Technology Paper

Teach 259
Section 007

Invesetigating Technologies, Creativity, and the Classroom

As new technologies evolve, their use by students grows exponentially. Society today is infused in the use of the Internet and social networking. It allows for people of all ages to use new and useful skills that will be used throughout their lives. In an academic standpoint, technologies such as Google and social networks allow for students to not only search for information, but to communicate with fellow students and teachers, in real time. They have the ability to send documents back and forth for editing and work together on projects. It has allowed students in two different parts of the world work together on a project, and see each others comments in a matter of seconds.
This sharing of information, a paper, or project completely online could be helpful for teachers and students. It could be helpful for a teacher because they could see the progress the students are taking on their project. The teacher can see each step whenever he or she joins the group online. It could be helpful for some students who are extremely uncomfortable working in a group but are able to work effectively using technology. Another helpful aspect is that students tend to be knowledgeable about new technology; they might be able to use something that the teacher might not know about yet.
Another aspect of increased technology use is in the availability of information that can be found online or with the use of technology. The Internet has opened the classroom to the world and allows students to explore new information that was once hard to find in text alone. Now instead of a teacher or student having to take time to look through books in order to find information, they can save time by simply searching for it online. Different technologies have opened up the world to the classroom. It has allowed education to adapt to the changing world around it, and opened up the creative abilities of all in the academic society.
One of the articles our group read named New Study Shows that Online Creativity and E-learning Popular with Kids by Richard MacManus, discussed some of this creative ability aspect pertaining to students and technology. The main focus of the article was to inform others and to discuss what many children, students, and adults are doing with the newer technology that is available. The article received its information from a National School Boards Association study. They found that 96 percent of students used some form of social networking. Many times, the students would use this networking ability to be creative. Students would upload pictures or videos. They also used these technologies to communicate with other students about subjects they did not discuss in a school setting or what they did not feel comfortable discussing. Student's can socialize more with their peers and share opinions on subjects that they may not have been unable to do in a classroom setting while online. This increased use in creative products coming from new technologies can have a great impact on academics and schools. Students are now able to make their own video which could be used as a project. They can also use power point for a presentation or other such visual aid. All of these new technologies will change the way students are asked to show and prove to teachers what they know. Part of the problem with these technologies is how they are used in a school or classroom setting. If students are more focused on their social networking than on listening to the teacher, it has an impact on their ability to contribute to the class. Although technology use is increasing and is quite beneficial it does have some negative sides to it as well.
Some of these negative aspects may include, but not be limited to; cyberbullying and cheating among children. With an increased number of online users to sites such as Facebook and MySpace, the risk for children being affected by cyberbullying rises significantly. In a recent survey conducted by the Cyberbullying Research Center, about 2,000 middle school students were asked if they had experienced cyberbullying at some point in their lives; over 1,700 students answered yes. Because this is such a common occurrence it is important to teach the importance of online safety to students. One tip that is extremely helpful is the using passwords correctly, and keeping them safe. Teach students the importance of keeping their passwords private, and be sure that they are using strong passwords as well.
On the other end, regarding teachers, we need to remember that what we put on the web can quite possibly be seen by all. We could estimate that probably 80% of the population (with computer access) uses some kind of social networking site. These sites allow us to keep in-touch with family, friends, classmates, etc. These same sites can also keep us from getting a job or from keeping a job. In a year or two we will be out in the world applying for our first teaching job. In the article How to Ungoogle Yourself, it explains how simple it can be these days to dig up dirt on anyone at anytime. As we venture from school to school, resume in hand, we need to be sure that there is no discriminating pictures, blogs, or videos that may have been uploaded to the Web at some time. The article recommends that we Google our own name to see what shows up. Another suggestion is to keep our social networking sites clean. Do not post something that would not want your superintendent, coworkers, or students seeing. If it is out there, they can find it.

Incorporating technology into elementary schools can be a difficult task, however, one school in Louisville, KY has accomplished it with relative ease. Malissia Bell, the student technology leadership program coordinator, came up with a program that involves reading and technology. Named the "Race to 500", this program has students ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade reading books and then recording pod-casts about the book he or she just read. The article goes on to tell how they implemented this program and how their hypotheses about the program were proven wrong. Mrs. Bell assumed that fifth graders would be the quickest to pick up on this new technology, however, third grade proved to be the quickest to do so. The way they went about teaching this was some what of a ladder. Fifth graders taught the fourth grade, fourth grade taught third grade, and so on until kindergarten. Overall, this program was a huge hit not only within the school but within the community. This infusion of technology has helped students to become more vocalized and not so shy and quiet. Technology belongs in the classroom not only in college but through all grades. Learning about technology and then using that knowledge to teach is probably going to be one of the most beneficial aspects that we can bring to our classrooms.





Works Cited:
Cyberbullying Research Center. (2009). Password Safety Top Ten Tips for Teens. News.
Retrieved from http://www.cyberbullying.us/Top_Ten_Teen_Tips_Passwords.pdf

Cyberbullying Research Center. (2009). Cyberbullying Among Middle-Schoolers. Research.
Retrieved from http://www.cyberbullying.us/research.php


Education World (2010) School Races to Promote Reading Through Podcasts.
Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech252.shtml



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