I
went to a small private Christian school throughout elementary, middle and high
school. Because of that, we did not have as much access to technology as other
schools may have had. It was not that the teachers did not want to use technology to further our knowledge about a subject;
it was just more expensive to come by.
In elementary school the only technology I can remember us having
and using were overheads, TVs, and computers. In Kindergarten we had a
computer. We were only allowed to use the computer if our “bear” stayed in the
honey pot that day (a classroom management behavior chart). Obviously from this
picture, since my bear is missing I would not have been able to use the
computer to play games on the day this picture was taken. The computer had phonics
and other learning games that we could play if our behavior warranted that privilege.
Since there was limited use of the computer, the teacher taught with a hand on
approach, which is a more effective approach to teaching Kindergarteners.
I think that my first overhead/ projector experience was in
first grade. My teacher used this so we could all see what she was doing. It made
teaching easier for her and gave us the opportunity as students to stay
connected to her teaching. She did not have to continuously erase the board
every time it filled up. Instead she just grabbed a new sheet of laminate and
kept on teaching. Up until high school, and even in some of my high school
classes, teachers taught on the overhead. I think that we had a computer in the
classroom every year.
One good memory is that every time we walked into the classroom
and saw a TV on a cart; it was going to be a great day. A TV on a cart meant
that at some time during the day we would get to watch a movie. My elementary
school classrooms did not have TVs in them, since we were just in small Sunday school
rooms that got turned into classrooms on the week days. On days that we had
computer class our whole class loaded up a bus and took it to another school
that had a computer lab. We would learn from the teacher from that school. When
we were done we would go to PE class and then we would ride the bus back to our
school where we would finish out the day with traditional teaching time. We moved
into a new school building when I was in second grade and we had a whole floor
for second through eighth grades.
The new building we had a TV in every
classroom. Teachers showed educational and informational videos on it to aide
in the teaching and learning process. We also watched movies on days that it
rained or on special occasions. Since we had bigger rooms we were now able to
have two computers in every classroom. Students were not really allowed on the
computers unless they had completed all of their work for the day. We also did
not have to take the bus to PE and computer class anymore since we had our very
own computer lab and our own computer teacher. Middle school allowed me to do
more projects on the computer and we learned how to produce PowerPoint slides and
prepare Excel spreadsheets. As we began using use technology more and more
throughout late elementary and middle school. We were also expected to type our
papers and projects and turn in a hard copy to the teacher. In middle school
you were cool if you had your own email address so you could email all of your
friends. The coolest part of having your own email address was using AIM to
instant message your friends. I would beg my parents to get off the internet so
I could get on and talk to my friends on AIM. Once I was on there, it was very
had to get me off.
When I changed schools to go to high school, there were two
computer labs, one for the high school and one for all of the other grades. All
of the classrooms had TVs and VCR or DVD players in them. Most teachers taught
with PowerPoint, but I had one or two classes every year that still taught from
the overhead. Teachers expected us to give presentations using PowerPoint or
some other form of electronic visual aid. We were assigned video projects to
prepare and present to our classes. In my Bible class we all had a laptop to
use for the duration of the class and then we would put it back for the next
class to use.
As my high school years
progressed, my use of technology increased. My friends had MySpace which eventually
led to Facebook social media pages. We would work on homework and projects
together on the phone. I had chemistry labs that needed graphs and Excel
spreadsheets. When I got my first cell phone when I was sixteen I texted my
friends all of the time, and a land line was a thing of the past.
When I came to college I got my first laptop. I was on the
internet way too much because that was how I communicated with friends from
home. My laptop was where I did my homework, and it was where I checked my
grades and kept a calendar of everything that was due. Technology has definitely
changed the way that I do my school work (it also does a good job of
distracting me from doing it sometimes). I do not know what I would do without
technology today. When the internet or cell phone does not work for five
minutes I do not know what to do with myself. Technology has greatly changed my
everyday life.
The only negative aspect that I see to the use of technology
in education is that it allows the user to be easily distracted. Since everyone
and everything is on the internet now, that is a negative and a positive. I think
technology has changed things for the better in my life because has made it so
much easier to do things quickly and stay connected to the world beyond me.
The future of technology in education is hard to think about
because there are so many things that could happen. Technology is only going to
advance and become more important to have than it is now. Young children are
already being given cell phones, which puts the world in their pockets. I think
down the road students may not ever have to buy notebooks, pens, paper, or
school supplies at all because all they will need to have is a computer or
tablet to use in the classroom all day. Very far down the road elementary
students may be able to stay home and be in school virtually and take all of
their tests online like some college classes are today. In the future
classrooms will have to adopt new technology all of the time because they will
not be able to teach effectively without doing so. This
is how colleges could be in the future. According to this article, this is how colleges could be in the future.
This is a great video that shows where the classroom one was,
and where it is today and where it will be in the future.
