Week 3

I really enjoyed the workshop on Monday, especially chatting via Skype to the Yr 2 Gems. It was amazing to see what Amanda was achieving with the children technologically. To see seven and eight year old children using blogs to communicate with each other was really inspiring and has definitely motivated me to implement some exciting methods of ICT in my prac classroom. 


I've already designed a website that I plan to use (pending the permission of my classroom teacher) and also a class blog where parents and students can all communicate with each other and myself in regards to class tasks and events.


It's a real eye-opener to see how far technology in education has come in just a few years, and how far technology itself has come since the computers first came out. Bork, A. (1980) discussed the importance of developing new types of technology to assist children in their education. Research back in the 80's was showing that lectures as a means of educating was not sufficient in motivating students. Bork's article demonstrated that without the use of technology the classroom, students are not learning how to scaffold problems but merely given the solution. The vision of educators even back three decades ago, is one that many teachers still see today, and that is that we can "create realms of experience with the hope of enriching the formal learning environment'. 


I feel that in order to effectively cater for the range of students we're going to have in our classroom, we need to adapt to the learning styles and individual needs of each student, a point that Bork (2003) makes in an article written twenty three years after his work referred to above. I think one of the biggest challenges we as teachers are going to face is adjusting our teaching approach constantly and consistently to meet the unique needs and learning characteristics of each child in our classroom. One thing however, that will remain constant in most to all of the students, is their ability to use and access various aspects of technology which paves the way for endless teaching and learning opportunities.