Wednesday, September 5, 2012

My Beliefs about Technology and Learning


With the amount of technology nowadays a person can do the tiniest of task such as ordering a cup of coffee on their phone before they even turn the corner. With that type of convenience it comes as a big shock when its noted that few teachers integrate technology in their classrooms. Although there are many factors that contribute to this. During this pass economic recession schools faced major budget cuts which really affected what schools can spend on. Some schools ended up saving money by not spending on tech for the classrooms. There are many schools across the United States that do not have the space in their budget to spend on smart boards and laptops. This means teachers do not have the up to date tech required for integrating technological use in their classrooms. There are other reasons too such as the good old fashion “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” policy. Meaning teachers have been teaching with just a text book and chalkboard for years and it has been working just fine. 
Although I disapprove of this reasoning it is a truth. In today society revolves with technology and teachers should start to keep an open mind about tech so students can be more tech friendly and children easily transition into a society that runs on cell phones and Wi-Fi. There is also the problem of  teachers simply not being tech savvy which forces them to shy away from the use of technology in the class. This can be resolved simply through teachers taking computer classes in order for them to use computers more often than not. 


Some teachers just don't get it 
Although recently there has been many teachers that have been integrating tech in their classrooms through some creative ways like this one teacher, Joel Levin who uses the popular game Minecraft in order to teach his students problem solving techniques. Here is a link to an interview of his method and reasoning for giving his class a  Minecraft experience: