EDLD 5364 Teaching w/ Technology Week 1

According to one of this week’s readings, teachers should use tools and resources that match student learning styles. “Technology makes it possible to target the right approaches for each student in order to provide individualized and differentiated instruction.” (Solomon, & Schrum, 2007)
This week’s videos and readings expressed that technology should be used with instruction because computer and internet use are growing and students are sophisticated users. Computers lend themselves easily to differing learning styles simply because of the huge number of software tools and “gadgets” available to today’s educators. Teaching practices employing the uses of questioning what the students already know coupled with activities such as planning a trip and budget, journaling about a topic and studying details. This all combines with the creation of a final presentation to make thoughtful student centered learning. Technology can be used to assist students with research about a topic of study and in the presentation of the findings. The research and all the multimedia artifacts used can also be stored in an eportfolio for use in the future.
The strategies for using technology in education mentioned above, are constructive in nature, but some teachers feel that constructivism is not teaching. These opponents do not think that student-centered and student-led learning is meaningful since the teacher has only a leadership role with a classroom manager-like presence. They think that teachers must be the ones to deliver all information.
Schools today are being forced to change and incorporate more technology due to the sophistication of today’s students who do not consider technology an “extra”. Technology for these kids is a way of life and a major source of communication. Technology has changed the way today’s youth approach life. This is the way they communicate, research, learn, play and are challenged. Simply sitting in a classroom taking notes everyday doesn’t help them learn, it makes them resist.
Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0 new tools, new schools. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

I've been thinking about constructivism vs Cyborg learning theories as I read this week's readings. The two theories seem to be opposite processes. Constructivism states that learners tie new learning to previous knowledge and that it is an internal personal event. Current beliefs and knowledge are a framework to which learners assimilate new learning. Cyborg theory, on the other hand, states that new learning will happen so fast that we, as learners, will not be able to connect it with any background, or prior, knowledge because there will not be any. The things we are about to be exposed to are unknown and do not currently exist. The knowledge that we now have will become less and less important. Cyborg theory says that we must learn how to learn.

I talked to my Sp ed. Coop about assistive technologies that are being used in our schools. I was told that there are low tech such as pencil grips, large print, sentence strip and story manipulatives and high tech such as hearing aids, specialized wheelchairs and Kurzweil readers being used as assistive technologies. The representative I spoke with said that there was no cutting edge stuff being used. Some other high tech devices being used to augment communication are electronic speech synthesizers, and communication devices. Manual communication boards and programs like boardmaker are being used to create a communication boards based on a child's daily routine.