EDTC 6010 August 23 Define Tech

Instructional technology - teaching using any tool or machine to enhance or enable someone to gather information quickly using graphics and sound

To me technology (within the school system) consists of computers, televisions, my elmo projector, and even MP3 players that are accessible to check out by the students. In my situation I see a wide range of technology usage. I have students on the computers every day researching a topic or publishing a piece of writing. On the other end of that spectrum, I see teachers that have never been to the computer lab.

Here's an example of varying student experience with computers at my school.

Last August, at the beginning of the year, I asked my students to go to google and search for "layers of the rainforest." I noticed that none of my students knew how to begin. They had never researched anything on the computer at school. I was shocked and sad. At that point I had a beginner lesson on what google and yahoo were and why we use them. Within 2 weeks, my students were researching on their own and switching back and forth between the internet and their word document. I was a little mad that teachers before me weren't using computers. Technology objectives are a part of our North Carolina Standard Course of Study.

While all teachers are different with their teaching styles, the goals we teach each year are the same in our core subjects. Why is that not the case for technology? The computer experience each student receives relies exclusively on their teacher's confidence and knowledge of how to use the computer. That just doesn't seem fair to the students.