SECTION II Technology in Action

       In the past, the communication tools that were used between schools and their districts were slow, expensive and most were not effective. It was only as it began using computer technology that started the development of new changes with more effective communication between schools and districts. These changes brought drastic reductions of phone calls from school and districts, reducing the internal mail, reducing long waits to receive feedback or information between schools and districts. According to Picciano these new changes brought innovative ideas on using different tools such as “databases to manage data and information, electronic spreadsheets to manage and manipulate numerical data and office automation to manage text and communications”(p.54). On the other hand, although these tools are very effective and beneficial for communication, data collection and analysis, many teachers and school staff often do not use them, some for lack of training or simply because they are unaware of their proper use. For example, I can say that in my school most teachers do not use these tools, most prefer to use the telephone as a means of communication between the school and the district or the internal mail, few teachers use spreadsheets for record keeping of students' grades. Most prefer to use the grade book. On occasions the lack of training and improper use of these tools is creating a deficiency in the data-driven decision making. According to Picciano "all of them need to be trained and brought together to use the information resources that will help them make informed decision" (p.74). Many of the problems of data-driven decision making has to do with reflection, misuse of the various technological tools and the lack of effective reasoning to solve the problem. According to Jonassen, 2006, "the more complex the problem, the more sophisticated the causal reasoning must be" (p.61).

       The innovation of the Internet and various software have created a effective growth of the use of technology in the classroom. According to Hanson-Smith and Rilling, 2006 " computers and other electronic technologies have come to permeate many daily activities" (p.1). Because of these technological advances our students are making use of these tools forcing the different school districts and schools to integrate technology as a teaching method in the classroom. According to Picciano "teacher and students are discovering that data communications systems are becoming a major technology to support teaching and learning" (P135). The good use of technology as a tool for the classroom greatly benefit different learning styles of students according to the multiple intelligence theory of Howard Gardner, 1983. For me, technology has changed not only the traditional education to a constructivist education that emphasizes the development of critical thinking in students, but has broken barriers to learning such as the online classes where students can take courses through a computer from home facilities, etc. The creation of these online courses has created the disappearance of television courses, correspondence courses. As to whether also a decrease in physical enrollment of the students in the different universities and a decrease of students in different school libraries because they can access the different sources of information from the library of his school as well as different web side and information links from any computer.

       This change in education has highlighted the importance of taking the teaching and learning outside the classroom to meet the different student’s needs. According to Picciano "online learning activities can be synchronous that can be immediate interactions between teacher and students and students with students" (p.163) or can be "asynchronous perhaps the significant development in distant learning consisting by using a computer networking technology to Provide instruction at any place and any time for example WebCT "(p.164). Both online learning activities foster collaboration among students.

       Lastly, Wiersma (2008) posits that technology could be a powerful tool to help students establish a personal connection with the information being taught and foster collaboration among students. Furthermore, "this connection allowed learning to become more meaningful learning for the students, and as a result, students internalized more concepts, which is consistent with research on best practice" (p. 115). Collaboration can be fostered with the use different tools to motivate the students. In this regard, collaboration is essential because it turn students into activate participants of the process rather than passive recipients of information. For example, blogs, Wikis, Vokis, You Tube video and Podcasts can be incorporated to make the class more fun, interactive and collaborative. These activities promote more interaction in class and at the same time provide immediate feedback, which is a plus.

       On the other hand, the use of the Internet not only benefit students but also the teachers because they bring new ideas to motivate and engage the student in their learning process. According to Picciano "for educators, the Internet provide a pedagogically valuable array of skill activities such as writing, reading, and research, as well as a content-rich resource for culture, science, current events, and so forth" (p. 145).

       The innovation of the Internet has been rather beneficial to the teaching and learning process, but the most controversial issues in the discussion of this section II was the use of the Internet in the classroom and how this information is protected. According to Picciano "the Internet lacks oversight and supervision, and unfortunately, predators be they sexual, commercial, deviant, or hate mongering actively seek out impressionable young people”(p.148). Security of information is the most important for the Department of Education, government, school staff and our society. Although part of the teaching process in the classroom has been affected by the lack of access to the Internet, students have acquired knowledge through the different sources of information as Youtube that teach them how to unlock the security access in the schools. This has arisen because of different technological equipment with Internet access that students bring to school. The computer security problem affects not only the teacher and student in the classroom but also affects the online courses and the different browsers of the Internet networks. A good example of this is when there is a program, which you trust and have “ hakers” trying to get in that is why we need to protect our technological tools from the different computer viruses. I think the most important thing is to continually educate students through various sources such as video, professional speakers, etc on the use and handling of the different sources of information provided by the Internet. This information should come to the student depending on grade level because the student motivation and engagement are essential elements for effective teaching, but also for academic success.

    

References:

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences.

New York: Basic Books.

Hanson-Smith and Rilling, (2006). Learning language through technology,

Virginia:Tesol.

Jonassen, D. H. (2006). Modeling with technology: Mindtools for conceptual change

(3rd ed.). New Jersey: Pearson.

Picciano, A.G. (2011). Educational leadership and planning for technology, 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Wiersma, A. (2008). A study of the teaching methods of high school history teachers. 
The Social Studies, May/Jun, 111-116.

Secure My Cyberspace

http://www.mysecurecyberspace.com/secure/index.html

http://www.securemycyberspace.com/

Training missions

http://www.carnegiecyberacademy.com/missions.html

How to get around website blockers at school

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SCsN0t3puc&feature=related