Technology+Integration

The video I chose to review was called “Anytime, Anywhere: Online Learning Shapes the Future”. As an older college student (I am 40), I have been disconnected from today’s high school classrooms and the varied educational situations around the country for quite some time. I did not expect to like the video, and I began to watch it with admittedly outdated and preconceived notions. But this video helped me to realize that while some schools may have the money to afford teachers who can teach advanced subjects, like Physics, many do not. And so the students suffer unnecessarily, because online courses can provide cost cutting measures while allowing for student’s growth potential. It was also interesting that to find that many students did not learn well in a regular classroom, but were able to complete their assignments and score higher when using an online course. This was due to being able to set their own pace, and have one on one interaction with their teachers. The video also reminded me that many students have trouble keeping up due to their employment or living situation, being a single parent, or other challenges that only a few students faced during my years of high school. Even though I was reticent at first about the use of computers in the classroom, and beyond, it has become obvious to me that without this new technology, we could lose many students whose potential might be wasted and left by the wayside. When I become a teacher, I intend to use several forms of technology in the classroom. Not only would I enjoy being able to provide and work with students through online courses, but I feel that a modern touch via video games (that are lessons), internet videos, wiki pages, and student/teacher chat and blogs would help keep the student’s interest piqued and allow me a larger palate of tools to work with. Although I will occasionally revert to a chalkboard because of my love of antiquated things, I realize that the old “lecture” method is not always applicable and newer ones must be applied in order to captivate an audience that is more immersed into and reliant upon computer technology. In this way I can further student/teacher interaction (video chat/blogs/ wiki) and keep the pace brisk and informative whilst perhaps being a bit more entertaining and memorable than reading poems from a textbook. I would like to work with a program (if there isn’t one, I wouldn’t mind helping develop it) where students can experiment with different styles of writing, and set it to music, a painting, or create a video to express their interpretation of literary works.