Blog #3 History of Tech in Education

How has technology been used in education? 

The technology timeline in education has been historically slow to progress.  As Suzy showed us in class, the boom of technology didn't happen until the last twentyish years ago.  What we've seen in this recent time period is the introduction to multimedia programs and technologies like the DVD player.  A lot of the technology my teachers used were tiny little TV's that we watched VHS films on and overhead projectors that probably took the teacher forever to create.  As I teach, I use my Smart Board and the internet to come up with educational resources.  Often, Ipads and Neos are integrated into my classroom but are still limited.

While technology is slow to progress in education, it seems that most of my day revolves around it.  I use my Smart Board to teach math and my math book is projected onto the board through the internet.  My objectives, daily expectations, and books are even displayed online. Teachers now have internet sites that parents and students can pull resources from.   One of the many great opportunities with technology is to take kids to the computer lab.  There are so many online resources and programs for teaching. The computer lab, aka the Testing Chamber, is often used to over test my students again and again.  In fact, recent made up studies say that children really like to be tested week after week and find the many hours of questions that are mostly, not developmentally age appropriate, fun and engaging--said no sane person ever.

How should it be used in the future?

Technology should be used with the greatest of hope for advancements in education.  Like all new ideas, the research opportunities are at the forefront of great academic changes.  Much of the research has led us to see that technology helps increase academic scores as compared to the control group without technology integration.  Yet, there is a caution to it.  Just as a medical patient must take the correct medicine, technology needs to be created and centered around the outcome.  The right technological intervention must be teacher guided.  Technology cannot replace the teacher as the teacher is the center of guidance for the students overall academic and emotional well-being at school.