I do not have any experience helping in the classroom but I do have plenty of experience being the student in the classroom. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend time in a lower to middle class school and an upper class school. My elementary school did not have much access to technology. We had chalk boards, projectors and a few white boards. I have more recollection of the technology used in my middle and high school. In my middle school foreign language classrooms, we had headphone sets that came down from the ceiling. These headphones allowed each student to communicate with their partner and the teacher was also able to listen in on our oral presentations. The technology in my high school was very interactive. My history teacher had a smart board and clickers. This came in handy for review games, taking quizzes and using it day to day. Technology helped keep my peers and I interested in what we were learning.
I feel that technology should be integrated into teaching and learning because it helps keeps the students attention. In this day in age, the technology is changing very frequently. I babysit for a family where their 2 year-old and three year-old can work an iPad just as well as I can. Technology in the classroom keeps the students interested. Using technology to help explain how a volcano erupts or watching a hurricane form off land is just one of the few examples of using web 2.0 tools to engage the students in interactive learning.
In the text the authors define educational technology as all types of media that can be used in teaching. I think that this definition is very broad. Educational technology in my opinion is any type of tool that is presented in the classroom that the student can use to help aid their knowledge of the presented topic. Educational technology ranges from a chalk board to any web 2.0 tool. The role technology holds in teaching is it helps aid the teachers by showing them easier ways to present the information their students need to learn. The role technology holds in learning is that it helps explain the information in a more kid-friendly way. Technology helps teach kindergarteners about the weather and can explain how the government in each state works in high school history.
Not all schools are able to use the newest technology. The funding for the school system has a lot to do with what technology is available for each student to use. In a big school with ample funds, the students probably have more technology to use at their fingertips and are more technology savvy. In a lower end school, like my elementary school, the technology is scarcer and is not used as much. Using the computer or getting to do the school announcements was much more of a privilege because the technology was not as prevalent.
