Technology

Technology

1. One of the most relevant parts of Dr. Robert’s presentation for me was the statistical information about media exposure. I was shocked that the average child between the ages of 8-18 is spending about 10 hours and 45 minutes per day on media exposure. Even more interesting to me was the definition of media exposure and its relation to media multitasking. The idea of media multitasking is fascinating to me, and what media multitasking is for kids today is completely different than what it was for me as a child, and even for me now. In fact, I am doing it right now—listening to music while writing this blog entry.

For many kids though, media multitasking has turned into multitasking in the truest sense of the word. Kids may be switching back and forth between six, seven, eight or more activities all at one time. Even my younger brother, who is an undergraduate student who loves computers, will be working on one or two homework assignments on the computer while playing a computer game, playing a PS3 game, listening to music, and watching a t.v. show online.

I am curious about the implications that multitasking has on students’ ability to retain information and produce quality work. What affect does it have on memory and recall, if any? Does media multitasking affect the amount of time it takes students to complete a high quality assignment?

Dr. Robert also talked about the amount of time kids spend on the computer is increasing while things like t.v. use is decreasing, and how mobile devices are contributing to the decrease in uses of individually functioning products such as iPods, cd players, dvds, radio and t.v. If our students are sending and receiving most of their information via computers, cell phones, ipads, how does this affect their ability to communicate face-to-face in and outside of the classroom? Are students able to think for themselves, form their own opinions, interpret information analytically and orally, and use the information they are receiving in effective communicative ways? Are students losing touch with “the real world” without newspapers, books, radio, and live television?

2. The implications of online classes for education and my own teaching would be tremendous, and, in my opinion, mostly negative. Online courses take away the opportunity to interact, discuss, communicate, and debate with others face-to-face—skills which I believe will always be valuable in any profession. No matter how technology oriented our society become, it is important for students to know will still need to know how to do things like think critically, ask intelligent and thought-provoking questions, and be openly curious about “the facts.” Yes, students may be able to think critically in an online class, but how will they express their thoughts and ideas? If critical thinking is expressed in writing, how will they receive feedback from other students and from the teacher? I believe that oral feedback—discussion and conversations—are important. An important point that the article brings up is that it is extremely easy for students to cheat in online courses. How can we accurately test what students learn in an online course?

In regards to my own teaching, I feel as though teaching my subject (Spanish) online would be a huge disservice to all of my students and ultimately fail in teaching them effectively communicate in the language. Foreign language teaching and learning is interactive by nature—it involves movement, production and reception of the language in an authentic environment, learning through culture and context. Students in the foreign language classroom are often learning at the kindergarten or first grade level. Would anyone expect first graders to learn how to read in an online class?

In a foreign language class, the opportunity for students to actively participate in conversation with the teacher and peers needs to exist. Teachers must be able to respond immediately to students in the target language, modeling correct grammar and pronunciation, and correcting student errors. Authentic materials are also a vital part of learning a foreign language—Spanish music, movies, newspapers, magazines, and artifacts—things that could not possibly be used effectively through online teaching.

    3. The first link I looked at from the “Technology Resources for the Teacher” document was the Cool Timer site. Although I have seen this used by several teachers, I never knew about the website and where to download the timer. This is a great tool for classroom management use in any classroom. I would use the timer in two ways—to help me stay on track with my lesson plan, and for timing student activities. I change activities frequently, so this will be a useful future tool.

The second link I explored was the Slide Rocket site. This is a valuable resource for both students and teachers, and a good alternative to PowerPoint. Not only is it useful for creating engaging presentations, but could also be used as a way to communicate with students before or after the presentation. You are able to see who has viewed the slides as well as start a conversation while viewing the slides. This could be used as a frontloading tool for the next lesson, and it could also help students review the material presented in class.

The third site I looked at was the Animoto website, which allows you to create videos with text, photos, and video included. I would use this site extensively in my classroom when I teach new songs every few weeks. Having the lyrics on-screen to specific pictures and the song playing the background would help both visual and audio learners better retain the information in the song.

The last website I looked into was Quizlet.com—a website that allows teachers to create online flashcards for students and input vocabulary words which generate online games for students to play, like crosswords, hangman, etc. What I love about Quizlet is the subject-specific option on the site. In the language section, there are links to topic-specific games depending on what you want your students to focus on.