Blog 1

Technology is an essential part of education because of its growing integration in today’s society. Because of its already large and growing usage, technology is a necessary tool to be implemented in the classroom. Technology allows teachers to perform their administrative and teaching duties much more easily than in the past. Technology allows teachers to send emails between colleagues, take attendance, create online seating charts and easily input grades into an online grading book. Technology also allows for teachers to show videos and visuals that can aid the learning process. Tools such as PowerPoint and Prezi offer visual aid that can display videos, pictures and text all at once, combining different learning styles into one presentation form. This allows students of different learning styles to more easily grasp the concepts being taught. Students use technology in the classroom to help foster communication to one another and also to aid themselves in the learning of the material. Using online resources and websites that reinforce topics helps the students to become more immersed in the material. Students that may have disabilities can also use assistive devices that enable the student to become more involved in the learning process and help reduce some of the difficulties they may have. The reason technology is used so widely with teachers and students is because it allows them to become more involved in the learning process because of the greater access to learning material and resources that make the education process so much smoother.

The ISTE standards are important for making sure that all teachers and students are up to date with their technology skills. Teachers must have the proper technological competency to be able to teach their students effectively. Students must also meet these technological standards so that they can use those skills in life, in a real world context. One standard that is meaningful to me is the Collaborator  standard because I feel that it's important to learn to work with others and learn new concepts through technology, together. One standard that seems out my current skill set would the Analyst standard because at this point I do not know how to design any sort of assessment to assess student comprehension.

I think that digital native is a proper label for today’s youth. They have been surrounded from technology since a young age or birth and they are very comfortable in this digital age. To be a digital native means to be brought up in a society that is heavily reliant on technology which allows the child to become quite experienced with how technology works, can usually pick it up easily, and is comfortable with using it often. There are differences between digital natives and digital immigrants (teachers)when using technology. Sometimes the teachers become flustered and are unsure of what to do and will sometimes ask students for assistance with fixing the problem. This can cause a slight slowdown in the learning process as the teacher has to deal with the technical issue. I anticipate that I will have a pretty firm grasp on most technology usage because I was brought up in an age with a rapidly expanding use of technology, but there may be some newer advancements that may take some getting used to as I take on my own classroom.