It seems to me that the wheels are pretty slow to turn in public education. Teachers either have the technology but don't know how to use it, or they learn it and yearn for it and don't have the funds to procure it for their classrooms. For me, this is where the disconnect is from the utopian ideals of every student creating meaningful online content in a global village and my reality:
- Only 65% of my students have internet access at home which means any type of work
involving the internet needs to be done in the classroom. - My classroom has 7 working and 3 non-working laptops (circa 2001) for my 140 students and there is no other computer lab available.
- If I want to show my students any content found online, I have to bring in my own laptop and my own LCD projector.
- My school has one digital camera available for student use and it is at least 8 years old.
One thing that I feel excited about is how technology has evolved from big ol' expensive clunky computers that needed multiple software programs to perform a variety of functions to sleek tablets that run very affordable or free apps and the availability of web based tools, many of which are also affordable or free. It makes me feel like we live and teach in a transitional time and that in the not-so-distant future it will be feasible for ALL students and teachers to truly collaborate. Once the hardware barrier comes down, I think we will see some truly amazing products from our little digital natives!
8 comments:
Hi Sarah
I too am ready to take the plunge into this wonderful world of Web 2.0; I agree enough talk already let's get this paradigm shift rolling. I am really excited to take this class and hope it pushes my classroom practice in a direction I envision for me and my students.
I too agree that depending on where you teach the availability of this technology in the schools is a determining factor on whether it is used properly or not. I don't know what to say to that, you do the best with what you have, cliche I know but real.
One thing I am weary about is that just because we have (potentially) students creating online content does not mean it has substance. We need to be careful and learn how to assess this new way (?) of learning.
Kristian
Hi Sarah, Cute Baby!! That's a great picture of the two of you.
I really like your reflection because it totally speaks the truth about what teachers are dealing with. When it comes to using technology I feel like it is an up hill battle. The computers that are at my school are being tied up more and more for standardized testing :( We do do the best that we can with what we have but it seems like what we have is becoming less and less.
Irene
Hi, Sarah:
Your post reflects the dim reality across many schools in the world, and I understand the frustration of not having enough access to technology resources. I would love to see some venture capitalists and angel investors adopting some public schools, and I believe that there is no bigger investment than one in human resource. How difficult is it, at your school, to ask for a multimedia room, a permanent set-up with a few computers and an LCD projector, where teachers can book slots, and use it for teaching only? Here in Japan, some parents won't mind raising funds for buying any resource that can impact their kids' learning.
I can so relate to your blog. In my school in Helena, we have a laptop cart available for checkout because our computer lab became the special ed room. The problem with the check out is that our "technology committee" utilizes eminent domain and any teacher who sits on the committee seems to usurp time that has been set up for another classroom whenever the spirit moves him.
I love the imbedded images in your blog and am going to look in to editing mine to make it more interesting... after my guided fly fishing trip that is.
Thanks for the ideas and inspiration!
~ Dana
Sarah
First of all, I love your blog page! The embedded pictures are a nice add-on :)
As all have already stated in this post, use what you have to do the best you can... but it's obviously an uphill battle! About 6 years ago I decided that I would start to find grants to supplement my own classroom with some of the technology I wanted to integrate into my math and science classes...most specifically LEGO robotics. One of the grants I was able to get was through our local Education Foundation. Another was through the Raytheon Corporation. I also used the MSU 4-H Extension Outreach as a resource... they are very helpful too!! They would love to have you making and editing videos using science content and they have students from MSU that help out with that. They provided training and video cameras and we did a Saturday workshop... if you are interested, let me know!
Lori
Hi Sarah,
You mentioned that many of your students have phones that are more capable (or available) than the school's tech resources. Might you be able to tap into them as a resource?
That makes a lot of teachers nervous, I know. But computing power and connectivity is really what we're talking about. The other limitations that many teachers have mentioned are firewall/filters that block potentially useful sites. Perhaps these topics will come up later in the course.
Cheers. Scott
@ Lori- I would love to learn more about the science videos. I did one video project a few years ago and it was awesome. You can read about it in my blog if you scroll down to "our little mitosis project." many of those videos have been seen over 1000 times! I doubt the kids that made them are even aware of that... and they are off in high school now so they will likely never know, but I am really proud of their work!
Sarah, I just stumbled across a Web Tool called "Animoto" and there's an Animoto For Education. It seems that it might be easy to use... it offers a 6 month free trial. I signed up for it because they do all the technical part of editing, etc after you upload your videos or pictures and they also put music to it. Makes it quick and easy! The videoing and editing that we have done before takes up a TON of time, and then seems to become a task for learning to use the tool instead of using it to enhance the class (for say, a final project, etc). If you don't end up looking at Animoto, I may try to get something quick done and show it to you (via my blog I hope)... :)
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