I have just finished watching this video and it brings home how important it is to implement teaching of technology in our schools correctly. The amount of technology available is overwhelming and sometimes I think where should I start? What are going to be the best forms of technology to use and how do I implement them into the lesson plans I need to create?
Shaun Longstreet, Associate Director of Teaching, Learning and Technology Centre at the University of California, Irvine discusses on his video how important it is to be prepared when introducing new technologies into the classroom. Because of the nature of technology, glitches, errors and problems can occur and therefore it is vital to have your so called 'back up plan' ready.
Students need to feel connected to what it is they are learning. According to the Engagement Theory of Kearsley and Shneiderman, students need to find relevance in the activity. Their basic principal of Relate - Create - Donate implies that the learning activities first need to be relevant to the students, they need to be creative and purposeful and they need to be making a useful contribution to an outside audience.
Longstreet (2009) suggests that when deciding what technology to incorporate into your plan:
"always ask if introducing a piece of technology is both appropriate and necessary for achieving a learning goal for the course" and
"it is essential to take the time to explain any technology that you expect your students to use."
Now, although much of this seems fairly common sense I think it is important to spell it out. Sometimes we really need to hear it before going off on a 'designer frenze' getting all the activities ready for our students. It is by far more important to introduce technology tools incrementally to our students than overwhelm them and ourselves with equipment, software and activities we can't use appropriately.
References:
Kearsley, G & Shneiderman, B. (1999) Engagement Theory: A Framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved on 22 March 2010 from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
Lonstreet, S.(2009, March 22). Teaching with Technology: University of California, Irvine. (Video File). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lcUpSwwQoI
Hi Sally, I had a look at the video and it certainly provides some good tips. With learning about all this new technology (exciting as some of it is), we have to be careful not to use it willy-nilly and when we do choose to use it, to use explicit instructions in their use. I'm particularly pleased to hear the last point about introducing the technology incrementally. It makes sense and (with the exception of assignment 3 for the ICT course!!) it takes the pressure off any expectations (real or imagined) about using ICTs full on in the classroom. Great post. Regards, Natalie
ReplyDeleteThanks Natalie for the encouraging words. I think for me the idea to introduce ICT's incrementally is wonderful - it will allow me to learn at the same time as the students and we can go on our learning journey together.
ReplyDeleteSally