Where We Are Today!

After reading just the first few pages of chapter one, I began to realize just how far technology has come in the 23 years I have been on this planet. It's amazing to think back now of what technology was used in the classroom when I first started school and how instruction was given by my teachers versus how I give instruction today.

Just as an example, I remember using the one Apple green screened computer that we had in my kindergarten classroom. The learning games were a blast to me, but I feel sure if my students today were presented with it that they would have no idea on what to even do with it.

In my own kindergarten classroom though, there are two computers in there with various types of software that is interactive with the students. On top of that, instruction is always incorporated with technology via a projector connected with a computer. Their worksheets can be seen on the screen, and I can write on the screen using my Mobi board. It's insane the huge differences!

As I was reading, I could really relate with two of the issues that are shaping the role of technology in education. To begin, economic conditions are a huge factor in technology in the schools. As a Title I school, our school receives funds, but those funds have drastically been reduced this year. This means that funds that could be allocated towards technology are no longer there. As a result, the computers that are in the classrooms that desperately need to be replaced with more updated ones will have to fall to the wayside. It also means that interactive software, that comes at a price, will also fall to the wayside. Only the absolutely necessary ones will be acquired this year, which includes Math Facts in a Flash, Accelerated Reader, and Lexia.

On the flip side though, more virtual K-12 courses are being provided, or should I say offered, to students all over the United States. Not only are courses offered to students in elementary through high school, we are all here due to courses being provided to us through this form of technology. Amazing, isn't it? I must say that because of this change in education, I have been able to get my degree in undergrad, and I will be getting my master's degree without having huge financial debt. This opportunity that technology has provided me has enabled me to further my education without the trouble of traveling at strange hours of the night and without the expense of traveling elsewhere.

If there is one thing that we have learned from history that has helped shape technology today and in the future, I would say it would be that technology is not a cure for education. Instead, it is a helpful resource. In fact, technology sometimes can make education a bit more difficult as it changes so frequently and offers so many options. It enables some to use it in ways it is not intended for like in plagiarism and cheating.

Once again, distance learning is a great example. Because of plagiarism, software is developed to protect against it. Because of some not doing their own work, technological resources like the Remote Procter have been created.

Technology has its perks and its downside, but overall I feel like it has opened up many areas of the universe that we may have never experienced without. Because of it, we are much more knowledge about many different subjects.