Weekly Reflection #4 EDTL230.2008.M008

Well, this week was a basic, yet interesting, week in EDTL 230. My group got to present our Trio Chapter Share, which covered all the basics of computers and how they operate. It was, well, probably pretty boring stuff for most people in the class, but we tried our best to make it interesting. I thought that we did an excellent job keeping people interested and engaged, even if the material was less than “stimulating”. Along with our presentation, the focus was on how much technology is becoming a part of our lives. We saw the neatest video, courtesy of Teacher Tube, that outlined statistics on how much technology we truly use. The most astounding statistic was, hands down, that eventually a $1000 laptop will have the calculating capacity of the entire human race. WOW!!! I don’t necessarily know if that is true, but it really made me think about how advanced our technology is becoming. This week gave me a lot to think about as a future educator, in terms of how I can integrate the wealth of technological resources into my classroom. I don’t think AlphaSmarts would be appropriate in a high school classroom, but I’ve considered other forms of technology that I could bring to my classroom as another, different way to engage my students in active learning. The first thing that comes to mind is the Texas Instruments graphing calculator, which has some truly amazing programs that can construct a wireframe graph of a hyperbolic paraboloid within seconds. There are also projectors that can transmit that graph from the calculator to a large screen for the entire class to see. Also, there are programs such as TI Connect which allow students to send graphs from their calculator to a computer (via USB cable) and manipulate the graph on the computer. The student can then print the graph directly from TI Connect. Technology has simply opened up so many doors for future educators, such as me, that lead to the enhancement and progression of the teaching profession. Though our purpose has stayed the same over the years, our methods are changing with these advancements in technology.