Educational Technology Autobiography
My experience with educational technology from K-12 to post-secondary education:
The very first form of educational technology that I encountered was the use of the overhead in the first grade. In the third grade I was moved to a gifted and talented Math class; therefore, allowing my fellow classmates and myself access to a computer lab that contained seven apple computers. Every Friday we were allotted fifteen to twenty minutes on these computers to play Number Munchers and Oregon Trail. In fourth and fifth grade I continued with my gifted and talented Math programs, but was also added to gifted and talented Science and English programs. In these programs I again used the computer but this time I
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we installed a program to build rollercoaster’s, and after they were built we were able to test them to see if people would actually be able to ride them. However, most of my rollercoaster’s ended up falling off tracks and plummeting the people on them to their deaths.)
It was not until Middle School that I was introduced to more sophisticated educational technology. By this point all of my classes were Gifted and Talented classes; thus, we were given more advantages in technology compared to other students, (now this seems quite unfair to me, but at the time, it did not come across my mind as being unfair.) In the sixth grade I was asked to acquire and learn how to use a TI-83 calculator… a calculator I used up until my senior year of High School. I also learned how to go to the library and use the computer in our library at school to look up our catalog of books. Furthermore, I was taken to a computer lab two days a week for a typing class, where like the one I was forced to take over the summers of my childhood, was a simple program that wanted you to type back the paragraphs that appeared on the screen, and then it would grade you on your accuracy and speed. In my seventh grade English class we were taught how to use a copy-machine, so we could put together a Literary Magazine of our works. Furthermore, in my Technology class we learned how to use many different kinds of machines (i.e. sanders, drills, and jigsaws,) in order to build and
In my fifth grade class, we never used computers, unless we were in computer class. I had been on Canvas once before sixth grade and didn't understand it in the least bit, I never thought I would need to use Canvas, (I was wrong.) I didn’t know how to use Powerschool, because I never used it in fifth grade. Also in fifth grade we never typed on computers, it was a big deal if we did, and so I wasn't very good at typing either. Also in fifth grade I didn't have an email, so it was very confusing for the first part of sixth grade.
I loved to play in the math arcade at school and at home. Once we were introduced to Microsoft PowerPoint, I fell in love. I would spend hours on our computer making different slide shows. I took a computer class from elementary though ninth grade. In tenth grade, my school became one-to-one, and we all received iPads. We started using them to take notes, read PDFs, and various novels. We had all the information we needed at our fingertips. Having iPads helped to improve my skills with technology. My junior year, I took digital photography and graphic design. I absolutely loved them. We learned to use all aspects of Photoshop. My favorite project that we did was taking our pictures from digital photography and making them into a book for graphic design. I took the skills I learned junior year and applied them to my Yearbook class during my senior year. It was so much fun to creatively use technology to create the yearbook. Since coming to college, the technology I have used has mostly been limited to writing papers and taking notes on my laptop. Outside of school, I use technology everyday with my computer and phone. Over winter break, I spent hours with my neighbor helping her transfer and organize pictures from her phone to computer. This task seemed so simple to me, but very daunting to my neighbor. Technology skills come so naturally to my generation because we’ve grown up with computers.
Technology can be found in every classroom of schools today and continues to grow as the field of technology continues to advance. School age children today know more about technology than most middle-aged adults because they have been exposed to it from such an early age. We live in the technology age and it’s clear that technology is here to stay and has permeated every area of our lives including home, work and leisure. Because of this, educators and school staff have been tech-savvy and must continue to keep up with the technological advances in order to present as competent to the student body. Technology has impacted the way our students learn and has provided avenues of learning to disabled students that they didn’t have in the past and has provided teaching staff with a multitude of resources and diversity in class activities to aid in teaching (Pearson, 2010). Without a doubt, technology will continue to impact our educational system as new technologies emerge and our country competes to keep up with a new globalized economy. Schools will implement these technologies into the
What did mankind do before the internet? Educational technologies are changing the lives of current and future generations. For years, technology has been flooding into the classrooms of youngsters. On an average, a student uses up to three devices daily. Teenagers count on a cell phone to do things, from waking them up in the morning to giving them any information needed during the day. The incredible World Wide Web saves many hours of research for a paper compared to three decades ago when days were spent looking up research that is now available almost instantly. The floppy discs of a few decades back cannot compare to digital textbooks on mobile devices, e readers, laptops, or tablets of the day. Technology plays a huge role in today’s world impacting education on major levels in regards to accessibility, communication, and opportunity. Education will continue to be part of people’s lives, regardless of age or lifestyle.
A lot of people think education is just something you get in school, but in reality education comes from different places and people not just school and teachers. For example, way before I started school I was already being educated by my parents, they taught me how to eat, behave, use the bathroom, talk, and a lot of other things that help out in life.
Every day the world is changing and things are done differently. Technology has also affected the way students are taught and in which they learn. It has changed the classroom. Technology saves us time and allows us to access material in only minutes. “The Internet and online subscription databases, even as a supplement to the printed works in the library, allow students to see, and force them to consider or reject, points of view that they might never have encountered in decades past” (Gow 4).With all the time technology produces, it also has downsides and it also may have created a less intelligent society.
As technology continues to grow throughout our modern society, it starts to become incorporated more frequently in several different aspects of our lives. In particular, technology is growing vastly in regards to educational purposes. In every classroom in today's society, some form of technology is used each day, regardless of the grade level.
Today’s education differs much from the education fifty years ago. One of the reasons they are so different is because of technology. In the past fifty years the world of technology has grown tremendously, affecting everything, including education. A few things that have been brought into the world of education are computers, video and digital equipment such as DVDs, digital cameras and recording devices. The technology also includes information presentation technologies which includes the Smart Board, and different interactive whiteboards. There are many more that schools did not have fifty years ago.
The use of technology in schools has a great effect on not only students, but teachers as well. Today, we mostly think of technology as computers, but it is much more than that. In fact, one of the first technologies used in the classroom was the chalkboard.
Technology affects every aspect of our lives. From romance to business, it has shown its presence everywhere. But technology has had a huge impact on education that cannot be denied, and has done nothing but improve the quality and quantity of education.
I started middle school when we moved to Rochester Hill’s from Ann Arbor. Our new blended family (my mother remarried) had several computers and other new technological devices, as did most of the homes in the affluent community in which we lived. Home pc’s became a useful tool in middle school; I surfed the net, wrote papers, and researched articles over the Internet. My whole family became engulfed with the technology wave. Our extended family and close friends eventually all came to a point where they used some sort of pc or computing device in their everyday lives. Computers made it easy to communicate, and because our family and relatives lived a good distance apart we were able to effectively chat and email our way out of “snail mail.”
Technology has made great strides in the past 20 years. It plays a very important role in our lives today and even plays a critical role in the way students learn all over the world. Unfortunately, students now rely on technology instead of learning key fundamentals. Technology has replaced the need to learn and most answers are just a google search away. Technology has also become expensive and lower socioeconomic school districts have found affording the newest technology difficult because of their lack of funding. Technology is a great learning tool when used appropriately. The lower socioeconomic school falls behind in the expanding frontier of technology in the classroom because they cannot afford it compared to their counterparts and results in a gap in education. The development of technology in the classroom has caused students to fail the learning of fundamentals and has exploited lower socioeconomic school districts.
Education is one of the most important professions in the working world. Technology has done many things for us in today’s society especially for education and schools. Technology in the school system has impacted the students and teachers in many positive ways, including virtual field trips, testing tips, teacher resources, class web sites, and lesson plans. With computer use in our schools, we have access to many different sources and various types of learning.
Research over the past 40 years has shown conclusively that technology-based methods are usually superior to traditional ones.
The education world has been greatly influenced by rapidly changing technology and the increasing availability of information. Schools have advanced by leaps and bounds when it comes to incorporating technology into the learning environment, however, many more advances need to be made. In all areas of the country, educators are trying to help students keep up with technology, but there are more changes that are essential for preparing the next generation for the future.