I am taking Instructional Design at NU, and all my classmates that are in Technology and Education are also in Instructional Design. However, there are students who are in Inst. Design, who are not required and have not taken Technology and Education. It is obvious who has not taken Tech and Ed. because their lessons do not require use of SMART Board, document camera, etc. I feel it is a disadvantage to those students, for the five of us who are in Tech, it is very easy to use Smart Notebook and create a Notebook presentation and make it very visually appealing. We all have it on our personal laptops, and so the night before a lesson is due we can make a presentation wherever, and not have to go into the actual classroom to make the presentation. It is very convenient. Regardless of knowing where you might end up as a teacher, it is important to understand basic technological operations. The other day Alison and I were discussing how it was easy for us to adapt to Notebook, because we have used PowerPoint our whole lives. And Prof. Adair said it was easy to transition from Activ Board to a Smart Board because the programs were so similar. By the time I start teaching in my own classroom, who knows what the latest technological savvy program will be, but at least I will be proficient in these types of programs that the switch will be easily made.
People who do not take Tech and Ed are really missing out on valuable teaching tools. After making the Teacher Toolkit, I had to prepare a lesson for another class, so I went on here and clicked links into some of the sites I had posted or other people had posted and found lots of templates and great ideas for my lesson plan.
Blogging as a way to utilize technological tools to become an effective teacher. My Journey into Technological advances.
I totally agree with you! This class has been an invalueable experience and I wish that all education majors (including music ed) had to take this class. It has made presenting easier and more fun:)
ReplyDeleteKayli showed Melody how to use the SmartBoard, but for her lesson I talked to her and she said it was just too confusing to figure it out and use it in time. But I was thinking it's a waste of an amazing resource that is available if people aren't educated in using technology.
ReplyDeleteI think it should be a requirement for all Ed majors, especially since it's only a one or two credit class. I think it is just a one credit class.