Week 2 - What is Educational Technology?

Definition

Simply stated  the term educational technology is any technology which supports understanding and instruction.  The world has seen and continues to see an exponential growth of educational technology in the use, the strands and the fine tuning of the strands.  No classroom is complete without Internet access.  The field educational technology encompasses the theory, the professional growth, the ethics and the instructional standards embedded in technology’s use in the classroom. 

Wordle - Concept Map

                                           

For my concept map I chose two songs which illustrate societal and technological change.  The first is from the 1960's, In the Year 2525 and the second is more modern, We Didn't Start the Fire.

Today's Learner

Today's Learners also referred to as Digital Natives are experiencing a physiological change.  It has been found that their brains can be reorganized and have been.  The teachers (baby boomers) referred to as Digital Immigrants, if not connected themselves can bore the student.  Today's students complain about being bored at school and report that they have to power down.  They are regularly connected to several types of media and socially networking.  One has only to watch high schools students try to stay away from their social network for the duration of an Advanced Placement exam to know how pervasive technology is in their minds and lives.

The Reality of Education

The reality of education is it must change to satisfy the demands and needs of the new learner.  Specifically the mindset must change from the administration down and teachers must continually look for ways to integrate technology to keep students engaged.

Potential Impact

If the brain of the student learner can constantly be reorganized, so can that of a teacher. Teachers must change to meet the needs.  It is still to be determined what the reorganization of the brain will produce.  My personal experience is that I become so "wired" I have to take a technology break.  I find myself so unsettled it is difficult to sit down and read. 

One key area found to be impacted is one of reflection.  This has suffered in the information age.  We will have to invent ways for students to incorporate this into their learning plan.

Videos

I have seen these before and each time I view them I am overwhelmed with our task of educating the future.  I am reminded of a quote I read when I was an undergraduate many years ago.  Paraphrased is reads, "What we learn in life is of little moment, what is important is we learn how to learn."

I will consider myself a great success if I can teach my students how to learn for themselves.

Week 1 - Reflective Blog 1

My Educational Technology Philosophy

In the beginning of my teaching career my educational philosophy was composed of idealism with what the world and education should look like and would look like with me as a teacher.  I am happy to say that I have not lost much of that perspective.  My overarching belief is that education should be part of the self-actualization process, is a life-long endeavor and, to a large extent, to be student driven.  The student should ask the driving question of where do I want my life to go and education is the means to arrive at that goal.  I subscribe to parts of several educational philosophies.  The primary is constrivism, followed by components of idealism and...

In the reflection of my own experience and what was present in good teaching and absent in bad teaching was the same – a good teacher has high expectations for their students, helps them set goals and is supportive during the process.  The role of the education is to empower students and help them see and meet their potential.

I have experienced the exponential emergence of technology into education.  With this the educational process is faster and broader.  With this technology infusion into education the obligation to teach students to discern what is true is of more importance and the need to continue the exploration of new educational tools.

My objective as an educator is to create an environment and be a resource for student awareness, goal setting and actualization.  I support this by continuing my pursuit of life-long learning.

This exercise gave me the opportunity to rexamine educational philosophies and to revisit why I do what I do and keep myself focused on the real objective. 

Blogging is a venue for two of the four language omains - reading and writing.  It opens doors to sharing ideas and collaboration.  It also has its concerns in education, especially monitoring what the k-12 children write.  As an group of educators we have not reached the potential.  We still have teachers who have not turned on their computers, but blogging is being included in curriculum planning guides and is considered a new genre.  Its beneifts are considerable in the generation of ideas and improving the writing process.  Those who see its potential will use it and bring eduation and thoughts to a world wide audience.

In November's article, Creating a Culture for Teaching and Learning, the area which I believe is the most critical (although it was a difficult choice) was " If it's on the Internet, it is true?"  Discerning truth from falsehood and objective journalism from propaganda has always been a concern of language teachers.  The use of the internet has magnified the problem.  It is similar to the problem math teachers face when students depend on a graphing calculator - if the calulator said it, it must be true.  Teaching students to identify objective, credible sources and to verify on their own the credibility is an expanded goal for teachers.  It is due to the critical thinking involved in this area realated to technology I consider it the most important.