As I was watching the videos, I was imagining my students creating powerpoints, or animating a photostory on a book they've read or a science topic they've researched. I think it would be a great idea to show students exactly what skills they need to create a video game. This would be a real-world lesson on why they need to learn the different subjects. I do use Study Island at my computer center in the classroom. Study Island is a ISAT based program that allows students to answer questions and play games if they get the questions right. Students can choose to do reading, math, or science. All the questions are broken down into certain topics, and it's a great tool to have students work on certain skills. They enjoy doing it because games are involved. Students are always much more involved when they are doing something. Using contemporary instructional software allows students to be moving and doing, not sitting and listening the whole time. Our world has changed, and we need to embrace the changes, and use them to our advantage.
Technology integration can reach all learners. Many programs have differentiation already built in. Students are able to work on things at their own pace with technology, and those students who can't sit still will be more engaged if their hands are busy working on the computer. I know I use Senteos, and they offer each student to enter answers at their own pace, and the feedback is instant for the teacher.
Benefits of technology are it's fast, keeps students moving and engaged, while offering a bit of fun as well. Anything on the computer seems to be more fun for my students than pencil and paper. Pitfalls would be students are sitting for hours and staring at a computer screen. This is not good for their eyes, and also some things still need to be done on pencil and paper. Students still need to learn to write, and if we do everything on the computer, I'm afraid they will forget how to do things without a computer.
Shannon - you make a great point about differentiation and students getting to work at their own pace. As my district is getting into RTI, we're finding computer programs are also helpful for targeting specific areas of weakness to be worked on. These programs all seem to be targeted for elementary students; I do wish I could find a good reading diagnosis/instruction for my high school students!
ReplyDeleteI think that many districs have a long way to go, my own included. Watching the videos this week made me envious of McKinley High School and other schools like it. I would love to be able to have that kind of flexibility in my curriculum and to be able to spend that much time focused on technology.
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