For your first Blog Posting, reflect on the following:
In his article “Current Trends in Educational Technology,” Thornburg discusses the transformations that are taking place in society as a result of new technologies. He provides a variety of examples in which he shares how a new technology was shaping society, as well as any problems associated with that technology. He then proposes various ways to make these new technologies better.
For your Blog Posting, you will play the role of a futurist and provide another technology example for Dr. Thornburg’s article.
Utilizing Thornburg’s format, respond to the following:
Identify a current technology that has emerged in the last few years that shapes learning or productivity in your industry.
What problems or challenges have been associated with this technology?
What societal need does it meet, and what are its benefits?
What would make this technology even better, avoiding the pitfalls you identified?
Include a graphic and a link to a Web site where your chosen technology is featured and discussed. Be sure to create tags for your keywords so that others are able to locate your blog if they are interested in this topic.
A current technology that has been introduced into the school system is the Activboard. The Activboard is an interactive tool that has replaced the chalk board for many teachers. A problem that has arisen with the Activboard is that while many younger generation teachers are using the boards to their full potential many older generation teachers are not using the boards for anything except a fancy white board. The benefits of the boards are that they can be used to not only write on without getting your hands covered in chalk or dry erase marker, but they can be used to show streaming videos, take interactive quizes on, flipcharts can be created for small group instruction or even centers. The boards are great for both visual and auditory learners. What would make these boards even better would be if more teachers were willing to share some of their ideas for how they use the boards or even put some of the flipcharts that they have created on the web (Promethean Planet has a building wealth of these).
website for Promethean Board http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.jigsaweducation.com/media/186683/activboard_crop_302x243.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.jigsaweducation.com/reviews/january-2009/promethean-activboard-2.aspx%3Fsection%3DPrimary&usg=__FVLgBG0edmW3tdcmvfVXe53PBoI=&h=243&w=302&sz=11&hl=en&start=11&sig2=57nvzxqLA8fzwtB_0bSuOQ&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=ppfGUcDgKwSKIM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dactivboard%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4GWYE_enUS309US309%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=6F2RTJDALsOB8gaUr6WtBQ
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Your concerns seem to be the same as many others as the reason that new technolgies are nto truly integratedin all classrooms, training. Is there a way to have all teachers "buy in" to the need of technolgoy integration without them feeling pressured or "required" to utilize the components?
ReplyDeleteI agree that the generation of the instructor plays an important role in the use of this product. Another factor that I continue to run into with my organization is the cost factor. Although the product has become affordable over the years, some IT staff continue to see the value in using overhead LCD projectors and the white board. Would you consider this an emerging technology or has it already emerged?
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