Technology Can Have a Positive Impact on Classrooms.

Lytle, R (2011).  Study:  Emerging Technology Has Positive Impact in Classroom.  Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/education/high-schools/articles/2011/07/14/study-emerging-technology-has-positive-impact-in-classroom.

Summary

This article gives a brief overview of Stacey Roshan, a teacher at a private school in Potomac, MD.  It discusses how she felt that she was no longer a teacher, but rather a performer to keep the interest of the students at a high level.  She decided to make a huge change to her lesson plans and started to create video lectures for students at home to complete their work rather than at school.  According to Roshan (2011)  She "noticed a 10% increase"  in a third of her AP calculus scores.    Lytle (2011) mentioned in his article that " technology is inevitable, it will eventually make its way into the classroom so why not embrace it rather than shut it out."

Reflection
While this article may not have been extremely long in length I felt that it gets straight to the point.  Technology is everywhere, rather than run from it we should find a way to embrace it.  Whether it be allowing to students bring their phones into the classrooms, tablets into the classrooms, or the district providing some type of electronic device, we as educators need to adapt to the changing student body.

I am fully aware that 1-1 is not a feasible idea for every single school, but each teacher can somehow bring technology into the classroom for kids to use.  If there are 5 phones/tablets/laptops in a room, have students work in groups or stations to be able to embrace these new methods of teaching.  I for one agree with Stacey that I do feel like an entertainer sometimes in the classroom rather than a teacher.  Thankfully I enjoy it, but we have to adapt to the changing student body. 

Should students be allowed to bring their own device to school?

http://neatoday.org/2012/07/19/should-schools-embrace-bring-your-own-device/

I am in the middle of a project for my masters programs and one of the things that we were asked to do is discuss a couple of edtech tools that can be used in the classroom.  Before I chose my tools I found a real good article by Emma Chadband discussing whether or not schools should allow students to bring their own devices to begin with.  Their are two main issues that come to mind when faced with BYOD, the first issue is who will properly train the staff? and the second issue is the great divide.

While BYOD is great because it will allow students to have their own technology in the classroom, who will properly train the teachers themselves on how to properly implement it.  I for one am the type of person to figure it out on my own, but not all teachers are that tech savy.  The second issue is what Chadband called the "Great Divide" where some students will not have the technology or they will have the older version of a tablet/phone, which will then bring fear of being bullied or made fun of.

This article discusses how Shelly Burgess, a teacher in Ohio was very successful in implementing BYOD.  She recorded her lectures, and when students had questions during a class discussion, they could go and look at her lecture on their device if she was unable to get to them at that moment in time.  This is the type of example why I feel that BYOD should be allowed in schools.

Districts learning mistakes about 1-1

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/06/11/districts-learn-lessons-on-1-to-1-from-watching.html

I recently read an article written by Malia Herman for Edweek.org about how a superintendent in Florida learned several mistakes from other districts about implementing 1-1 technology's in her district.  The article went into depth discussing how the 1-1 concept is like a "shiny new toy"  everyone wants to buy it, but once they get it, they have no clue what to do with it. 

 For the past few years I feel that school districts have been looking for the quick easy answer to close the learning gap and technology is one of them.  Lets buy everything, throw it at the teacher, and have them figure it out.

The article discusses how Sylvia Diaz learned from other mistakes of school districts from around the country.  She discovered that it was not wise to purchase 354,00 tablets at once, but rather to purchase only a few and pilot the program at first to see if warranted more purchases for the district.  This i feel is a great idea because it makes that mistakes that WILL happen much more manageable on a smaller scale.  

I love the concept of 1-1 technology in the classroom, but my biggest fear is that school districts across the country (not all)  will just throw the technology in the classroom and say here you go figure it out.  I have heard of this happening where smartboards will show up in a classroom one day, with no proper training or workshops on how to properly utilize it in the classroom.