Carpe Diem

For this assignment we were instructed to watch a short webinar video about technology in the classroom. There were two very distinct models being used in the two schools.  In the Carpe Diem School, students were basically being taught by the technology (shallow scaling) as opposed to the other school, St. Mary's School, where students were taught to use technology to solve problems and find answers.(deep scaling)

I feel pretty good about my ability to teach in a more "doing is learning" way, however , I feel that I still need a lot more practice.  This class has helped immensely!

I currently use desktop computers, laptops, a SMartboard, iPads, and smart phones in my instruction. My class has used the Microsoft Office suite extensively.  We also use Prezi, Cengage, several WVDE sites, blogspot, google, and many others that I just can't think of right now.

I would love to see teachers and students have access to some of the new Surface tablets from Microsoft.  They are fast and portable like the iPad, but they also run the complete office suite and flash player.   If I were in a position for recommendations to the school board, I'd definitely suggest a tablet like Surface that kids could check out and take home, but due to cost constraints and liability issues, I don't see this happening anytime soon.  Perhaps, there could be some kind of reduced price purchase option for students.  Considering what schools spend on text books, I could see this as being a possibility.  If the student owned the device with a parent's permission, that would at least relieve some of the liability issue.

I believe the answer is somewhere in between the two models. ( Carpe Diem verses St. Mary's). And, I think that's a good thing.  Sometimes it's good that a person can just turn on a tutorial and learn the information. (Carpe Diem) That within itself is an important skill and one that I see being used in the real world for on the job training.  That should only be a small piece, however.  Working in small and larger groups to solve real problems with the help of technology is the real goal.

The NETS addressed in this activity include:

1c.promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes. 2b.develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress. 2d. provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching. 5.by sharing your information, Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources.