Technology is a challenging on many fronts. I experienced one of those challenges this week…connectivity. When I went to compose my post I found that my trusty MiFi wasn’t being so trusty and I couldn’t connect to the Internet to create and submit my post. This was also a challenge we faced during NCCAT. When creating a classroom that is technology based or flipping the classroom one of the questions you must ask is “Can my children connect?” While it seems unthinkable that anyone is out of touch these days having taught at and been the administrator at a high poverty school I know that there are families who do not have access to the Internet. These families don’t have Smart phones…or even phones. And while flipping the classroom is a great way to create an atmosphere of student responsibility for learning we still have to mindful of the students that are “out of touch” with us when they go home. How can we make sure they have access? One of our presenters actually discussed this very topic. Since our district is one to one it is very possible for instructors to provide recording and assignments for students to take home without having internet access…but we must be careful what the assignments are composed of so we always include the students who do not have that access.
The other challenge I face instructing teachers is helping them to truly embrace technology as a teaching tool. When our district first went one to one I saw some AMAZING things and I saw some classrooms where the laptop simply replaced the textbook and paper and pencil. It was merely a tool for recording information and regurgitating it back. It is so important that technology…whether a Smart device, laptop, etc. be used to its potential and not merely to provide a different forum for consuming lectures and notes. I challenge my teachers to NOT use Powerpoint as a presentation tool. I challenge them to include technology in their rubrics…not just for word processing..but for research, collaboration, and creation.
I’m sure in the near future connectivity will become less of a challenge…but it will be up to educators to embrace and instruct using new technology. We owe that to our kids!
Indeed! We have outdated technology the school administration assures us will be updated this fall. I am tense about developing a unit plan that is dependent upon that…and the tech doesn’t arrive.
I’d love to have a paperless classroom. I was able to require electronic submission of all of the research projects that my students had to do in the AP class I teach. That’s a start. (:
I totally understand. We are so lucky that we have a topnotch technology department in our county! I work with a fifth grade teacher that went paperless last year and he and the kids LOVED it!!! We have several teachers that have flipped their classrooms…more in secondary than elementary. I hope your unit goes off without a hitch. I guess we will always have to have plan B though..just in case.
I agree that we need to keep access in mind. Since I do have students without internet but do have a 1 to1 program at my school, I would make the videos downloadable and have them download them in class to play at home. I also do this with their homework assignments: everything can be downloaded.