Monday, January 17, 2011
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Discuss your experiences with technology in the k-12 environment. Did your teachers use technology? How did the technology enhance your learning experience? What were some
consequences of using technology (positive and negative)? What was the best use of technology that you experienced?
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I don't remember using computers in elementary or middle school but I did learn how to use them in high school. The business department offered classes in computers and applications. I took the classes to learn how to use word processors and spreadsheets. My dad was so excited when computers came out that you could program with games that I remember taking turns with my parents sitting with a program book and entering the 0's and 1's. Our first computer was a Commodor 64 and it had a very small screen but I loved playing with it.
ReplyDeleteTechnology is amazing, I remember doing research projects and spending days at the library searching through reference books and making copies because you couldn't check them out. The creation of the computer and the internet has saved time, gas, and energy when doing research now. Technology also allows my children to video chat with their grandparents and aunt in Florida.
I do have a bit of a negative, my oldest son is a World of Warcraft nut and if I let him, he would stay on that game every waking hour of the day. He is limited to the weekends only and he has time limits at that. I used to work with somone who was addicted to the game and only worked to support his habit. He wouldn't cook, he ordered pizza and had an arrangement with the pizza guy to bring the pizza to his computer room so he didn't have to get up. That is crazy and lazy.
The best use of technology that I have experienced is the internet. I check the news, research information, and connect with friends and family on the internet every day. Without technology, I would spend a lot more time away from my family and it may have meant that I couldn't attend college.
We only used computers to play games in elementary and middle school. In high school we used them for a few projects and a keyboarding class. It enhanced my learning because it provided access to more research resources for papers and projects. Some positives of technology were learing how to type correctly and having access to more information than what was available in the library. Some negatives are that technology can be tempremental, if there is a glitch it can cause major problems in the days lesson. The best technology I experienced in K-12 was word processing! When I started high school we turned our papers in hand written or typed them on a type writer. By the time I graduated we had computers which made it so much easier to edit and save your work.
ReplyDeleteI can not really remember using computers much during elementary school but once we entered middle school we would visit the computer lab and work on the computers to type a paper or do some research. In high school we used the computers more with our classes. In my geography class we would go to the computer lab and play map games and in spanish class we would also play a game that translated English words into Spanish words. When I was in 8th grade I remember my mom's work was updating their computers and we got one of their old ones. I don't remember what type it was but the screen was very small & rectangular. It was all black with orange letters. We thought it was the neatest thing and I would always use it to play secretary or school. Just playing on it enhanced my learning in how to use a keyboard and made me more familiar with the computer. With the introduction of computers in the school and word processing it made writing papers more fun because you could add cool clipart and there was spellcheck. Really neat stuff! My best experience was learning how to do research and being able to see things come alive all through the internet.
ReplyDeleteGreat responses. Hopefully by the end of the class you will have a whole new set of tools to take with you on your journey to the classroom:)
ReplyDeleteI volunteer in an elementary school one day a week, and I am usually in at least one Kindergarten classroom at one point or another throughout the day. The students in the Kindergarten classrooms use computer programs to enhance their learning experiences and they absolutely LOVE to use the computers. These kids are only four or five years old and are already becoming more and more equiped to use computer programs. I do not personally remember using computers in any class other than CCC lab when I was in elementary school. I transfered to a private school in the fifth grade and did not have the opportunity to use computers in school again until high school when we had a computer class. The school which I attended did not incorporate very much technology into daily lessons, or really any lessons except for the computer class. The teacehrs also had to use old over head projectors while I attended school there. I suppose they did not have the finances to buy new document cameras and such. I feel that this was a great disadvantage to me as a student, as I now feel that I am lacking the technology skills that most people my age exhibit.
ReplyDeleteI feel that there are definite advantages and also definite disadvantages to using technology. One advantage is that we will be preparing students for the future in a global economy. The careers of the future will most likely be centered around some form of technology, and it is important that students be prepared for this technology. A disadvantage that comes to mind is the fact that technology does not always work. Things happen, such as storms that can knock out the power to the computers and other types of technology being used.
When I was in Elementary school the only technology my teachers had to use was the Overhead machine. Even though it may be sad to say but I was happy when they decided to use that with overheads rather than writing everything up on the chalkboard. It was not until middle school or high school that I recall teachers using power point presentations and projectors. I do not think that the use of technology or not using technology made a difference for me. However I definitely believe that my future students will need to presented to with technology because without it I think that they will be bored.
ReplyDeleteDid my teachers use technology when I was in elementary school? - yes, if you consider chalk and slate technology. We did bring in a T.V. (black and White) when Armstrong landed on the moon - that was cool. In elementary school we still had the old reel projector to watch movies. In middle school we had an overhead projector and calculators that did the basic stuff only like; add, subtract, multiply, and divide. I went to college in the early 80's and there were a couple of big and I mean big computers - but, you had to wait forever to use them. We used typewriters and dictionaries to do our papers. I must say students back then had nice handwriting. The best thing about technology to me is that it is much faster to do a term paper now then it was in the 80's.
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When I was in elementary and high school I don’t remember using technology very much. Most of the classrooms only had one computer, if any. The only type of technology my teachers used were overhead projectors. In elementary school we had a computer class a couple days out of the week where we learned basic computer skills. I remember having a few computer classes in high school and that’s it. The only class (other than a computer class) I remember using a computer in is my accounting class. We had a couple computers in the classroom and used accounting software in our lessons. The technology I had the opportunity to use in my accounting class enhanced my learning experience because it allowed me to enter data much more quickly than writing all the numbers on paper. Also, the computer did the math for me, which prevented many errors. I remember if I made an error in my math somewhere when entering the data with a paper and pencil it took forever to find my mistake, whereas on the computer it was impossible to make any mistakes in the math because it did all the math for me. The best use of technology I experienced was in my actual computer classes because I learned many of the computer skills that I need today.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience of elementary school we were limited in comparison to what elementary age students have today. However we were able to use library databases to find books that were available and also a typing game in our computer lab along with Microsoft Word. As I moved into high school one of the schools I attended actually provided each student with a laptop computer in which we were able to take notes and write papers. This was and still is my favorite technological advance. I attribute my successes with technology to having had these things during my school age years. Being able to type and use search engines to help me with research helped me not only broaden my horizon but also gave me another outlet for learning. Technology has done so much for students including myself and has helped us grow as a society. However I have seen some downfalls to our technology enhanced world, the spoken language is no longer utilized as the primary form of communication and we are now more likely to email or text than to speak face to face. It is a worry of mine that students will feel so comfortable communicating this way that they will loose the skills needed to interact in a more personal way.
ReplyDeleteHaha, my school had like between 11 and 25 students from K-12 throughout my education. There were not a whole lot of technological opportunities as a result of it being basically a group homeschool. However, I did get to play around with an Apple word processor when I was younger. It had games like Carmen Sandiego also, so that was a lot of fun. It actually helped me learn some geography when I was a kid. I guess this would be the advantage to using technology as a student, as I did not really have much experience with any other technology otherwise.
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