroom to be equipped with this equipment. I'm sure as technology continues to improve, these tools will become more and more common in a majority of classrooms, but in some lower income schools, desktop computers are still a rarity.
We did not have any smart boards in my high school, but my senior year calculus teacher used a tablet PC for everyday notes. That particular classroom was one of the few in the school to still have chalkboards. The tablet PC was a wonderful way for her to focus the students' attention on the lecture for the day. She also often showed illustrations of new concepts that could have been foreign if we had not seen the animations. With technology growing at the rate at which it is, I would not be surprised to see personal computing devices and interactive whiteboards become more popular. They both find great ways to improve a student's learning experience, allowing him or her to participate more, see other students' responses, and compare his or her answer to the teacher's.
3 comments:
Agree! The article was great and had a lot of good points, but it wasn't entirely realistic. I would love to do Teach for America after I graduate- it would be interesting to learn about how I could bring the rewards of technology to a classroom that can't afford the technology? For example, how can I support differentiated or personalized learning without the use of an interactive SMART board?
I agree with you (and everyone else) that it seems unrealistic that every student will have a personal computing device and every classroom will have interactive whiteboards. My sister is a second grade teacher at a TECHNOLOGY academy in Chicago and even their students do not have personal computing devices. It may happen in the future, and it would be nice if it did happen in the future, but I can't imagine it happening. With all we've read and discussed about poor neighborhoods with low property taxes not properly funding schools, it seems crazy to think that these same schools will be able to provide personal computing devices to each student.
I completely agree with you. I also mentioned in my post that it is unrealistic to think that every school would have an interactive whiteboard such as a SMART board. My high school didn't even have a SMART board. It would be really great if all the schools had such technology available to all students.
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