Week 5 - Reflection

My first thought is that one great improvement with tech is the implementation of online training. Self-paced learning allows users to move at their own comfort levels, refresh as needed, and learn as much/as little as needed. We have a massive amount of required content that is online now - epi pen, concussion training, etc. We do it on our own time, as needed. It saves time, money and energy. I much prefer it to the way it used to be deployed.

A second thing that technology can do is measure achievement. Evaluations have come along way in measuring the impact due to technology. Assessments have changed radically thanks in large part to tech - both good and bad. I often think we've gone off the deep end in this regard, but we can certainly do a better job analyzing the data so that we're at least using the massive amounts we are collecting. In my literacy class, for example, we just recently looked at a motivation assessment that could be used in conjunction with a skills assessment, three times a year, and then at the end of the year you could correlate the data to see if children who like to read perform better or worse as the year progresses. Technology makes that process easier.

I am always surprised at how slowly classrooms integrate technology. Our PTA purchased smart boards for every classroom in our building last year, and many of our teachers still don't really use them. We had optional trainings and many didn't bother attending - they still use them as basic white boards. They're the same teachers that really don't use their computers, still like their old transparencies, ahven't updated any of their tech. We have doc cams and smart boards - it is HARDER to use the overhead and be old school but they try!