For my project I am doing about educational technology, I conducted a survey for teachers at South Mecklenburg High School. I asked them questions about how educational technology used in schools and the impact it has on students'. I also spent time observing a third grade classroom to see how they used technology on a daily basis. While I was shadowing the class, I also asked the teacher questions about the difference of learning in the class before and after technology was integrated into the curriculum. As a way to encapsulate all the information I had collected and share it with the public, I created a website with the goal in mind to educate the public about educational technology and key factors that are dependent on its success, such as teacher training and teaching younger children technological basics.
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“There can be infinite uses of the computer and of new age technology, but if teachers themselves are not able to bring it into the classroom and make it work, then it fails.” - Nancy Kassebaum
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Observing the Classroom |
Getting the Teachers Opinion |
To get a deeper look into how educational technology is involved in the classroom for elementary school children, I spent time observing a third grade math class. During the math class, children first learned the lesson at the SMART Board with the teacher allowing kids to come up and fill in the answer to the questions on the SMART Board. After learning the new material, they then answered questions from the board in their notebook and went up to check their answers with the teacher after they finished. Once they had some practice, they went onto their Chromebooks and tested their knowledge on the material by using the website Quizizz. The website allows the kids to test their knowledge, while making it a friendly competition between classmates on who gets the most answers correct.
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After observing the kids during their math lesson, the teacher gave them a writing assignment to work on while a she answered a few of my questions. Interviewing the teacher allowed me to get her opinion on how the multitude of technology available to the students' is affecting their technological ability and engagement levels. She gave me insight into how elementary schools are not giving children the education needed to learn how to use technology in a way that will benefit them in the future. Although technology is being provided to the students', there needs to be better implementation of technology that will help the students' prosper in the future, instead of just giving them a distraction.
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