Article Reviews

U.S. schools lag behind in use of technology

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National Education Technology Plan

I think its true when they say that we still educate our students based on an agricultural timetable, in an industrial setting, but tell students they live in a digital age. Education needs to keep up with technology a little better. I think that a lot of the problem is that many current teachers have been teaching since before the technological age and are not comfortable using technology. I believe that we will see more use of technology as older teachers retire and new teachers take their places.

NETS: National Education Technology Standards: for Students, for Teachers and for Administrators

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Don't Just Adapt Technology, Adopt It!!

I never thought that we were using technology to do the same things in a different way getting the same results. It is faster and more efficient, yet we really are not doing anything differently. I thought that the simulations and interactive models sound very cool. I had no idea that one could do such things!! I think that the cost barrier is probably what hinders most schools from being able to advance in technologically. In our school system, we do not even have a computer for each classroom, much less for each student. Another factor is that teachers are too busy to use the needed time to explore and start using many forms of technology.

High School.com

I think that offering online classes for K-12 students is a terrific idea. Some kids can use the classes to supplement their classroom curriculum, some can use them to take classes not offered at their school, and some can go totally online and home school. This is helpful for students that do not do well in a regular classroom setting or cannot attend traditional public school due to illness, injury, or family situations. This program is also a good idea for students that are advanced academically for their age or want to take classes that their school does not offer. My son is in the gifted program and is very advanced in his reading and math skills. I am going to check with his gifted instructor to see if taking some online classes is an option. We can sign up through the Lawrence School District and there is no tuition since it is a public school system. I’m not for sure if our school district will allow it though. They tend to be pretty closed-minded about such things. Here is the information for the school in case you are interested.

Lawrence Virtual School

http://www.lawrencevs.org
2145 Louisiana
Lawrence 66046
Gary Lewis, Administrator
(785) 832-5620

Apple Learning Interchange: This is for all teachers, not just Apple users!

This site has all sorts of useful tools for teachers wanting to incorporate technology into their classrooms. It has a variety of information sorted by grade and topic. There are podcasts, teaching ideas, sample quizzes, and virtual field trips. The field trips section is my favorite. Being in a rural area with schools on a budget, we do not get to see a lot of things that kids in bigger towns or cities are exposed to. The field trips are a great opportunity for students to see the world. I am going to email a link to this site to my children’s teachers. This is a very cool site!

ALTEC: Innovative Technologies to Improve Teaching and Learning

This site puts a lot of tools and links to teacher help websites all on one page. There are some very interesting and helpful tools that teachers can use. As a childcare provider or pre school teacher, the Classroom Architect and the Assign-A-Day tools would be helpful to me. The Teacher Tacklebox would be very helpful to teachers that have older children in their classes. I could even use the Arcademic Games link at home for my own children to play in their free time. This site should be bookmarked by every teacher pre-k through high school.