Technology for the sake of technology
From my experience the latest and greatest may not always be appropriate or beneficial as the training points out. I've always found that if you put technology "in the way" of learning it forces students to use it, but only put it there if it will enhance their ability to comprehend the material or will force them to dig deeper into it. By adding things of no value, the students will simply see it as overhead and may not use the technology as intended and it may even distract them from the actual goal of learning the material.
Brian,
I agree if you incorporate technology the student will have not choice to use it but it must benifit the learning experiences. Make it a requirement and show why it is beneficial to what they are learining.
Antoine Lewis
Brian,
I agree that technology for its own sake is a waste of educational time.
On the other hand, many of my students use PowerPoint shows as a way of "punching up" their class presentations, and I see that as a strong tool for the workplace they hope to enter.
It seems that every student has a cell phone, and all are more proficient than I am with mine. If I can harness that willingness to use technology as a tool to get students into timely, relevant resources, or to extend the resources of our school library, I'm open to such approaches. The trick is to help students hone their skills at evaluating the worthiness of the resources they find.
Kathleen ,
Researhing reputable resources is lacking in higher education because anyone and post content. We must introduce technology in the classroom as they will need the skills for the workplace indeed.
Antoine Lewis
I think this can also touch on the topic of being flexible in your class, depending on if you have the resources, some students learn better through internet research and some other student prefer to ready a book chap by chap, it a complicated situation with multiple generations and upbringing. The classroom is a challenging place to be, but very rewarding.
jason,
I agree as learning styles vary more than ever because of age or technology. As faculty we have to embrace variety so that student understand the subject matter. (Lecture, video, case studies, projects, test and quizzes)
Antoine Lewis
I provide handouts, slideshows, and a way to drop off artwork on at least three platforms. By handouts and showing slides in the classroom, and a way to scan and drop off artwork onto the school server when teacher and student are present during the day of class.
The other way is a google site that has all the documentation on one page, posts that repeat important information in the docs in a better formatted way, (no dropping off of files here though), and an electronic slideshow on the site. Students can email messages and attachments on a school-approved email system.
The third is using DropBox to repeat the above by having a folder for documents, another for slideshows, and a folder that's an Inbox that the students and teacher can see.
The problem is, I'm wondering that if in my eagerness to give them options, this is just confusing and creating too many opportunities for confusion since this system has "many moving parts". I wish our school had some kind of portal system instead.
Mark,
We do have to be careful not to overwhelm them (students). I often introduce something new weekly that can be used as a tool and try to incorporate with the assignment due that week so they have to use it.
Antoine Lewis
i agree, there is always something new and better so which one to chose. i have always believed that simplicity is best especially when doing hands on. you need to practice on people and understand on people, intergration is good but hands on is best and it always keeps our jobs. people forget how to communicate with people, people have foegotten about non verbal clues and it is leading to a society that is unable to carry-out even the simplest of conversations.
Helen,
Simplicity is important and can't be forgotten. Role playing, class discussion, and lecture is still needed in the classroom but technology can enhance this by incorporating simulations, audio and visual aid.
Antoine Lewis
