The history of technology in education, how to embrase the new technology?

When surfing the net I came over this video. I thought it was a good way to se how rapid things have changes since the 1990`s. Before then it was some development now and then. Now it is all the time.  thought it was funny to see how the schools approach to learning have changes in the last 20 years. Still i feel that some schools still are in the late part of the 90´s. How should we embrase this new technologies as shown on the video into our classrooms? While I was thinking about this I found a video with activities using SMART Table. I thought this was a wonderful thing, and a good step towrds more digital learning. I wanted to share one activity on this SMART Table to show one way to use it.

As you can see, the pupils can stand around the table and everybody can see from each angle. They can work together and the words are combined with pictures creating a good learning environment. I think the kids will find this motivating sinces they get the score after each assigment. This is motivating as well as its motivating that they can us their bodies, and not just sit still at a desk.  The possibilities and activities are endless. Subjects as math, language, writing, reading and learning sosial skills, all in one table. Digital learning like this is a great way to use technology to increase learning.  I think using things like a SMART Table in the classroom can help pupils that struggles with concentrating in classes. This article reflects around a digital approach to help kids with ADHD. I think along with many others that a digital approach to education can benefit all differtent kind of pupils, and give a better starting point for each student.

Read more on how to keep up with the technology on this link below:

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How to keep up with the rapid paste of the technology when the schools are put on stand by?

English: Teaching and Learning

English: Teaching and Learning (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I recently started working one day a week as a teacher at an elementary school. I do this in addition to studying ICT and learning. I think this makes me more aware then before of how ICT is used in the education system today, by comparing theory and seeing whats the reality in practice.  The first thing I noticed was that even though we have computers available, its take up a lot of time to use it in an efficient way. It takes many minutes to get them turned on, the Internet is often unavailable, and so on. It is also a lot of programs that are unavailable to use on school computers so its hard to use different types of videos and files. This makes it more challenging to actually use ICT in an efficient way, because the schools are to poorly equipped. It simply takes to much time, and often I have to have a 2nd plan because if the technology fails me, then I have to have a backup plan. When you have to have several backup plans it takes a lot of the motivation for using ICT so often as I like to use it.

A new Landaff teacher in the 1940s watches as ...

A new Landaff teacher in the 1940s watches as a student writes on the blackboard. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Education plans in Norway has many directions when it comes to ICT. And digital skills are one of the five basic skills in the norwegian education system. It demands to use ICT in every subject and it’s a competence that every pupil should manage. ICT is a huge resource for teachers and pupils. When it is requirements like how much ICT should be in school, shouldn’t it also be a requirement on the equipment of the schools? I agree that we should use a lot of ICT in school, but someone needs to take the responsibility  for the schools equipment. Some schools have great access to digital learning devices and other schools don´t.  The new society demands a different kind of education. It is now necessary that the next generations are good at both reading and creating multimodal texts. The multimodal texts is the future, and it is hard to teach and prepare the pupils, when the schools are not good enough equipped or the teachers aren´t competent to teach this. The rest of the society is digitalizing everything, why is things always moving slower in the educational system, and why is the differences so big between schools? Trying to satisfy the education demands regarding ICT in a unequipped school is like swimming against the current, when you should be able to float with. Who`s responsible for getting the same equipment to every school? The community, the government, the parents, or the teachers?

 

 

 

 

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Lost my internet access,hello the digital divide!

Jan Van Dijk writes in his book The Network Society that “the digital divide is defined as the gap between those who do and do not have access to computers and the Internet.”(Djik,2012:196)  Well a couple a weeks ago my Internet access suddenly disappeared. The first thing entered my mind was to check my connection, and so on. Nothing worked. I had to call the supplier, just to be told that I was something wrong with my line and I had to wait for 3 days. No TV, no Facebook, no  studying, no paying bills. It got me thinking about the digital divide. How difficult is it in todays society to manage daily tasks without the Internet. Everything I do is connected to the Internet somehow. I have to use to Internet to pay my bills, get my education, search for jobs, check my taxes watch tv and so on. Its like the ones who have access to the Internet lives in a different world then the ones who don´t.  As I now discuss the digital divide I do not think about the Global digital divide, but more the digital divide in my country that´s more and more dependent on the Internet.

OLPC: XO internet access

OLPC: XO internet access (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

To loose my Internet access in my home made it really hard to manage daily tasks. Of course I could get them done, but I had to use my

 

mobile network or go to a cafe´and so on. In this frustration I started thinking about people living in my country not using the Internet. I started thinking about my grandparents, how do they pay bills for example. I don´t even know how that´s done since I always payed mine over the Internet. Everything is more and more digital, and it makes them more divided from everyone using the Internet. More and more divided and more and more dependent on people who can use Internet. Does the society to day create a even bigger gap between the young and the old? If we take a look at seniors, they enjoy watching the news, but even in the news they talk about, hashtags, twitter, facebook, instagram. I cant´t imagen my grand parents understanding a single word of that, but on the other hand it´s people older then them with their own Facebook page. A new program in America are trying to bridge the digital divide, but the seniors are left behind. One aspect is of course the economic aspect of using the Internet, a whole other aspect is to increase digital literacy among seniors.  Is it that people living in an highly digitalized country choose if they want to participate or not? Is it really a digital divide, or just a divide between people who choose to embrase and choose not to? Or do they just don´t know where to start.

 

Sources:

 

Jan Van Djik, The Network Society 3rd Edition,2012, SAGE Publications Ltd, London

 

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Some thoughts about digital natives and digital immigrants.

Some thoughts about digital natives and digital immigrants. 

Marc Prensky writes about digital immigrants and digital natives in this article. Digital natives is people who has been surrounded by technology and ICT all their life. For them reading a newspaper online is as natural as reading it in a paper version. Digital immigrants on the other hand is people who has to adapt their media habits. For them media hasn’t been a natural part of their entire life as it has for digital natives. I consider myself somewhere in between, but more as a digital native then an immigrant. I look at myself as an immigrant because I still remember how it was without everyone having a cellphone, and Internet was not common in most homes. As a child of the 90´s, I was young when the technology exploded. (if you don´t remember how it was in the 90´s take a look at this video)

Growing up in the 90´s gave me a soft start, and then the teenage years in 2000 hit with a bam and it was cellphones and chatting sites everywhere. So am I and immigrant or a native? I started thinking about this issue while visiting my parents a while back. We where at our cabin and my mother was wondering if I could check a number for her because I was going home where it was Internet access.  For me it would be totally natural to just connect to the mobile net and use my smartphone. She did not see that as a possibility, even though she knows how and have a smartphone. They are not used to having this technical opportunities, therefor it’s not a natural thing to for them to think about. Compared to my parents I´m clearly a native.
It does not look like the rapid development in technology are going to slow down any time soon, so maybe we all will end up digital immigrants at some point or another?

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