The teacher has to consider many factors before implementing technology into the classroom. The text outlines several of them starting with Acceptable Use. When teachers prepare lessons involving technology, it is easy for them to overlook the possibility of students abusing their Internet privileges. The teacher needs to be aware that there are rules in place that dictate what content students may or may not access while at school. It is imperative that the teacher is made aware of these rules before allowing students to access the Internet. Some teachers may rely on the fact that most schools employ filtering software, but this type of software does not always prevent inappropriate sites from being accessed. It can be a time-consuming task for teachers to have to monitor students’ internet use but in order to guarantee safety, unfortunately the teacher must remain vigilant at all times. In the past, I have realized that when I am carrying out lessons that require Internet access, I need to have the lesson very well-prepared so I can assign a task and monitor students’ activity. With a poorly planned lesson, the teacher will be preoccupied with fixing mistakes in the lesson while the leaving the students unattended.
Once major concern that teachers face today is that of copyright infringement. In today’s technologically advanced world, it is extremely easy to cut and paste images in documents or play audio or show videos from the web. Luckily, students and teachers are most likely protected under the fair use act because it is for educational purposes but this is not always the case. The best way to use media legally from the Internet is to choose media that is protected under the Creative Commons license. This license allows for content creators to give advance permission for certain uses of their work as long as they are given proper credit. As a teacher, one of the best ways to avoid violating any laws is to create as much of your own content as possible.
How do you think personalized learning will alter the way you implement technology-centered personalized learning in your classroom?
There is no question that teaching and learning is evolving at an extremely rapid pace. Today’s learners are coming from a place where technology has been a part of their lives since birth. Their ability to manipulate and utilize technology is amazing. Knowing this will help teachers understand that students today require more than what is being offered. With technology, learning is becoming more personalized. As a classroom teacher, I could exploit certain technologies to give students freedom of how they choose to learn. After teaching a lesson, I could require students to complete a project showing what they learned. How they choose to carry the project out could be left entirely up to them. I could provide several different types of media presentation methods and let them choose the one that best fits their personality. If I employed the flipped classroom model, I could even give students the option of how they wanted to acquire information. I could prepare several different methods of delivery and have them choose which works best for them. There are so many ways to personalize learning in today’s classroom, it is just a matter of understanding the student and where their strengths lie.
This week we worked with Thinglink and Sccop.it. I really enjoyed both of these tools. Thinglink is great because it brings a picture to life. Scoop.it lets you control what information you want your students to access. This can save the teacher and the student a lot of time when doing research.
Thinglink on France
Scoop.it on France