Digital
Badge B
Looking back over the
years, I realize that the classes that I did the best in or stayed the most
focused, were the ones that had technology included. From power points, to
classic movies, and everything in between my classes were full of every type of
technology possible to help us better absorb our information. I realize now
that the are that I live in is full of low-income families who do not have much
technology at home, and it is important for them to use technology when at all
possible. The definition that explains why technology is used in school
could be referred to as digital continuum. According to Maloy, Verock-
O'Loughlin, Edwards, and Woolf, 2014, digital continuum is the access to
technology based on socioeconomic resources. This makes it clear to me
that technology is a must in the classroom, not only to make it more interesting
for students, but also to bridge the gap between technologically advanced
students and underdeveloped technology skills in others.
Two definitions that go
hand in hand with the discussion on digital continuum, are digital natives, and
digital immigrants. According to Maloy et. al, 2014, digital natives are
children and adolescents who have grown up using computers and other electronic
media and digital immigrants are adults who are newcomers to the world of computers,
the Internet, and other information technologies. I can see where the gap
between digital natives and digital immigrants can be made just based on how
familiar their parents are with it. I know of many young children who are
familiar with computers and other sorts of technologies due to the fact that
their parents have familiarized them with learning games on the computer. I
have also seen children who are in elementary school, who have still not had
much contact with a computer and that seems to put them behind compared to the
other students.
In my opinion, teachers
are doing a great thing by bridging the gap with technology in their students.
It is a wonderful way for students to become more familiar with materials on a
totally different level than they are used to. Also, I think that for older students,
technology is what grabs their attention and keeps them heavily engaged into
what is being taught or demonstrated.
Please Watch: http://www.powtoon.com/presentoons/ggvc54s3SCe/edit/#/
I like your commentary about the use of technology in the classroom - it comes so naturally to some teachers and as evident from your comments, it makes so much difference (positive!) in the learning of students! :) It is exciting to think about how you will be able to incorporate it into your future classroom!
ReplyDeleteAs indicated as a comment to you in Canvas, the link to PowToon does not lead to your creation and it really needs to be embedded in your post - see my directions in an Announcement link last week. I can't give you credit for it until I see it embedded, so let me know when you have done so. As well, the photo has no attribution, so I can't assess it for copyright infringement (or hopefully not!), so that is something you will also want to review - see Module 2 on Google/Blogger page for the link on "how to"!