6 Steps to Success in Teaching With Technology
Teaching is changing. Are you?
Two generations and only six decades later, their grandson the student received twenty years of formal English and French education, from dozens of specialized educators on three continents. Today, their grandson the teacher has many new resources, but the challenges continue. I have one class of ten-to eleven-year-olds, access to educational assistants, consultants, administrators, seminars for personal growth, and technological education tools to deliver information to my students in our small town of Penetanguishene, Ontario, from anywhere in the world.
Why is teaching still a challenge? Children are still children, with all the challenges of yesteryear – discipline, attentiveness, self-esteem, peer and parent pressure, and homework. Another significant challenge is that students today reside in a big global village, with big global problems. In this new world, information arrives at lightning speed from all corners of the earth. This high-speed digital highway influences most aspects of their society. Financial services, health care, the military, government services, and transportation are a few examples of where high-speed data collection, storage, and processing have forever changed the way we do business.
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Classroom Technology For All Your Students
One of the key things that teachers in the 21st century have to do in order to give their pupils a good education that will help them in today’s world is to ensure that they have “no child left behind” when it comes to digital technology. All your students should be able to bridge the digital divide and know how to use the tools of communication, doing business and finding information of today. And the way you use your classroom technology will have a lot to do with this.
Thankfully, grants of all shapes and sizes have made sure that even schools that might seem disadvantaged do have plenty of classroom technology on tap. The schools that might seem most at-risk of being on the wrong side of the digital divide, such as poorer inner-city schools or remote rural schools, often end up with the classroom technology they need. In many cases, the school setting may be the only place that students in these areas get to use such a wide range of technological tools.
But the presence, absence or type of classroom technology you have available isn’t the only thing that determines the width of the technological divide. On the contrary – you have to use your classroom technology to bridge the digital divide that already exists.
You have to know the other factors that contribute to the digital divide in order to know how to use the tools you have and to bridge that divide: Read the rest of this entry »
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5 Easy Steps to Retaining Women to Trades, Science and Technology Classrooms
Step One: Bridge the Technology Divide
The reality is that overall women tend to have less experience with technology than their male counterparts, whether we are talking about computer technology or auto technology. Instructors who are successful in retaining female students recognize that they need to start with the basics during the beginning of the semester so that the less experienced students get the basic building blocks needed to be successful (this is helpful to male students missing those basics too). So that might mean an introduction to tool identification and use or the basics of navigating the Internet. Instructors should also provide open lab time for students in need of additional hands-on experience. If possible, staff the lab with a senior female student, women are often more comfortable asking questions of other women in a male-dominated field. For some best practice case study examples that illustrate these concepts look at the Cisco Gender Initiative’s Best Practice Case Studies developed by the Institute for Women in Trades, Technology and Science (IWITTS) (1).
Step Two: Collaborative Learning in the Technology Classroom
Many female students lack confidence in the classroom and this negatively impacts their learning ability. There are several reasons for this: first, overall, male students have more experience with technology, especially hands-on labs; second, male students tend to boast of their accomplishments while females tend to think that they are doing poorly even when they are doing well; third, male students tend to dominate in classroom discussions and lab activities.
Technology instructors can overcome these factors by using collaborative group methods in the classroom designed to increase student learning, interaction and support of each other. Some examples of these group methods are: 1) grade students in teams as well as individually; 2) put female students in positions of leadership in the classroom; 3) assign students to teams or pairs rather than leaving it up to them to pick their partners; 4) have female students work together in labs during the beginning of the semester; 5) enlist the help of whiz kids with the teaching of their fellow students, providing them with a constructive outlet for their talents.
Step Three: Contextual Learning Read the rest of this entry »
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