My experience with technology in the classroom

Growing up in the late 1990s and early 2000s I can recall times when the teacher rolling out the over-head projector was utilizing the technology of the time. As I progressed through school my experience with teachers who used technology only increased. Of course, there was the obvious use of technology via the internet, but there was not really anyone who understood how it worked. We were allowed on the computers aside from learning how to type as early as the fourth or fifth grade. I experienced no great difficulty in adapting to finding things and searching the internet.

Moving into middle school I struggled greatly with the basic technology classes that taught us how to operate the Microsoft platforms such as Word and PowerPoint. It was the only class in which I ever received D grade. Everything in that class hinged on the final exam and, as usual, when backed into a corner I performed.

High school didn't particularly improve any. I was able to make more than adequate use of Word and PowerPoint to earn good grades. Teachers didn't use technology much. There were laptops that each department has access to. They were stored in bulky metal cabinets that took up the entire hallway when they had to be moved to a classroom. The school was so proud of what they thought was being on the edge of technology.

Around that same time they added Wi-Fi to the school which allowed the laptops internet access. My senior year I found out an interesting fact though, the school was running its Wi-Fi connection on a home setting instead of the business one. What this amounts to is that the school had been trying to run the laptop carts, of which there were five, the computers for the technology classes, the computer lab in the library, and the individual computers in classrooms, on a Wi-Fi signal that was meant to be used only in a home setting. I gawked at the pure stupidity and ignorance of that decision. I have patience for many things, but blatant incompetence isn't one of them. My chemistry teacher was particularly vocal about how the school handled technology. He talked frequently about how the school pushed the teachers to implement technology in the classroom, but when they tried the technology wouldn't work properly.

That said, all was not bad, but there was no particularly good experience with technology either. There is nothing that is note-worthy in any case. When stuff worked it was all roses, but when it didn't, in chemistry class, lesson plans got temporarily tabled and replaced by, perhaps, more important discussions. The class would discuss how technology could be used to benefit students if only the school were able to approach the subject it in a competent, and logical, manner.

As for what I want for my students, first and foremost I want their feedback. I will be able to get this through in-class conversations, and I will probably also make use of blogging which has the added benefit of encouraging students to write. Technology can be a huge asset in the classroom and what I’d hope for my students the most is that they have the opportunities to use technology that I never had as a student. 

Heading into EDU235: Learning with Technology

     My journey to SNHU wasn’t much of a decision, or journey at all. It was what made the most sense for me at the time. I had spent two years at another school as a psychology major, earned my associate’s degree, and then became disillusioned with my career path. I knew psych wasn't what I wanted to do. I wanted to teach, teach what exactly, well, that was the question. I am capable of teaching pretty much anything, but I have my found my preference is to teach English. I came to SNHU because my former college didn't offer English as a major of choice. If they had I probably would have stayed there and never set foot on a SNHU campus.

     I took my first semester of classes, met some interesting, and not so interesting, people, completed the course work, learned lots of new things, just exceeding my own expectations at basically everything. Somewhere along the way I added a minor in education to my English major. Then when it came time for me to choose my classes that process went much more smoothly than I imagined. The process was unlike anything I had experienced before so I was, naturally, anxious.

     In the end, I landed in the class: Learning with Technology because despite growing up and attending school in the late 1990s and the early 2000s technology has come such a long way. I remember when the over-head projector was a popular piece of technology. Now kids probably come armed to learn with an IPad among other technological tools that have developed in corners of the world-wide-web. Teachers are now granted access to powerful resources that I am, as of yet, mostly unaware of, but look forward to learning about.