My Week in Technology (1/22-1/24)

Welcome to my first "Week in Technology" post! Once a week I will discuss the technology I have observed and used in both the Montclair State University classrooms and at my fieldwork site (Columbia High School). The theme of this week is projectors. In more than half of the classes I attended last week, projectors were used. At an orientation, a projector was used to project a PowerPoint. In my Art of Fiction class, a projector was used to show an episode of a television series that will thread learning materials together throughout the entire semester. And finally in my Language and Literacy class, a projector was used to project the course syllabus.

My feelings about the projector are quite simple: if used properly, it is a wonderful technological tool. In my Language and Literacy class, everyone had the course syllabus on their desks and to show it again via the projector seemed redundant. Personally, I believed its use in this instance to be unnecessary and wasteful. Obviously using the projector to show films that enhance student learning, as in my Art of Fiction class, is an excellent use of the device; especially in this technological age where learning of any kind has become extremely visual. Using the projector to display a PowerPoint presentation is another great use of the device, although the presentation itself could have been more interactive.

Ultimately I believe technology in the classroom must be utilized purposefully. Schools across the world are spending thousands of dollars on integrating technology into classroom settings and if these technological devices are used improperly or not at all, then there is no reason for their existence except to collect dust. Too often I have observed in public schools and seen Smart Boards either sitting in the corner (some still in the box) or not being used to their full potential. I believe projectors, although older technological device, are in a similar sort of situation: completely disregarded or  used "just cause."

My Technological History

As far as my technological history goes, I know how to use a computer in the most general sense (Internet, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, online shopping) but I lack any special, computer savvy skills. I was introduced to the computer at the age of ten when my father bought a Dell home for Christmas. The whole family, with the exception of my mother, was in awe. My sister and I were addicted. We would spend hours, days on the computer, mostly playing The Sims. Thankfully, however, we've met with our SA group (Sims Anonymous) numerous times and have limited our Sims playtime to a strict minimum.

As we all know, technology has made significant advancements in the past twelve years. The haunting squeal of dial-up ceases to exist and the computer monitor is totally out of fashion. I believe technology is an amazing resource. I couldn't imagine writing any sort of document without one and I am easily able to connect with friends and family that I do not see years at a time. I rarely get lost driving anywhere, I can call anyone at the tap of a screen, and it is faster and easier to organize presentations. I do, however, feel that we are becoming too reliant on technology. When Hurricane Sandy ripped through the tri-state area just last year, for example, people were freaking out because they were without any sort of technology for days at a time. People who found themselves simply without electricity did not know what to do with themselves and found the idea of reading by candlelight absolutely repulsive (I, of course, felt otherwise).

In terms of education, I believe technology must be better integrated into classrooms in order to really impact student learning. Technology integration, according to the Stratford Board of Education, is when classroom teachers use technology to introduce, reinforce, extend, enrich, assess, and remediate student mastery of curricular targets. Until this point, the most technologically integrated I thought a classroom could get was PowerPoint presentations and YouTube clips. The use of digital documents, Friends and Flags, graphic design, and GenYES, as discussed in the article "Four Takes on Technology," are brilliant examples of successfully impacting student learning through the integration of technology into classrooms. If properly planned, these resources are certain to engage students and enhance their understanding of curricular points far more effectively than classrooms that are technologically segregated.

What I really enjoyed about the video clip "Learning to Change- Changing to Learn" is the acknowledgement that the educational system must change with society. The "vending machine" answers standardized tests ask students for are no longer applicable in this society. One of the speakers in the video claims that society and our educational system should no longer be about memorization, as any sort of information we could possibly need is literally at the tips of our fingers, but about searchability, and "finding, validating, synthesizing, leveraging, communicating, collaborating" information.  Another speaker claims that our society is desperately in need of a different model of education, one where work demands the use of a wide range of skills: artistic ability, synthesis, context, teamwork, multidisciplinary, multilingual, multicultural. 

This article and video clip have begun to alter my feelings about technology because I never truly understood the concept of technology integration simply due to the fact that I have never been properly exposed to it before. Any sort of technology that was ever used in any of my classrooms as a student have either been really blase or have failed to work. I am starting to be persuaded that technology can be quite effective in classroom settings, however, I still do not believe that it should be at the center of every unit and/or lesson.

"Four Takes on Technology":
http://imoberg.com/files/Four_Takes_on_Technology_Allen_S.M._Dutt-Doner_K.M._Eini_K._Frederick_R._Chuang_H._Thompson_A._.pdf

"Learning to Change- Changing to Learn":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tahTKdEUAPk

About Me

Greetings! My name is Jacob Burlas and I am an English Education major with a minor in Musical Theatre. I attend Montclair State University (MSU) and am currently a senior.  

 

When I first began attending MSU I was a declared Musical Theatre major, but teaching had always been on the back of my mind.  When I was two years old, I not only performed a one-man Wizard of Oz in the living room for my family, but I also taught my stuffed animals and younger sister the alphabet, or what I thought was the alphabet at the time.  At the end of my sophomore year I recognized that the pursuit of Broadway was leaving me academically unfulfilled and decided to declare a major in English.  I then applied to the Teacher Education program and, well, here I am! 

Majoring in English, I enjoy both reading and writing. Two of my favorite novels are The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I enjoy writing poetry, which is guaranteed to be filled with rhymes, and fiction of all genres. I aspire to be the next Theodor Seuss Geisel, or Dr. Seuss, but I have a lot of work to do on my illustrating skills first.   

In the future I hope to publish a novel and establish my own professional children's theater company. I am a confessed technological "dummy" (couldn't even make the font of this post match) and look forward to utilizing this blog as a forum to share my experiences learning about the integration of technology into the classroom.