It is important to understand/know your audience to determine if the form of technology is conducive to their needs.
hat is a true technology will encourage students to learn many different types of ways to learn different subjects instead of just teacher explaining by verbally.
I have learned that there are multple ways to integrate technology into the classroom.
Reply to Alex Ladzinski's post: I agree, you must have a back up plan. It always takes me for a loop when the school loses wifi. Unfortunately, even with a backup plan, I spend a lot of time shifting gears.
Technology can assist in transparency. With the gradebook being available any time from any Internet connection, the student should know where they stand in terms of their grades.
I think setting the tone for use of technology from the beginning is important. Instead of the technology device (like their smartphones) being a distraction, the instructor needs to know how to incorporate its functions into learnging activities in the classroom. Ultimately, as instructors, we need to know our audience - especially with adult learners. Why our the students their and what do they hope to gain from the learning experience? If learning objectives are clear and lesson plans are designed to actively engage students, learning will occur, even if technology fails, because the instructor can substitute similar but less technology-based activities into the day's instruction when needed.
We set the tone! We need to turn negative into positive! We have to make of the situation when they come along. Also, we need to learn to go Mobile, to become creative in developing and assessing mobile learning activities.
Finding ways to engage students in class while the phone is in their hands is huge. It's simply finding a way to teach with technology in a way kids want to learn. Present the material in a way that is presented on an app on their phone.
that is a true technology will encourage students to learn many different types of ways to learn different subjects instead of just teacher explaining by verbally.
Reply to James Baker's post:I agree with you here James, student engagement in every form (technology, in-class discussions, online discussions, etc) is an important part of any learning regardless of subject.
I think hands-on learning is always better but it would also depend on the subject or/and the objectives of a course that students are taking. Hands-on learning is always better for trading schools such as automotive mechanics, nirsing, medical assistant, dental assistant, help desk learning etc. but for other subject such as business management, marketing, psychology, sociology, history, English, philosophy, etc. hands-on learning is not feasing (most of the time with some exceptions like internships).
I think hands-on is the best way to learn anything then seeing someone does something
it is important in the beginnig of the course to introduce to the technology being used to all the students
It's important to let students have hands on experiences with technology, not just talk about certain technologies.
Reply to David Chelsea's post:absolutely!
I agree you must have a back up plan, when you're ready to start the lecture and you loose all of your A/V electronic communcation it quite inconvient to both the instructor and students because of the time spent shifting gears and grabbing text books and notes.
As mentioned tech, and in particular discussion posts, are a good way to level the playing field and engage students who tend to be introverts while limiting the extroverts who can dominate discussions.
Involving device in delivery of lessons make sense. Heck, studentsare already engaging with devices during lectures. Why not put the focus on the lesson while allowing the use of devices?
