Are Textbooks Soon To Become Extinct?

With all the benefits I have been discovering for incorporating computers into the classrooms, I had failed to even notice the environmental advantages until I came across Hayley’s posting, “Upgraded Information or Out of Date Textbooks?” where she states that encouraging students to “do more activities online” will help not only help to extend their minds but save paper. She then leads on to discussing the way in which students in this day and age conduct research selecting online information over textbooks. Reasons given by Hayley for this trend include the internet’s easy access, constant upgrading and cheap cost.

I believe that while the internet can be an incredibly valuable tool for finding information on a topic, I always find that textbooks nearly always contain a lot more useful and reliable information. Personally, I find that the Internet can be very frustrating at times to use, especially when you’re looking for something very specific and having to try avoid unreliable websites where the information can be adjusted by anyone at all who has access to the internet.

So in response to Hayley’s posting I would have to agree that yes while the internet does provide us with easy access to an abundance of information, it should not take precedence over textbooks, but rather enhance our understanding of what we have already read in printed textbooks.

Source: http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=79401&rendTypeId=4

Phones for the Future?

Cathie’s posting “The Future of Education” prompted me to also read Marc Prensky’s article “But the Screen Is Too Small”, out of curiosity as to how phones similar to that of the new Nokia n-Gage mobile phone, could possibly be used appropriately by all the students in a classroom. As mentioned by Cathie, benefits of these devices include “features such as a thumb print reader, a built in Wi-Fi and the ability to run any program” as well as enabling students to “submit their homework electronically.”

When I first read Cathie’s posting, I felt doubtful that buying a phone for each child was a better investment than having computers which the children can just share instead. These uncertainties brought me to delve right into the article and find out how this could be. I soon found out further advantages of this device which started to convince me that perhaps these phones could possibly be a big hit, with their ability to be upgraded easily each year if necessary, the less maintenance required to operate them in comparison to computers and the fact that they were voice based which would enable students to practice their reading and foreign languages if they wanted. Therefore I think that there is a chance for these cell phones to be a success in educating students in the future if they are reliable and affordable.

Source: http://a.abcnews.com/images/Business/phones_all_ssh.jpg

An Understanding of Interactive Whiteboards

Despite hearing of the wonderful benefits of having an interactive whiteboard in the classroom, I have not yet encountered an interactive whiteboard at any of the primary schools I have been to. I thus was feeling a little ignorant on the subject so I decided to find a video that would help me to gain a better understanding of what you can actually do with these supposedly ingenious whiteboards. I came across a video titled Interactive Whiteboard Demonstration which gave me a brief and informative view on what you can do with an interactive whiteboard. The ability to use it like a touch screen where you were able to use a pen or even your finger to write on the screen amazed me!

The man who was providing the demonstration in the video claimed that “today’s kids are so use to more of an interactive lifestyle … so this thing [smartboard] helps to deliver the education and deliver the material in a way that they’re more use to seeing”, which I agree is very true. Unfortunately, this video didn’t really discuss the benefits of the smartboard in enough depth, yet after perusing Cathie’s posting titled Interactive Whiteboards in the Classroom, I learnt that they not only help “increase student motivation, enjoyment, engagement, collaboration and participation” but also to “develop positive attitudes and behaviours towards learning and increase student’s sense of positive identity.”. From hearing such optimism in relation to this creative invention, I look forward to using one in my future teaching.

Source: http://www.edtech.co.nz/Store/6/47/images/smartboard.jpg

Teachers: Ditch the Excuses, Kids Come First!

I thought Bianca raised a key issue in her blog posting “Give Students a New Audience Everyday” from Judi Harris’ “Wherefore art thou telecollaboration?” about encouraging students to celebrate their work by using technology to communicate and share their ideas with the rest of the world. Bianca mentions statistics from Judi Harris’ article stating “that 75% of teachers believe that technology is valuable in education however only 35% of teachers use it in their classroom”. These fairly recent statistics took me by surprise and lead me to ponder over why exactly this was the case.

I didn’t have to ponder much longer as Bianca later mentions in her posting that the teachers who aren’t incorporating technology into their classrooms are using worn-out personal excuses such as “computer illiteracy, time, unreliable computers” and “lack of computers”. I would have to agree with Bianca that this is not time to be making excuses, and that she is completely right in saying that “there are so many fascinating and exciting activities” online that can help to “celebrate students’ work”. I, like Bianca, hope that teachers start realising sooner than later that we are living in a world basically run by technology, so in order ensure to engage in technological activities and ideally feel ready to face the real world.

The Benefits of WebQuests for Children

After completing my e-learning task on designing a WebQuest of my own with a partner, I was consequently left with a greater understanding of how teachers benefit from creating and using WebQuests. My uncertainties, however, lay in what the students gained from these online lesson plans. That was until I came across a website titled “Webquest – Benefits” which not only educated me on the benefits of WebQuests, but also the reasoning for why teachers need to teach technological skills to their students at school.

Within the article, David Thornburg, discusses the misunderstanding of many teachers, who believe that there is no need to incorporate technology into the classroom since kids already have access to technology in their homes. Thornburg states, however, that “while it is true that many of our kids have developed tremendous technological skills…it doesn’t mean that they have the research skills or the wisdom to know how to make meaning out of the stuff that they’re finding.” This is where the benefits of WebQuests comes in, as according to Dr. Bernie Dodge, these online lessons force kids “to make sense of what they are reading” in addition to learning how to work in groups, evaluating a multitude of resources and recognising and dealing with numerous perspectives on a specific topic.

So in short, WebQuests help to not only challenge children, but to teach them life long skills such as teamwork, and thus prepare them for success in the future.

Source: http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/crc/images/PAR72484.jpg