5363 Video Technology and Multimedia Reflection

This course taught me about veteran teachers and the use of technology. I had the pleasure of interviewing a colleague, Mrs. Garza.  She recalls only being able to bring the outside world into her class through books and her personal experiences. She remembers finding video clips and games at home and downloading to a memory card or downloading to her personal computer and sharing them with her students. She says the first time she showed a movie clip at school to her students seems like just yesterday, her students were super excited. They even were able to play games that reviewed previously taught concepts, WOW. She stated that, even though computers are available at school, there can be significant practical difficulties in using them and gaining Internet access (Lenhart, Simon & Graziano, 2001.)

She says the district needs to be monitoring the computer accessibility but should not be blocking learning sites that enable us as teachers to bring the outside would in to our students. She also feels that the internet will never replace the good old encyclopedia. When she assigns research assignments to her students she knows they will many times “choose not to go online at school because their school’s access is inconvenient due to old machines, filtering, or limited availability of computers (Hitlin & Rainie, 2005). Students get frustrated when they cannot access a site about a famous American or a state they are researching. She tries to reassure them she is here to help them.

References:

Arsham, H. (2002, March). Impact of the internet on learning and teaching. USDLA Journal,

   16.3. Retrieved on November 17, 2009, from

   http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/MAR02_Issue/article01.html

Graziano, M., Lenhart, A., & Simon, M. (2001, September 1). The internet and education:

   Findings of the pew internet and American life project. Pew Internet and American Life

   Project. Retrieved on November 17, 2009, from

   http://pewinternet.org/~/media/Files/Reports/2001/PIP_Schools_Report.pdf.pdf

 Hitlin, P., & Rainie, L. (2005). The internet at school. Pew Internet and American Life

   Project. Retrieved on November 17, 2009, from

   http://pewinternet.org/~/media/Files/Reports/2005/PIP_Internet_and_schools_05.pdf.pdf