In class we practiced writing fair use contracts and letters home for a hypothetical 1:1 technology initiative in our school. Below are links to both our fair use contract, and our letter home.
Letter Home
Fair Use contract
Each of these were difficult to write, because there were so many aspects to each. I personally was afraid that something might be left out or come across the wrong way. We did however successfully cover all topics related to the use of the technology including disciplinary actions and how we as educators expect student to effectively use the technology.
Our future students will be digital natives and surrounded by a world that will one day be completely digitalized. Our students ability to be digitally literate begins with how they are taught to use technology in schools. It is our job to teach students how to effectively use the technology given to them, ensuring it opens doors for them. This relates to :
Performance Criterion 10.1: Candidates are prepared to collaborate with learners, families, colleagues, other school professionals, and community members to ensure student learning.
As a future educator, it will be my job to ensure that students are aware of how technology will aid in their learning. It will also be important for teachers, parents, and the school district to all be on the same page and collectively agree on how technology will affect the students learning, and what is expected of students to ensure that they are effectively using technology to increase their learning capacity.
Technology will soon be incorporated in every single aspect of education. With the new 1:1 initiatives, smart boards, apps, eBooks, etc., there will soon be a day where our students might not even use a pen and paper to write anymore. While the idea of technology excites me, it scares me as well. Of course technology will open many doors for students and they will be able to explore different modes of media and learn things that a encyclopedia might never have been able to tell them . Students are now able to skype with other classrooms from around the world or watch movies or Facebook live videos that pertain to real world news or what they are studying in their classes. At the same token there are a lot of not so good things that come with technology . Excessive screen time is detrimental to health, there are also a lot of important things that cannot be necessarily done on the internet, like writing a letter or communicating with a person in human. Yes, I am excited for technology but I fear that the humanness will become lost because of it. I am hoping my class room will use technology effectively to learn, but my students will also be able to go back to pencil and paper and having face to face discussions with one another. I also feel that the more complex the technology gets that my students will have to start teaching me the ins and outs of the hottest new apps. It will be difficult to keep up with all the new digital discoveries, I look forward to having a group of young digital natives to keep me in the loop.
This is a very interesting blog post. It sounds like you have come to a deeper understanding of technology initiatives through this work. You bring up many great points especially about the need for communication between all spheres of influence in a student's life. I wonder how you will facilitate the cooperation between students, schools, and families to enhance the quality of students' technology usage both in the classroom and at home.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really great blog post Meg! I really liked how you seem to have a great understanding of how technology will not only be used in your classroom specifically but how it will be shaping classrooms across the country in the coming years. I found myself wondering while I was reading your post how exactly you plan on implementing pencil and paper and going back to "old-school" learning when the world will become increasingly digitized and not as reliant or friendly to traditional pen and paper type learning.
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