Prompt: Discuss your views on classroom technology use. Drawing on your own experience learning with technology, briefly discuss a classroom situation in which technology was used to help you, the student, learn. Describe the classroom situation, the subject being taught, the other students, the technology/ies (for example, computer/computer software, weblogs, SmartBoard, etc.) being used, and how the technology was integrated within the instruction. Tell us whether you felt this was a good way to integrate technology into the classroom to improve your learning, and your rationale for why you felt it was worthwhile or not.
Technology can certainly be used to enhance or facilitate learning at deeper levels, but it can also be used as a gimmicky add-on that serves more superficial purposes. We've probably all experienced both types of uses. I'll share a positive learning experience using technology.
I was a graduate student at U of L for a while, and in a class there, the professor not only used power point, but often demonstrated how she added meaningful elements to her presentations such as screen shots, links to online resources, charts and graphs that she created and embedded media like timers, videos and music.
After brief demonstrations of these elements over a number of weeks, we were asked to create power point presentations that included interactive elements and would teach the rest of the class about our research topics. The additional expectation of media embedded in the power points made the presentations more informative and engaging for classmates.
For those of us presenting, the practice of finding video or music to include in the presentation forced us to think more deeply about teaching our topics using creativity and engaging some of the more often neglected intelligences of learners.
In this example, the real challenge was to use technology in ways that deepened learning and didn't just add entertainment value.
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