In the past decade, technology has made overwhelming advances that are allowing educators to expand their creativity in the classroom. Using a variety of emerging technology resources, teachers can further engage their students in their learning. Although there are many emerging technology resources out there, I researched three of them that I found interesting and beneficial to my future as a classroom teacher. iPods, Smart Boards, and ebooks are all great resources that teachers should implement and utilize in their classroom if they have the technology and the finances.
I found a lot of fascinating information about the very popular iPod on http://www.apple.com/itunes/. iPods have been out on the market for several years now, and has monopolized the mp3 player industry. Although most Americans find themselves owning some sort of iPod, it may have never occurred to them how useful iPods could be for classroom teachers. Take the “iPod classic” for example. This iPod has access to music, video, and slide show. This could be very handy for teachers. For example, if a teacher had a video or a slide show at home that they wanted to bring into their class to show to their students to help enhance their lesson, all the teacher would have to do is download this to their iPod and it would be super simple to plug it in and play it on the big screen for their class (assuming that they have the appropriate technology to plug it in and play it on the screen). It is just one more way for teachers to use technology and store a bunch of great resources that is portable and small.
A Smart Board is another great tool to utilize in the classroom, but unfortunately teachers can only get it for a high price. Various types of interactive whiteboards are available in the market today that range from $800 to $10,000 depending on the technology used and the quality of projection surface. I found a lot of great information about the “interactive whiteboard” specifically on http://www.electronicwhiteboardswarehouse.com/interactive_whiteboards.htm. The website described the interactive whiteboard as a resource that allows you to simply touch the board to control the mouse. It explains that this is such a great advantage as you can control all of the computer actions from the front of your classroom. Anything that is on your computer can be controlled from the screen, and can be viewed in a large scale by the entire class. This is great for using technology in a way that everyone can see and be interactive with.
Lastly, ebooks are a great resource for teachers to use in their class. Ebooks are basically books that can be read and accessed online. Wikipedia.com describes ebooks as the digital media equivalent of a conventional printed book. Ebooks can be a great resource for those students who enjoy reading off the web. If students are interested in the internet, maybe using ebooks will make reading more interesting and fun for them. It is something different than just reading out of a boring textbook.Writers or publishers have the option to provide an ebook version to their book, which I think is valuable and a good idea since more and more, people turn to the web to read, instead of going to the library to pick up a book. Ebooks are beneficial resources because additional information and resources can be hyperlinked to further readings and information. This is a great tool to have, instead of having to do your own research on a further topic; the ebook provides you with the link right from the page. If a school does not have a ton of money for books, it would be smart for a teacher to spend the money to access a book online, and allow the class to view this book online. This is a smart way to be resourceful and a great way to utilize the wonders of technology.
It is valuable to learn about all of these great emerging technology resources for my future classroom. Technology has become such a big part of our world, and it is slowly being incorporated into the classroom. With more young teachers being educated on these emerging technology, like myself, the use of technology in the classroom will only increase, and hopefully students will feel better engaged and excited about their learning.
6 comments:
I really liked the three emerging technologies that you chose to research. I too researched iPods. I never would have thought to use iPods in classrooms before today. Smart boards are also another good thing for teachers to have in classrooms. They allow all students to particiapte. Ebooks were another good resource you chose to write about. They would be good for low income schools who cannot afford classroom sets. Overall nice blog!
I agree that iPods would be a great technology for the classroom. Students who have trouble reading can also use an iPod for books on tape. My question for you about eBooks is what about the students who do not like to read off the computer or the ones who do not have a computer at home? The technologies you talked about are very useful
I really like the idea of using ebooks in a classroom. Like Lauren said, for lower income schools it would be fantastic to have access to all those books that they other wise would not be able to. Smart boards obviously would be wonderful to have (if your school had the money), but ebooks are pretty cheap and easy to use. Good thought!
For your emerging technologies I was captivated with the concept of the usage of E-books in the the classroom. Suddenly I found myself imagining a world where textbooks were a thing of the past, and instead all major publishers were focusing on making E-books. It would be fantastic if this were the way of life right now, as they are much more cost effective and much easier to upkeep. The I-pod usage was also a fascinating point. Never before have I thought of something I use so casually as something that I could integrate into the classroom. Lastly the Smart boards were another captivating concept, as I had never heard of them until this class, and the incredible innovation of it makes it a wondrous technology to harness in the classroom.
I also wrote about e-books as well. I found a lot of the same information, but I knew some more about them because I used to have an e-book reader device. Kyla also brought up an interesting point about the students who do not like to read off a computer or do not have access at home. These handheld devices could solve the problem because they are more portable and students could potentially take them home as well.
I think that these types of handheld devices would be really nice to have in the classroom because you can hold a large number of books in a device the size of a typical book. It is also really easy to highlight, underline, write notes, and even look up words right on the device. You can also enlarge text, which might benefit some students with disabilities, and they can also use assistive technology to make reading text easier.
I wonder if you bought the rights to an e-book (such as a textbook), you would be able to provide access to the e-book for multiple students. Or would it restrict it to only one computer or device? If you could provide it to multiple users, it would be much cheaper than purchasing books.
Liz- I really enjoyed reading your blog it was very informative. The part where you talked about iPods was very useful for me. I had never even thought about using them for my classroom until you brought up the fact that you can use them to download videos to take from home. Lesson plans too would be very helpful to create at home and then bring them to class. Very nice blog!
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