Week 4

Activity 4.3 Where am I now?

Philosophy of Teachnology

1. One of the least effective ways I have seen a teacher use technology in a classroom was that they placed all their notes on PowerPoint, and used that instead of writing on the board or overheads. Normally PowerPoint is fine, but the teacher sped through the slides so fast that the students had trouble getting all the notes written down, and the teacher did not place the slides online for the students to refer to later. It created a hectic and confusing learning environment. Had the teacher proceeded at a rate similar to what they would be moving at had they been writing on the board, I'm sure the class would have been fine.

2. One of the best ways I have seen a teacher use technology was in a social studies class, to have the students all get online with their mobile devices or laptops and research the topic quickly, then we shared what we had learned with the class. This created participation and stimulated the students much more than listening to a lecture would have, and was entertaining in the process. In addition, the students were learning for themselves, and in a small way, using research techniques they would later need.

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