During my last post, I mentioned about the technology inequity amongst the student cohorts. In some parts of Sydney, there are students bringing laptops to do an assessment while in other parts, there is limited technology access for the students. What I have failed to consider is that some teachers are technology phobic and still refuses to apply for a visa to enter digital world. Does this phobia create an equity as well? Some students will have access to technology savvy teachers and will benefit greatly while others do get limited access to tech savvy teachers. I agree with David Phillip’s scenario of “cut questions in strips and taped them to a page to make a final exam”. I saw that during my last prac, where the master copy for the year 11 extension 1 maths exam was done exactly the same way.
However I do not agree with him that teachers do not know where to look for resources on the net. Teachers are reasonably intelligent and after a session on Google search will give them knowledge where to look for resources.
In response to Boot’s blog regarding laptops, and the Labor Government promise to provide every school child access to one, this is simply wishful thinking. Everyone knows that politicians will say anything to get elected.
However the underlying issue is the equity in access to technology. Even in metropolitan areas such as Sydney, I have seen the inequity. During my last practicum at an independent school, the computer resources available to the students were very good. During my first practicum at a government school, there was not many computer resources available. The students at the government schools are missing out on technology facilities relative to their independent school peers.
This inequity is clearly portrayed recently when PLC decided to have their students able to bring laptops into an assessment task. Can you see the day where every student at a government school in lower social economic area have access to a laptop to do their assessment?
I would like to follow up on Mark Bauerlein assertion that the present Gen Y of America is dumb and getting dumber. Bauerlein asserts that ” the intellectual future of the United State looks dim ” and his philosophy on “How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future.”. I do not agree with this view. The present generation in secondary schooling right now are not intellectually challenged as he would have you to believe. The technology used by the “digital natives” are more than just idle chat, interacting with Facebook and MySpace. They are engaged in the learning process and the irony of this is that he is using the very same digital medium to get attention and perhaps also to plug his book.
Through my good friend Mark, I came across an article written by an American academic Mark Bauerlein. He used some interesting research data from Jakob Nielsen on secondary schools in the US modernizing their technology facilities and their subsequent student’s academic attainment after the introduction of computer technology. After multi millions of dollars splurge on technology, there was no material difference in reading and arithmetic achievement.
So we ask ourselves the inevitable question? Is technology in education delivering improvement in academic achievement of students or perhaps the teachers who are piloting the courses at schools are inept at using technology and simply ignoring it altogether?
There are heaps of maths song on the web, some of them are quite funny. If you fail maths at school, then you could go on Australian Idol as a backup career.
The next batch of teachers coming out of university are computer literate and technology savy. In Karina’s post, she had published a link with all the computer resources for science teaching. Science is also my key learning area. At my second practicum, the methods employed to teach science was old fashioned. It was from the text book and page by page. Where does this fit in in the new order?
ITC is a great tool to aid in the discovery learning process in a key learning area such as science or maths. However it should not be the focus but rather an invisible tool.
I like Toby’s <bootrous> use of YouTube to reinforce the concept of Newton’s Laws. I think the mention of YouTube and the class will be fascinated. I also like the discussion that Toby is conducting. From my experience in the science classroom, the boys are so excited that they usually call out the answers aloud. I too had a YouTube experience recently. Whereas Toby used the video clip to reinforce a basic demonstration of a physics concept, I used YouTube to demonstrate the Repiratory System during a biology unit during my practicum. Either way, both results demonstrated that the students of today are totally engaged in technology and use it to engage in learning across different concepts, whether it may be physics or biology.
This information shows the unlimited potential in damage done to teens on the internet. The concerns raised are legitimate as the parents do not have enough understanding of technology to monitor what is happening as their teenage children are engaged on the internet.
I myself have no idea about these social websites such as Myspace but then I belong to the geriatric generation. In having unlimited potential for active learning, the internet can also be dangerous to the young and naive minds. Governments and authorities are getting behind the push to educate parents and raising awareness about net safety.
During my practicum, I had a year 8 science class and we discussed about the respiratory system. I posed to them a question as how to obtain further information on the internet. All had their hands up and blurted out search on Google. The net is a rich source of teaching tools but also a rich place for students to learn.
As soon as I mentioned that we will be watching a U tube file, their attention were engaged and when the actual computer screen was turned on, you could sense that it had captured their imagination and engaged in learning the content.
Technology is a good tool to have, however within a time constraints, you have to be extremely organised and preload all your technology.
