I am a little leery of all the enthusiasm for "technology in the classroom" , "technology resources" or "collaborating with technology". There are a few points that I'd like to make. These points are important.
1. Technology doesn't teach content.
2. Technology can distract from the content. Fiddling with sites or creating graphics can steal time from critical thought processes.
3. Technology cannot replace the teacher. You cannot play a single DVD or film clip that will replace the heart of a passionate teacher.
4. Technology isn't a replacement for educational basics.
That all sounds right, doesn't it? But are we really doing this? There appears to be this widespread love affair with "apps" or other tool that is lauded as the "next best thing" but I can parallel it to my disdain for certain 'educational math websites' which are nothing more than thin "skins" over games to attract visitors to sell ad space. Seriously. As a former math teacher I was at first delighted at the 100s of games and online activities which were promoted as "math games".
But ALL games are math-based - based on chance, numbers, dice, cards, chutes, ladders, you name it. In fact, one of my favorite games, Scrabble, is also math based because of the probability of getting certain letters and their values.
If you look carefully at these online games, however, many of them are simply Pac-Man style of game of move the ghost or throw the monkey with very little encouragement to actually perform any type of "math" concept. You can see for yourself at coolmathgames.com. Some are good. Some are just excuses to have fun. There's nothing wrong with entertainment.
There's a similar website name but they actually have activities divided by subject: http://coolmath4kids.com// See the difference?
It's this experience that has me more than a little cynical with some new electronic temptation comes along, claiming to "help teachers".
Here's another cool site but with very little other than glam and flash. http://animoto.com/ I truly like this site. It's very simple to use and you can have an impressive slideshow in thirty seconds. You can make something beautiful... quickly.
The viewers of your video --- once you're done --- may get the the impression that you're a master video creator. That's a good thing. Yet, I wonder if this actually detracts from those skills you learn when you put together--- after hundreds of hours --- a powerful Powerpoint presentation with audio, video and sourced content. I would cautiously use this site with students. Amazing sites like these can sometimes be used as the "carrot' or the "end all be all" and teachers may quickly forget that content matters. Yes, you can have an amazing video... but what is it actully saying?
Technology is a wonderful thing to enliven, enrich the classroom but I am hoping that we don't forget that content matters and that when the fairy dust settles, it's the glimmer of truth and thought that lasts beyond midnight.
1. Technology doesn't teach content.
2. Technology can distract from the content. Fiddling with sites or creating graphics can steal time from critical thought processes.
3. Technology cannot replace the teacher. You cannot play a single DVD or film clip that will replace the heart of a passionate teacher.
4. Technology isn't a replacement for educational basics.
That all sounds right, doesn't it? But are we really doing this? There appears to be this widespread love affair with "apps" or other tool that is lauded as the "next best thing" but I can parallel it to my disdain for certain 'educational math websites' which are nothing more than thin "skins" over games to attract visitors to sell ad space. Seriously. As a former math teacher I was at first delighted at the 100s of games and online activities which were promoted as "math games".
But ALL games are math-based - based on chance, numbers, dice, cards, chutes, ladders, you name it. In fact, one of my favorite games, Scrabble, is also math based because of the probability of getting certain letters and their values.
If you look carefully at these online games, however, many of them are simply Pac-Man style of game of move the ghost or throw the monkey with very little encouragement to actually perform any type of "math" concept. You can see for yourself at coolmathgames.com. Some are good. Some are just excuses to have fun. There's nothing wrong with entertainment.
There's a similar website name but they actually have activities divided by subject: http://coolmath4kids.com// See the difference?
It's this experience that has me more than a little cynical with some new electronic temptation comes along, claiming to "help teachers".
Here's another cool site but with very little other than glam and flash. http://animoto.com/ I truly like this site. It's very simple to use and you can have an impressive slideshow in thirty seconds. You can make something beautiful... quickly.
The viewers of your video --- once you're done --- may get the the impression that you're a master video creator. That's a good thing. Yet, I wonder if this actually detracts from those skills you learn when you put together--- after hundreds of hours --- a powerful Powerpoint presentation with audio, video and sourced content. I would cautiously use this site with students. Amazing sites like these can sometimes be used as the "carrot' or the "end all be all" and teachers may quickly forget that content matters. Yes, you can have an amazing video... but what is it actully saying?
Technology is a wonderful thing to enliven, enrich the classroom but I am hoping that we don't forget that content matters and that when the fairy dust settles, it's the glimmer of truth and thought that lasts beyond midnight.
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