One to One Learning

I love that personal computing devices offer students a way to express their opinions without being called upon in front of the class. Incorporating a private learning space for students to get their thoughts down allows those who are uncomfortable with verbal participation to still interact with the class. I wish that I had a personal computing device throughout high school. As a student, I always take notes and think to myself, but when it comes to verbalizing my thoughts, I struggle. However, I have found that once sharing my thoughts with a small group, I am reassured that my ideas are valid, and have no problem sharing with the class. With a personal computing device, I would be able to organize my thoughts, validate them in my head, and then share with others. Using the "private space" would allow me to fit into the "public space" of the classroom much easier. My experience as a student is supported by Liu and Kao's study in the reading-- use the personal computer to do individual work, then share that work with a group and discuss your findings through large shared displays. I think that this way of learning and teaching promotes a socially supported learning environment (something I hope to have in my classroom).
Here's a parting quote from the reading to sum up my point: "Where individual computing devices succeed as private learning spaces, interactive whiteboards excel as public learning spaces. When paired with the necessary software and wireless connections, they can make transitions between individual or small-group learning and whole-class learning smooth" (6).

Interactive Whiteboards

During the first day of class, Professor Nillas asked us to think of some positives and negatives of using technology in the classroom. I remember one of my "negatives" was that technology took away from hands-on learning and that it catered to the tech-saavy students. I definitely found a lot of evidence against that statement in the reading. Interactive whiteboards actually are one of the greatest supporters of differentiated or personalized learning in the classroom; and after learning more about the SMART board in class, I can see how that would be true. For example, the SMART board supports visual-aid learners, hands-on learners, music learners, etc. I also found it really cool that when using interactive whiteboards, such as the SMART board, the lessons are actually personalized for the class. The students write on the board, move things on the board, etc. to their understanding/learning ability. No two classes will have the exact same experience on the board during one lesson! The students will be working together; student participation and interaction is encouraged.

I did find it interesting that the article emphasized the integration of so many different technologies in the classroom. There are several schools that aren't able to afford those luxuries. I have talked with some of my friends, and most of us didn't even have a SMART board in the classroom. As amazing as it would be to have those luxuries in the classroom, the article wasn't realistic to the common classroom today.

I have observed in classrooms at BJHS that do have the use of technology such as SMART boards, and the class as a whole is just more lively, if that's the right word to use. The focal point of the classroom is the board that the students are interacting with together. The atmosphere is creative, responsive, and student achievement is improved!

Interactive Whiteboards

I, like many of you, am very excited to be doing our first project using the SMART board. However my initial reasoning was not very strong. I was just super excited to write on the board with the fake pens and play with the cool settings. After reading this article I am even more excited. I knew that interactive whiteboards were great, but I did not realize the magnitude for which they benefit the classroom. The most important benefit that I got out of this article is how they appeal to a large variety of students' learning styles.

Many students find staring at a chalk board for any extended length of time to be boring. Thus, for students with attention disorders who need change to keep them focused, the interactive whiteboard will help them excel. Using an interactive whiteboard allows for many changes of backgrounds and introduces interesting twists to ordinary lessons. For visual learners, the increased accessibility to multimedia will help suit their needs. Kinesthetic learners will enjoy being able to touch the screen in a lesson that usually would not be hands-on. The list goes on and on, and I believe teachers will be able to reach out to all learners using the interactive whiteboards.

I wonder if there are critics of this new technology. If so, what is their reasoning. From my experiences, interactive whiteboards only make education better. Last year at BJHS, I saw more hands in the air to participate than I thought was possible. The students were so eager to write their answers on the screen. I hope that we are all lucky enough to have such technology in our classrooms once we become teachers.

One to One Learning

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.

Interactive Whiteboards

Reading this article, I found myself slightly frustrated with the amount of emphasis put on using interactive whiteboards alongside of personal devices in the classroom. Although using both together would be ideal, and the software for both is absolutely incredible, I have to wonder how many classrooms and schools actually can afford to use both. Very few high schools actually have students use tablet PCs in class. So although I did find the studies interesting, I don't know if I will ever get the chance to use that kind of technology. I would love to see face-to-face what using both forms of technology in the classroom can do for a student's learning. Especially as an English teacher, I feel like using interactive whiteboards in the classrooms could really help a student get more interested in English. Too often English is the dreaded subject of some students, and I would love the opportunity to use the interactive whiteboards to spark their creativity within the subject.

My high school did not use SmartBoards, but we did have several teachers using tablet PCs in the classrooms. I will admit that my interest for Calculus was much higher when my teacher was using her tablet than when she was using the plain whiteboard. She had a keen sense of how to make the tablet interactive for all of us in the classroom, which was extremely impressive considering that there was only one tablet PC in the whole room. So I think that the interaction between the students and the teacher can be achieved just as well with only one form of technology rather than both. Both is obviously ideal, but when only one is available, it is very possible for the teacher to come up with activities that make the students involved in the lesson.

Interactive Whiteboards Article

Within the article, I found it interesting that there are actually studies that show that interactive whiteboards provide a more effective teaching method. I always thought that different forms of technology used in the classroom were just the teachers' preferred methods of teaching. I guess I never realized that their use of technology was not only to aid their lesson plans but to also expose use to new forms of learning. In particular with the interactive whiteboards, the students' participation increases and they become more engaged in the lesson.

At my high school, only the industrial arts teacher had a smart board and he never used it to promote interaction between the teacher and the students. Therefore, I was never really exposed to what the smart board could really do or how it could help in the classroom. However, since more schools are using smart boards, I find it as a very advantageous to learn how to properly use them so I can create an environment where the students will be excited to learn. In the article, I read a line talking about how today's students are becoming more tech-savvy. In order for those tech-savvy students to relate better with me as the teacher and the lesson being taught, I find it rather important to introduce them to forms of learning that are new and exciting. This could create a bridge between the subject material and the students' interest.

Chap. 11: Elementary

This chapter talked of introducing databases and spreadsheets into the elementary school classroom. I had never thought of doing this. I used to think that technology of that sort was used mostly in middle school or even higher levels. I know I was not exposed to databases or spreadsheets until I was in high school. I was very surprised to see how elementary students could benefit from using such technology.

By using this technology in elementary school, students can begin to be exposed. If they have a foundation for spreadsheets and databases, they can enhance their skills as they get older. It also gives them a sense of accomplishment by creating many kinds of graphs and tracking their progress in certain areas. In the chapter, a student tracked her progress of the number of books she read throughout the year. She even separated them into different genres on her graph. This showed her what she could improve on and her progress. They can use information they know to create patterns and gain knowledge with these graphs.

Children also can use internet databases to look up information and enhance knowledge. The author states that by using internet databases early on, they will know how to properly use them later on. I have never thought of using any of this technology before with elementary school children. After reading this chapter, I see that exposing them to databases and spreadsheets can be very beneficial to them later on.