Red Group-Amanda Heilman

There are many technologies that do not fit the teaching setting. Many technologies that I use every day such as a cell phone, video games, facebook, etc. would actually be a complete distraction when teaching a lesson to a class. Although these technologies have many positive sides to them, the main purpose of them is to be personal pleasure. For example, Facebook could easily be used for communication between students and teachers. But also the distraction of looking at pictures and friends would be completely distracting. These day to day technologies are useful but the distraction defeats the purpose.

Red Group Blog #2

I think the reason we tend to leave out technologies like cell phones, social network sites, and You Tube when we are integrating technology into the classroom because the purpose of those technologies is mainly for social reasons. I think if we incorporated these types of technologies into the classroom it would cause disruption and would be a great distraction. Another reason why I do not think these devices should be included into the classroom is because they are not censored. It is very hard to monitor a site like facebook or You Tube when using it in a classroom setting. I also think cell phones and video games are inappropriate for the classroom. When I was in school I got my cell phone taken away a few times for having it out during class; if students are allowed cell phones I believe they will not pay attention during class. If students are given cell phones for a class I think they will most likely spend that entire class period texting their friends or play game. I believe there is a big difference between technologies used for social or personal reasons and technologies used for educational reason. Educators should be able to monitor their student’s use of technology in the classroom. Technology that we use in the classroom should have one main purpose, to educate.
Kathlyn Kaiser

Red Group

I do not think that these are the types of technologies that should be incorporated in the classroom. Things like cell phones and facebook should not be mixed into the classroom environment. They are more out of classroom technologies. I feel that it would distract students in class if these were incorporated. It would be hard to get them to really focus on their work if they are around these things. You also may have trouble controlling what they are seeing or what they are doing. I think things like You Tube could be helpful in the classroom if it was censored. Its a nice thing for the teacher to use to go along with the lesson. It can really help the students see what they are teaching. Certain internet sites can only be used if there is a way to control what the students are seeing. There is a difference between the technologies you use in school and the technologies you use at home.

Red Group

I was always taught that school and home are two different places and so there are certain things that I use at school and then certain things that I use at home or outside of school. I don't think of using facebook, video game systems and cell phones in the classroom because I was always taught you don't do that at school and if you do you will get in trouble. So when asked to think of technology in the classroom those things don't come to mind. Sure I have seen students use them in the classroom but that means that they are off task and not paying attention to what is going on. I do not think that it is a good idea to incorporate those technologies into the classroom because the line between school and outside of the school becomes blurred. I was raised to be on my best behavior outside of the home and when I was at home I had more slack because I was not in the public eye. So I think if we brought these things from home into the classroom, students would act like they are at home and not in a learning environment. I also think they would get distracted easier because they are familiar with the technology and know other things to do besides what the task is. It is also to keep your personal life and your school life seperate from one another because sometimes you just need a break from it all.

Blue Group

I think it is for me, the fact that these technologies wouldn't be appropiate in the classroom. It would take away from the learning process, which is already complicated when you have to deal with the disciplining sudents, most of the time. Also it would cause students to become distracted, in a sense that if you did give an assignment for your class ( high school) to maybe twitter about a field trip that they went on the other day. I could see this leading to become a distraction, because they will open a "new tab" where they will be switching back in forth between facebook and twitter, instead of focusing on their assignment. Also another factor is that, if your working in a elememtary school, not all students have access to computers or/and internet in their homes, and may can not go to the library. Thus you have to limit the technology into classroom only, meaning no homework assignements requiring interenet and/ or computer. Another fact is that my content area is special education-elementary, so how would twitter, facebook or cellphones be of benefit in the classroom, I really don't know.

Blue Group- Post #2

I think that these sorts of "casual" technologies are often left out of technology integration activities for a number of reasons. The first of which being that they are things that we use so often that we completely overlook them. It's easy to forget that the items we use so often (cell phones, iPods, etc.) could be useful tools to facilitate learning. Another reason is that we do use these items so casually and we don't want to "mix business with pleasure". There are probably a lot of college students who would agree with me in saying that I don't want my professors to look at my facebook. I don't have anything incriminating on there, but the thought of one of my teachers reading what my friends are writing on my wall just really creeps me out.
YouTube is a site that is really under-utilized in the classroom. I have a professor this semester who finds all sorts of cool videos and incorporates them into our lessons. It's a nice way to get class moving and enables us to think outside of the classroom. Finding videos on subject areas something really easy that teachers can do. Posting videos is another great way to take advantage of the site. Two of my roommates were in a sign language class last semeste and they had to post videos on YouTube of them saying stuff. They then had to view their classmate's videos and figure out what they were saying.
There are so many casual technologies that are right underneath of our noses. We only need to realize that they're there, and then figure out how to use them in our classrooms. In a non-creepy and non-invasive way.

Yellow Group

It is clear that there are certain technologies that really do help students learn when they are implemented in the classroom. Especially those that have to do with electronic media, such as movies, computers (the internet), recordings, newspaper slides, film strips, and even educational video games. Each of these things can enhance student's ability to learn, especially since the lecture format of the old days does not mix well with our technologically savvy lifestyle. However, these technologies also have the potential to distract students as well due to their multi-functional natures as being both potentially educational and, without proper supervision, used for entertainment purposes.

In my own experience, when ever we were allowed to use the internet in class, chances are some students were not always following what the instructor was doing. More than likely, they were checking other sites that had nothing to do with the curriculum. When watching informative movies, most students would not pay attention because as long as the teacher was not speaking, then they figured they did not have to listen. Though their use in the classroom can be very helpful in teaching, they could also create distractions for some, but certainly not for all.

Now that I am in college, technology seems to be less of a distraction and more of a helpful tool that needs to be implemented in the case of research and communication. However, that may just be because when I was in grade school, technology was not as advanced as it is now. In college, things like audio recordings, newspaper slides, and online journals become much more important when researching for papers. In fact, the internet is an endless source of scholarly writings and key documents that you cannot find in your local or school library. It is essential that when used in the classroom, no matter the grade level, that it remains an instrument of learning. The speed of technology has saved me on more then a few occasions and I am sure that it can do the same for others.

-Tim Wellein

Yellow Group

Looking back at my technobiography and my last post about technology in the classroom, I do think my attitudes about and experiences with technology in my life have shaped what I think are good/bad uses of technology in the classroom. I also see some differences and similarities between my technobiography and my classroom post. In both posts I didn’t use technology very much when I was younger. This is also reflected in my classroom experiences as it wasn’t integrated much in my education either. Having had so much fun playing gameboy and Nintendo when I was a kid paved the way for me to be open to new technologies in the future. The example I used of a good use of technology in the classroom was when I had a teacher do a good job of using PowerPoint and it made lectures and note taking less stressful. This was because the teacher gave us an outline of the important parts and it helped me to feel like I was on top of what we were learning. She never overwhelmed slides and limited her slides to an outline rather than word for word of what she was covering.

My experiences this year with technology have left me very frustrated. It helps me in many different aspects of my life but also this year it has caused me more stress than I’ve ever had. Having teachers give so much homework that involves the use of a computer and having to be online makes my life very difficult. This semester I am honestly hating school and can’t stand it, all because of technology. I’m traveling on a bus all day on Thursdays and Sundays so I don’t have internet access and I can’t use my computer at all because my battery doesn’t last more than 5 minutes before it dies. There are no outlets on the bus to plug it in so it works. I can’t afford a new computer, new battery, or a wireless card and plan that connects through a cell phone provider to give me access to the internet while I’m on the bus. On top of that for this class my computer won’t allow me to access the e-reserves, so I have to access them at school when I’m only here 3 days a week and have very limited time. Another class I have puts some of the assignments up online in a docx format and I don’t have the new Microsoft Windows to open it. Then to top it all off, I am in a different hotel every weekend and always have issues with getting an internet connection; it is always something whether their service is down or their connection is unbelievably slow, etc. So, technology has made my educational experience this semester miserable.