Each year educators across the nation spend some part of their summer attending professional development workshops or college courses in an effort to bring the latest techniques and teaching methods to their classrooms. Technology is a tool that has become the topic of many professional seminars and something that teachers are learning to use and add to their academic toolbox. In an article addressing technology as methodology not just design, John Williams writes, “Students should perceive technology as a thoroughly integrated activity, not one which can be separated into content and process, or theory and practice.”
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To support its mission, hardware and software can come together to help a school align its technology with its teaching.
The committee members sat quietly as each looked around at the others. The school board president had just thrown down the gauntlet challenging his technology team to figure out just what went wrong. Everyone thought that they had done it the right way. They had the costs of the computers all added up; they knew where the computers would be placed; they had looked at the latest software; they had even bought the best ergonomically designed chairs for the students. And yet the computers just sat there week after week and nobody used them.
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Six years ago, the internet was limited both in what it could do and in who used it. Many people had heard the word but did not have a clue what it was. Today, most teachers have not only been exposed to the internet but also have access at home or at school. In fact, a large number of schools are being retrofitted to place the internet in every classroom. Even more exciting than this is the newest technology: Wireless. A school can purchase a ‘Portable Classroom’. This consists of laptops networked together, allowing students to work at their desks WITHOUT wires. If the laptops are networked to a printer, students can print from their personal computer to the classroom printer. Imagine the possibilities!
Integrating Technology
Research is the number one reason to use the internet in education. Students have a wealth of information open to them. Often, when they are researching obscure topics, school libraries do not have the needed books and magazines. The internet helps solve this problem.
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