Technology+Summary+Beliefs

Technology Beliefs Reflections Paper Cheryl Lindberg EDEL 2200 Section A02

=[|Technology] Beliefs Reflection Paper =

 In Roselyn, New York, pupils are coming to school with newly purchased iPads. One may ask, “Who is purchasing these electronic devises for these boys and girls?” Come to find out the school districts themselves. I cannot even afford an iPad for myself and yet schools have laid off teachers for balancing the budgets in each school district. I began to wonder, “How are the schools affording this new added expense?” Logic leads one to believe that laying off qualified teachers is necessary in balancing the budgets for each district. Does there appear to be a conflict of interest going on here?  Several schools in the United States have purchased the new iPads for their teachers and students. The school board believes that this new technology will increase a student’s learning and comprehension by utilizing a myriad of teaching aids. This is the beginning of an experimental model of using technology in the schools to teach a variety of subjects. Among the many subjects that the administrators and teachers are looking to put to use are math, history, and Kafka in multimedia. There are many worthwhile uses for the iPad such as excitement of characters in math, assisting history to come to life with familiar games, and learning new applications for multimedia.  The high school that benefited from this new program is Roselyn High School in New York. The school purchased forty-seven new iPads and handed them to the pupils and teachers. They will be used in place of the textbooks at a price of $750 per unit. One may feel this is a hefty amount to pay for teaching supplies.  Larry Reif, an English teacher explains how” the iPad will enlarge the class group outside the limitations of the four walls.” This advancement in technology gives permission for the student to contact the teacher, hand in assignments, and keep a running log of his efforts and duties in class.  One wonders if this could be another trend that the government invests in, only to come up with other problems in teaching and learning later down the road. Larry Cuban argues, “There is insufficient research or evidence brought out about whether children will make advances in learning quicker with these new gadgets.”  Teachers agree that this new technology has many added features and apps that could be utilized in the classroom setting for thousands of learning uses. Some of the advantages are less of a burden on the body for carrying books, a variety of tools to work with on a plethora of subjects, and the use of multi-modality learning for the students.  A good question remains that Elliott Soloway and Cathie Norris inquire about, “What different alternatives are there that are already produced similar to the iPad that are less money and more cost efficient?” Smartphones appear to have comparable services at much less expense reported by both professors.  There seem to be many benefits for using the iPads to teach in the classroom and creating a vast amount of information for the students. The possibilities of providing a program for each student at their particular learning level seems to have great potential. The multi-dimensional learning styles given to each child appears to succeed the traditional teaching we have now. Yes, I agree that the outlay of the costs of each iPad is of great expense, but you will be saving money on paper, textbooks, and closer communication with each student in the end. Smartphones seem to offer close comparisons with a minimal cost to the taxpayers and maximum benefits to the students. Utilizing technology in the classroom seems to give the students a wider and broader education to compete in today’s global market.

=References =

Hu, Winnie. "Math That Moves: Schools Embrace the iPad." The New York Times 4 Jan. 2011. Web. 17 May 2011

=** Pro and Con Grid ** =
 * <span style="color: #008002; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Pro || <span style="color: #008002; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Con ||
 * <span style="color: #008002; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Having individual iPads for each student and the teacher creates close contact and the help needed for each personal issue as it arises. || <span style="color: #008002; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">The expense of the iPad is steep for each school to handle for each individual student and the teachers. ||
 * <span style="color: #008002; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">The teacher will be able to monitor the student’s progress more closely and have the needed information logged in a file which will be easy to access. Also, the student will have an up to date record for their own progress. || <span style="color: #008002; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">The social skills of the students may be suspended and hampered if they are too dependent on technology. This could create some communication barriers. ||
 * <span style="color: #008002; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">The teaching aids that are available for classroom instruction are immense while utilizing the latest technology with a huge variety of resources to choose from. || <span style="color: #008002; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">The equipment may break down. Then what will the student do if his iPad is not working? How much will it cost to fix or repair the problem? ||
 * <span style="color: #008002; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">The use of iPads creates options to customize a learning program for each child at the level that is suited for that individual child. Some students are more advanced and some need extra time to catch up. The teacher will be able to meet the needs of each student’s learning ability. || <span style="color: #008002; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">What if the student does not take care of their iPad or loses it? Many students are careless with their books and other personal items. How would you handle these individual situations? Who would take responsibility for the iPad? What is acceptable wear and tear and what is not? Who would make these subjective decisions? ||
 * <span style="color: #008002; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">The student’s comprehension will increase by utilizing all the different learning styles. The child will be able to make use of the visual learning style, the auditory learning style, the kinesthetic learning style, and the read/write learning style. || <span style="color: #008002; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Will all schools benefit and receive the iPads or just the more affluent schools? If only the wealthy areas, then this could have the potential to create class conflicts among people. The low income schools struggle to just get books, paper, pencils, and old computers. How will the low income schools compete to receive the latest in technology with little parent involvement and income available? ||
 * <span style="color: #008002; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Hauling around heavy books will be eliminated. Lost papers, assignments, and books will be a thing of the past. || <span style="color: #008002; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">There is the possibility of students losing valuable skills in the basics of education, such as writing, working together in groups, social skills and cooperation, as the iPad begins to dominate the market and take over the teaching profession. Is it possible that technology could replace several positions in teaching as the widespread use of instruction happens on the iPads? ||