Sunday, 23 October 2016

Technology's Place In The Math Classroom

With the majority of my education having taken place in the 21st century it is easy for me to see what an integral role technology has played in the classroom. Almost as a minimum teachers are using projectors and slide presentations a daily norm in the classroom. But to what degree should or can the education system incorporate technology into the classroom?

I believe it is easier to address the what can be used in the classroom so I will do that first. Honestly, the options are quickly becoming endless. Initially cost and internet connectivity were combined a monstrous inhibitor to technology in the classroom. However, as technology progresses so does the ease of it's integration.  Numerous students have their own PED and are able to bring these to the classroom. This is just a starting point though; teachers are able to use free websites such as Padlet, Secretive, Google Classroom,  PollEV, Kahoo and countless others.

It is clear that teachers have many websites and programs that are easily accessible to them. The next thing to think about is which types/forms/means of technology should be used in the classroom? I think the easiest way to address this issue is to look at from the perspective of our student's success. If the technology helps create an inclusive environment, helps the student(s) achieve learning objectives or aids in maintaining the engagement of the student(s) I believe it is easily justified to be used.

Another way we can look at this is presented through this article from EdTech; a website that is based around the use of technology in an education setting. I recommend at least taking a look at this article but the website as an entirety is fantastic.

In conclusion; I truly believe that incorporating technology into the classroom can help a number of students. However, one important thing to remember is that technology should always be used as a compliment to the teacher not instead of the teacher.


Feel free to let me know how you use technology in the classroom or any of your opinions on the use of technology in the classroom. You can do this by commenting below

EDIT:

I found an awesome infographic today on one of my favourite Tech Based educator's twitter feed. Alice Keeler suggests that we should be moving anything that isn't better on paper to a digital platform as a means to upgrade it. I wouldn't go as far as saying that you should be filling out this flow chart every time you make a lesson and moving all of your content online. However, I do think it should be in the back of teacher's minds to be critical about the means used to deliver a lesson.  Thinking about whether this could, as well as should, be done through a digital platform is always an important Especially as we move more and more into the digital age. Check out the infographic below:




Cheers,

Mr. Studenny

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3 comments:

  1. Unknown24 October 2016 at 14:26

    Hey mike,

    I like how you suggested that we need to take a students perspective when using technology in our classrooms. I believe a lot of the time educators will use technology as a way to make their jobs easier, and to minimize the amount of planning that they need to do. However thats not the point of the teaching profession. If we want to use technology in our classrooms we need to ask ourselves, is this technology beneficial to student learning?

    Thanks for the read!

    Brodey Holditch

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    Replies
    1. mschlink26 October 2016 at 13:20

      Hey great post,

      I really liked your main argument of this weeks blog that technology should be used to compliment the teacher not be the teacher. There are so many great resources that we as future teachers can access and bring to the classroom but we must remember that there are times when we shouldn't be using technology. For example, there maybe a lesson that is taught easier through traditional methods (ie) group discussions) and technology may over complicate the lesson.

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  2. Unknown26 October 2016 at 14:53

    Hi Mike,

    I definitely agree with your idea that technology should be used as a complement to teacher and not instead of the teacher. Often time while growing up in the school system my teachers would show us a video of a certain topic and then move on to a different topic assuming that we all just learned the topic from watching the video. Technology can be very engaging and effective if used correctly within our classrooms which is what I would like to strive for. Thank you for posting a variety of useful websites to use as tools as well.

    Great post!
    Ryan

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