You Mean Teachers Don't Just Magically Know How To Use Computers In Teaching?
from the training,-anyone? dept
In the ongoing debate over using computers in the classroom, one of the biggest issues that doesn't get nearly enough attention is teacher training. It shouldn't come as any surprise at all that teachers are worried about computers taking away from other lessons in the classroom. Teachers need to be trained to see how computers can (and cannot) be helpful. They shouldn't be forced on teachers either. A computer can be quite helpful in certain subjects when paired with a teacher who knows how to use them as a learning aid. That doesn't mean in every case and it doesn't mean that computers are necessarily "good" or "bad" for the classroom. They're just a tool -- and with the proper training, many teachers are likely to find computers in the classroom to be a useful tool.
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You Mean Teachers Don't Just Magically Know How To
My wife who designed the "eCommerce" courses for the college she professors, spent time teaching not only how to teach the course to other profs but MORE time on how to use a computer.....no I don't mean just as it pertained to the courses, but how to use email, and other basic skills, and after three years it's better now, but still takes up a lot of her time. Surprised the heck out me when I realized that even professors weren't up to todays modern tech a technology that in a very few years will have to be the way of life of all business on the planet yet these teachers of business (they are to a person award winning types in teaching business) didn't take upon themselves to learn the new tech as it evolved.
Widepart
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No Subject Given
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Good and Bad
in most classrooms there is an 'interactive whiteboard'. a computer hooked up to a projector which shines on what is essentially a blackboard-sizes tablet which is claibrated so that the teacher can 'write' on the 'screen'. this normally functions as a regular whiteboard, but with more features, such as saving lessons, moving graphics on the screen and so on. it also allows the teachers to show videos, graphics, webpages, or anything else that they can show on the monitor. however, to get one of these installed in their classroom, the teacher must pass the ECDL [european computer driving licesnce] test, one which assures basic competancy with computers, and with the whiteboard system. this is generally accepted as a good thing. sure, some teachers use drywipe boards, or transparency OHPs, but those who use interactive whiteboards say they could never go back.
then there's student use of computers. except in specific classes [computing, technology, ICT, etc.] this is not a good plan. the students [me included] just browse the web, and rarely pay attention. so computers are used like this only when their 'good' use is assured, such as when the clas needs to make a powerpoint presentation for ause with a projector.
the provision of desktop computers around the school, for use by students during private study, free periods, or breaks, is great. they *are* sometimes used for games, but in the student's own time, who cares? the main use, though, is doing work, and using the school email system to communicate with teachers on projects and so on. in fact computers are so integrated into the fabric of the school that the main excuses for not having done homework, are 'the school spamfilter ate it;' 'i left my usb key / flash drive at home;' and 'didn't you get the attachment on my email?'
as a conclusions to this long comment. computers are good for use by teachers in classrooms and by students out of them. but never give a student a computer if you want them to pay attention to anything else.
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Re: Good and Bad
Computers are good for use by teachers in classrooms and by students out of them. But never give a student a computer if you want them to pay attention to anything else.
I have been assistant teaching in the elementary school locally for 3 years, and I love to teach the children to use the computers and watch their confidence skyrocket when they come in for open house and teach their parents something new on them. It's an amazing thing to watch a child learn, and computers accelerate that learning to mind-boggling levels! But Flamsmark is more than correct... once they know how to play on a computer, a student will do little else with it no matter what the teacher had hoped they would be doing!
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teachers using computers
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