Right from the beginning, the reading from Lund caught my attention. Obviously, students nowadays are used to modern technologies, even if they aren't aware of how they work or what else they can be used for.
I'm a huge fan of hands on, and this can be very successful in not just having the student learn the material better, but for them to also be interested in actually doing so. I find it amusing that this Maureen Smith was so shocked at how the technology broke the humdrum of typical classrooms. There isn't exactly too much innovation in the teaching field, so anything straying from the norm has the potential to really light a spark in students, who, for so long, have been used to learning by being talked at.
I know a lot of people question how technology can be integrated into the classroom or express doubts about how it can be beneficial. I remember an assignment in a high school class of mine where we were supposed to record a video about volcanoes. This was a geology class, so, needless to say, we were talked at a lot and it wasn't hard to see the words bouncing off of the heads of students numb of learning in such a monotonous way. So, when the teacher told us to get a hold of a video camera and shoot a video, it was a radical change from the norm, and it definitely caught the attention of everyone in the class. It was easy to see that other groups had as much fun as mine did while shooting their videos, and we all had our fair share of laughs when watching them all. That lesson stuck in my head more than any other topic or chapter we went over the entire year, and that means something.
That's awesome that you did something so hands-on in a different classroom setting. I think this is a good point to bring up; I mean we focus on the English classroom, but we should inspire our fellow teachers in different subjects to do the same. Especially in a class that is mostly lecture like the sciences. If we work with the rest of the subjects, maybe the students could even create a project combining multiple classes, or just have them using the same type of technology but in different ways. For example, maybe one class could make a video on movie maker that has no live video, just images and music. Then, another class does a video with recorded footage. Then, another with audio recording. That way we could narrow in on one device, but expand students' knowledge and show how versatile technology can be. Okay, I'm done now. Thanks for sparking this thought with your blog!
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