Comments for Himelfarb EMAT515 Blog

Comment on Observations of Technology in the Classroom by AMVincent

AMVincent — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:12:29 +0000

Yes Ashley,
As I made reference to in my bog, it is sort of confusing as to why teachers have the technology if they will not use it? And, as you commented on my page, some teachers write grants for technologies, such as the Smart Boards, and still do not use it. This is all very confusing to me. I know they must be very very busy but even if the teachers don’t have time to learn every single thing about the technologies they have they can at least learn the basics…and maybe every week they could make a point to learn something new? I don’t know, just an idea, becasue clearly…this is the age of technology and we have a responsibility to our students to teach them about it.

Comment on Observations of Technology in the Classroom by jpetri

jpetri — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:20:38 +0000

I agree with you Ashley. It is a shame that the teacher does not utilize the technology available in a manner that benefits the students and may increase student involvement, interest and motivation. I wonder why the teacher doesn’t incorporate it more? Does the teacher not trust the students?

Comment on Observations of Technology in the Classroom by psportier

psportier — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:03:46 +0000

It is very disappionting that so many of us have seen technology gone to waste. I think that it brings up the point that, training and refreshers are needed to show how technology can help in the classroom. This sounds like “think of all the starving people in…” when you don’t want to eat your dinner but, many urban schools are lacking technology and there really is a responsibility to use it in a way that really adds to your class if you have it available.

Comment on New standards to facilitate eLearning by Regina Royer

Regina Royer — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:12:24 +0000

Actually, MyClasses is really just our university’s name for Blackboard. But I agree that it would be much better for the student if digital content could be easily moved from one platform to another. Since more and more public schools are offering online courses, this is a topic that will be an important one.

Comment on Equal Education and Technology by rdroyer

rdroyer — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:57:23 +0000

Wow! President Obama could use your blog entry as a press release to support his use of the stimulus money for technology. I hear that the state of Maryland is getting $600,000, which will be shared with the public school counties on a competitive grant basis. It is really great to have a president who understands more clearly the needs of education and tomorrow’s students.

Comment on Blog #2 – School IT support in need of support by Regina Royer

Regina Royer — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:12:28 +0000

Schools are also finding that leasing the computers themselves frees them from the need to provide such intensive IT support and that they can then focus on professional development. While there are not an overwhelming number of schools considering this option, it is growing.

Comment on Blog #2 – School IT support in need of support by jhesen

jhesen — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:31:37 +0000

When I read this article I was really struck how important the relationship between the teacher and the IT professional should (ideally) be. Because technology is such a “mission-critical area for schools,” perhaps budgets ahould be expanded to meet the needs of the IT staff, the teachers, and, ultimately, the students.

Comment on Blog #1 – U.S. falling behind by rdroyer

rdroyer — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:52:02 +0000

While I had not read this article, I am not surprised the the topic of global benchmarking has arisen. NCLB puts great pressure on states to have students meet the standards as demonstrated by yearly performance exams. It is left to the states, however, to determine what the standards are. Several articles have reported that some states have generally lowered the standards to help their students meet them and to then meet federal guidelines and avoid penalties. Thus, US standards could be quite out of line with global standards. It think it might be quite enlightening to compare our math and science curriculum to Japan’s, for example, where there is a national curriculum.