EDLD+5364+-+Week+2+Technology+Strategies

I feel very lucky to have nine student computers, a teacher station, SmartBoard, digital projector, wireless mouse, and mobile chalkboard in my classroom. However after reading this week's articles and viewing the videos I feel/know that I have not used to them to their full capacity in my History classes. I have done a disservice to my students by not incorporating meaningful technology into the lessons. The main reason is because of time. It takes time and planning to get technology moving in the class, and I haven't wanted to put forth that effort. I have been pulling that college trick of "skating by." I have focused too much on lecture and table top group projects when what I really needed to be doing was getting them on computers. Maybe I wouldn't be so frustrated with their levels of understanding at this point?

I was really impressed with the study done by Michael Page that showed increased levels of self-esteem, self-discipline, and learning when computers and technology were a focal point of daily lessons. My students are those at-risk, urban, unmotivated, unsupported students that we struggle with daily to prove that education is beneficial. As crazy as it sounds, we are working against parents in trying to convince students to stay in school!

"technology-enriched classrooms help to raise the self-esteem levels of the students involved . . . and increased self-esteem is viewed as a precursor to a rise from poverty (Lehrer & Randle, 1987; Reglin, 1989), then increased technology in U.S.classrooms may be seen as an important step for low socioeconomic citizens to rise up from that poverty. " Page, M.S. (2002). Technology-enriched classrooms: effects on students of low socioeconomic status.//Journal of Research on Technology in Education//, 34(4). Not that it was a great shock to read this, but it was a wake-up call. We hear a lot of talk about how "we need to do more." But maybe we need to do more with what we have, instead of creating another acronym or program.

I liked the ideas behind UDL from the CAST website, however the videos didn't provide enough information. The premise sounds great, I just need to dig in a bit more to figure out what the program or steps are. I'm sure my collaborator, Natasha, and I will get into this during the third week.