eTips (blogpost 1)

"teachers must also consider the cognitive demands [technology] places on the user. Does it require them to recall facts, ... to provide content information and represent their understanding, ... Or does it require the user to represent their knowledge in a symbolic form?" (Dexter, p. 58)

This quote struck me as very important. Educators must constantly think about what they are asking their students to do, how it makes the students think, what kind of learning style they are using, and what kind of habits we are reinforcing. When we introduce technology into the classroom, it is important that we have a specific reason to use it, and we are aware of what kind of thinking the students will be using. If we are using technology as busy work, or just another skill and drill technique, are we really using technology to its fullest extent? No. We must find ways to introduce technology into the learning environment that will enhance a student's ability to express meaning and think critically.

"Using educational technology in a classroom to add value to teaching and learning, by adding, extending, or changing what teachers or students do, inherently increases the effectiveness of technology," (Dexter, p. 60).

If we begin to introduce more technology and a variety of technologies in assignments, class activities, projects, etc., we will give more meaning to the piece of technology we are using. For instance, if we ask the students to use wordle to create a poem about their identity and personality, we are changing and extending a typical writing assignment. In essence, not only did we make the assignment a little more interesting, but we just gave the students a new way to use the internet and produce text.

"A collaborative professional community would serve as the vehicle for school-wide knowledge processing about technology integration and implementation, increasing the likelihood of reflective dialogue, sharing of instructional practices, and generally increasing collaboration on new practices," (Dexter, p. 65).

I work in a high school as an intern in the English Department, and I see very disparate uses of technology in the various English classrooms. Some teachers allow students to email homework, others forbid it. Some teachers are in the computer lab all of the time, others never. Some teachers introduce interesting and thought provoking assignments that would require technology, like creating a fake facebook page for a character in a novel that excite the students immensely, while other teachers assign the same, "answer these 10 questions at the end of each chapter" worksheets that bore the students to death. I think creating an open, collaborative community would help everyone in this situation. Students would be able to move from class to class with realistic expectations about the use of technology in the school. Also, teachers would be able to enable each other to push their own comfort levels and create new, fresh lessons and assignments that would make the department jive in a way it never has before.