Computer rooms are like a different environment in schools. It seems like being in front of a computer brings out a certain behaviour in students that you don't see in other classes, for some students anyway. I've often wondered why that is. I guess part of that would have been down to me, and my behaviour management skills over the years (or lack thereof). However, when observing other teachers, I've seen the same thing. They come into the computer room and they feel comfortable playing around, going on sites they know they shouldn't, not listening to the teacher etc...Why is that?
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Read more: Three Reasons Why Computers Can Be Tough To Teach With
In my previous post Tech Use Part 1, I talked about all the reasons I could find and think of for people to use technology in the classroom. However, there are a considerable number of teachers that still do not use it. In this post, I cover the reasons why. Some of these reasons, similar to the previous article, have come from a collection of blogs and websites I found through research, which are all available at the bottom of the post. With these reasons, I have added possible solutions or statements which help rationalise and overcome the issues.
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I initially intended to write a blog article about reasons why all teachers should be using technology in their classrooms. However, the more I researched, the more I not only saw plenty of blogs like that already, but lots of articles stating why teachers were not using technology, which I found more interesting (and is part of my PhD research). So I thought I would address both points, reasons to use technology in this post, and reasons why teachers don't use technology (and ways to overcome this) in the next blog post. As a computer science and ICT teacher, I have used technology for a majority of my teaching so I am totally biased here. As a result I have based most of what I've put in this article on what I've read from other blogs, the links of which you will be able to find at the bottom.
Teachers will not be replaced by technology, but teachers who don't use technology will be replaced by teachers who do.
-Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach
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Read more: Tech Use - Part 1: 21 Reasons To Use Technology in the Classroom
With the introduction of Learning management systems and Virtual Learning Environments, education has been changed. The availability and use of dynamic resources as well as the deployment and receipt of instructions and assignments makes the learning process much easier. Not to mention the affect on the environment on saved printing, paper, trees if used properly.
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One thing I love about having been an ICT teacher and currently being a computer science teacher is the technology I get to use. These subjects feed my geekiness, and I love trying out the next piece of kit, the next web app or the next piece of hardware.
I'm sharing my list of the edtech tools I use as a log for myself to look back on, and also to see what others use. So I would love to hear from you if you use something different or better. Over the years my go to tools have changed, so I guess that this will not be the first time I write a post like this.
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"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."
Winston Churchill
Although he may not have been the first, it was Malcolm Gladwell that made famous the notion that natural talent wasn't the most important part of success, and that practice, hard work and determination were the keys to excellence. In his book, 'The Expert Learner: Challenging the Myth of Ability', Gordon Stobart takes this message and moves it into the realm of education.
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Somewhere around the world right now, there is someone giving a PowerPoint presentation. The audience are either wondering why the presenter is reading text that they can quite easily read themselves, but at the same time is too small to even be on the slides, or they're writing down the objective and the outcome for that days lesson. All of them are wondering how many slides are left till they can go home. Acording to research, there are in fact 350 such presentations going on this very second! Why?
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