Current Technology that
Shapes Education
“The constantly changing
landscape of educational technology can be thought of as a series of
transitions from older tools to newer ones – although some of the newer tools
had their genesis years ago and are just now coming into mainstream awareness”
(Thornburg, 2009). Innovations in
technology are constantly shaping today’s modern society. Some of these technologies are so advanced
that they are quickly changing our everyday lives by revolutionizing the way we
are used to doing things. These
technologies help shape our society on a daily basis, but also create many
problems that require immediate attention.
It seems like every school year there is a new form of technology that
is changing and outdating older forms of technology in the educational
world. Document camera and Promethean
boards are becoming more and more popular across the country. They have been extremely popular in schools
with teachers using them as instructional aides in the classroom.
Despite their success in my
school and in other schools there are also many challenges and problems
associated with document cameras and Promethean boards. One of the first issues is that they are
expensive and not easily available to schools that need them. Our school had to use Title 1 money in order
to purchase them for some of the teachers.
“One of the benefits of using free software when possible, is that it
frees up scarce money to purchase those educational titles for which there are
only proprietary solutions” (Thornburg, 2009).
Another issue is the functional problems that the Promethean boards
sometimes have because they are always crashing or switching off. Many times the boards are shipped out to the
schools and are missing pieces or parts that should have been included with the
board, but were left out of the package by mistake. There are also instances where the board will
shut off automatically without being prompted too. However, in this case the pros outweigh the
cons and the Promethean board would be beneficial for any classroom.
Promethean boards and document cameras can also be
extremely beneficial to any classroom across all content areas. Studies have proven that Promethean boards
and document cameras can be the most beneficial in ELA, ELL, Mathematics, and
Foreign Languages. Elementary school
teachers can use them in their literacy lessons and help students how to learn
to read. ELA and ELL classes can use the
boards for constant repetition and vocabulary practice. Promethean boards provide students with hands
on experiences and personally involve them in the learning process. They can display almost any type of learning
technology and provide students with the ability to psychically get out of
their seats and participate in the lesson.
One of the best ways to improve this technology is
to make it more available to teachers in need.
The more teachers that are given access to this technology the better
the results will be based on human response.
The manufacturers can ask and receive input from the teachers on what
the issues and bugs are as well as what needs to be replaced. Then the companies can make the necessary
repairs and adjustments on the new products to avoid further issues. Most of the issues with the board are fixable
issues that can be resolved when a new version of the technology is
released.
Links
References:
Thornburg, D. D. (2009a). Current trends in educational technology. Lake
Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteHow would you compare the Promethean Board to the SmartBoard? I have only heard of the Promethean, but I have never seen one or interacted with one in anyway? I know the teachers in our school sometimes misuse their SmartBoards and only use them as a glorified projector. Do you see this as a challenge with the Promethean as well?
Thanks for a well-worded and well-organized blog post. I enjoyed reading it.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteI can speak to the benefits of the document camera as we use them in the first grade at our school. We only have a few, so we have to share them across the grade and school. Also, touching on something John mentioned, I like how you talked about students getting out of their seats. The benefit of a Promethean Board is the the interactivity that is provides. When students are not given the opportunity to interact with the technology, it defeats the purpose. The teachers may as well use the dry erase boards for their lesson. Thanks for your blog, it was a pleasure to read and very informative.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteI know just what you speak of about interactive white boards and the document camera. I have a SMART Board and Ladybug in my classroom and they are an asset to instruction, for myself and students. It is a benefit to be able to introduce students to activities on websites and practice together before sending them on their own. The SMART Board allows teachers to create their own activities or choose from a file exchange system. One way in which I incorporate the use of the SMART Board and Ladybug is with writing. My students use the Ladybug with the SMART Board to display their writing pieces and they are able to peer-edit or revise their work by writing on the SMART Board. There will always be a money issue when thinking about technology for schools. I think schools should reach out to the community to help fund the purchase of interactive boards for every classroom. It would be a huge benefit to students.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteI have found that half the battle is acquiring technology and the other half is providing meaningful training in order to use it. Handing someone written instructions or using a tutorial is not always enough to actually get someone to use the technology to its maximal potential.