Thoughts on new technology in the traditional classroom

Why should technology be integrated into social studies classrooms? How has the learning from our first session influenced your answer?

Technology has always been slow to make it into the classroom. This is mainly due to the high cost that usually accompanies it. However, I am discovering new ways to integrate newer technology into traditional teaching methods using free and existing technologies. Blogs, Web Quests, and social networking software are a few examples of free technology that has many possibilities within the social studies classroom. The key is learning how to use them effectively.

It's a necessity to integrate these all kinds of new software into my curriculum. Students are becoming increasingly dependent on the Internet for all kinds of information they want outside the classroom. They can use the Internet to find information to supplement what they learn inside the classroom, too, but it's up to the instructor to provide them with the right resources to find it.

The first session did change how I feel about this integration, because I never considered having a home page for my students. From there, I can direct them to informative and reputable websites for their reference. The Netvibes website for our homepage (EME5432) will serve as a great model for something I will soon create. Such a website will be the starting point for students' homework assignments and other necessary research they will need. Also, merging the Internet with my classroom will teach my students to make better use of the wealth of information on the Internet. According to NCSS, integrating medial literacy with social studies can "prepare our students to critically question the information and media they are seeing, hearing, and using, the more likely they are to make informed decisions and to participate as citizens who can shape democracy for the public good. (http://www.socialstudies.org/positions/medialiteracy)

This week's reading provides several examples of how teachers can use this sort of technology in their classrooms. Blogging and wikis are tools I have seen before, but never considered using them for educational purposes. I gathered from our first session that both hardware and software are being developed at a very rapid pace. In a few years, blogs, podcasts, and RSS will not only be commonplace, but could easily be outdated technology.

As a future educator, I must consider that in the future my students will have a high media literacy rate despite their age. Understanding how to connect with them outside of the physical classroom will be vital to their success. Because of the volume of information on the Internet, both reliable and unreliable, I will need to be able to direct them to the best Internet resources.

-MjG