Digital Blog Post #B - Chapter 2

Photo Credit to Michael Newman on Flickr

Understanding Educational Technology Issues and Trends

Technology if used correctly in the classroom can be very beneficial but can too much of a good thing be harmful? Will students become dependant on the software that computers provide and with technology getting more advanced every year will teachers be able to keep up? This chapter takes a look at both sides of technology that is integrated into education, It uses several survey questions about issues a teacher might experience in a classroom using technology as a classroom tool.

Two points of interest in chapter 2:

1. Web 2.0 Knowledge
2. Methods For Teaching With Technology

1).  The internet has become very easy to use over the years but originally was something that only experts who developed it could really understand. Now the internet has become a fountain of information that anyone can easily access. Through the use of blogs, social media, and podcasts these technologies are classified as Web 2.0 knowledge. The book defines Web 2.0 as "bottom-up, democratically derived, consensus-driven ideas and information that differ dramatically from the theoretical knowledge created by experts and elites." This presents a bit of an issue for teachers because now with all the new information which teaching style should be used. It really depends on personal preference and how well a teacher can use technology.

2). The entire chapter is filled with surveys asking different questions and once the questions are completed a teaching philosophy is formed. A teaching philosophy is how a teacher would like her students to learn new material. There are two main ways a teacher can have a class structured, they are teacher centered and student centered.  The two differ in how involved a teacher is in students activities. A student centered teacher may just provide the class with a problem and let the children find an answer on the other end is the teacher centered teaching style which has the teacher watching closely over what students are doing. 

Reference

Maloy, R. (2011). Understanding Educational Technology Issues and Trends. InTransforming learning with new technologies (2nd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 23 -41). Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.