Case 5 – Elementary Space Science:
This case demonstrated how technology could be implemented into the classroom in an engaging and positive way. The grade 6/7 teacher explained that she mainly uses project-based learning and she was open to experimenting with the technology. She expressed that she finds it really helps with her students since she has a wide demographic of students and that it ‘equalizes the playing field.’ She also felt that it globalizes learning and exposes her students to things they wouldn’t normally get to see in the classroom. This is a great use of technology in the classroom for learning.
The other two teachers in this case didn’t have such a positive outlook on the use of technology in the classroom. The retiring teacher was very negative, expressing that she found it frustrating and too time consuming. She also felt that she would never feel comfortable with it since even with training, there was no time to practice it. The new teacher also felt that it was too time consuming to learn how to correctly implement it and didn’t want to rely on others to help her figure it out. This raises the issue of how can we make technology easy for teachers to use in their classroom at any point in their career. With professional development available, should teachers also be given time to practice what they have learned before attempting to use it in the classroom? And how can we change the attitudes of those teachers who are fed up with trying to use technology?
Case 7 – Science, Elementary Preservice Teacher Education
In this case, each video showed how preservice teachers were using technology to make “slowmation” for their science classes. Most of the teachers agreed that by using the technology in their teaching, it would appeal to the audio and visual learners in their class, as well as help ESL students so they wouldn’t have to rely on their language skills to understand a concept. They also agreed that by creating an animation, it would engage the students more since it was more visually stimulating and was better than just looking at a diagram in a textbook. This, to me, is a great use of technology in the classroom. It is directed at many different learning styles and can assist those who already have language as a barrier to their learning. The professor explained that the technology should enhance the learning, which is what the student-teachers were doing.
The other side to this was that there were teachers who felt that it took too much time and they wouldn’t end up doing this sort of activity with their own students because they would end up doing most of the work. This raises the issue of if their activity was age/student level appropriate. Good use of technology in the classroom allows for students to be independent/active learners, not relying on the teacher to do the whole thing. These preservice teachers could have tailored their activities to be more appropriate to their students’ level so it would enhance their learning, not hinder it.
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In both cases I feel that there was a good use of technology since the end goal was to enhance student learning. Both cases mentioned how it can help language barriers/ ESL students, as well as audio and visual learners, and neither set wanted to stick with just the textbook. They both had mostly positive attitudes towards using the technology in the classroom but also demonstrated that not everyone is going to feel completely positive. The less-positive educators felt that it required too much time and required a lot of work on their part. Issues that were raised included the attitudes of the teachers, time, comfort, and age appropriateness.