Jasmeet Virk's ETEC 533 journey

The Good Use of Technology:

1.Learning Environment 4 [Elementary School: Space Science]

As I watched the interview and the activities happening in the back what stood out for me was the collaborative group work and active learning happening in the class. It was an implementation of Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) principle of developing reciprocity and cooperation not only among students but also students and teacher; and using of active learning techniques.

The grade 6/7 teacher mentioned that technology was able to break through the language barriers. She had many students of Indian and Pakistani descent and many were new immigrants. This highlighted for me the fact that technology is the common language for this generation of digital natives.

The Project Based Learning model being implemented in the class was able to cross curricular boundaries. Students showed that they were combining art to show their understanding of the movements of hurricanes. The teacher discussed how they were able to connect fiction [novel study of Parvana’s journey] from a language arts class to a reality across the world [working with woman’s group in Afghanistan]. This is a great example of technologies deftness at promoting interdisciplinary approach.

The retiring and the new teacher interviewed showed trepidation about using technology, despite availability of help from colleagues.

2.Learning Environment 7 [Science Elementary – Pre-service teacher]

By making the use of technology a compulsory part of their course, the professor not only modeled that group work could be continued in their professional life with their colleagues, but also allowed the pre service teacher to realize the advantages of including technology in the learning environment. The pre service teachers recognized the technology’s ability to be multimodal [Pair 3] and interactive [Pair 1]. By adding narrative to text [Single student], adding animation to pictures [Pair 1 and 3], technology could help them reach out to more learners. Some pre service teachers used the collaborative and cross curricular ability [Single student] of technology where one class did the art which was used by the other class to make their science project about fish life cycle. There was concern (Pair 1) that technologies being used were too complex for the students and time taking.

Issue that Stood Out from both environments:

• What does technology use look in the elementary school?
• What online learning tools are suitable at elementary schools?
• What technologies can be used to enhance F2F environment?
• What is a good balance between online and F2F learning at elementary level?
• Which online tools can be effectively used at elementary level?
• How to use technology to achieve a collaborative, multimodal, cross curricular approach?

Other Issues:
Some other issues that also stood out for me:
• How to encourage teachers to adopt technology?
• Is it fair to students that many teachers are unwilling to use technology?

Reference:

Chickering, Arthur and Stephen C. Ehrmann (1996), “Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever,” AAHE Bulletin, October, pp. 3-6.