Favorite Technology Readings

For my ICE 234 class, I was required to read several articles that pertained to technology, especially concerning students in the classroom. These articles helped me to understand the role that technology should have in a student's education. They also informed me of the different levels of understanding student's have concerning the use of technology.

1. Digital Tools for Digital Kids http://www.apple.com/education/digitalkids/

This reading was especially helpful for me. Too be honest, I didn't really know just how much information kids had about technology. When I was younger, technology wasn't really used in the classroom. However, my technology use was limited, and I didn't really have the proper skills that I needed. This article helped me to see that kids today definitely know more about technology than I do. This is helpful from a teacher's standpoint, especially knowing that the students can handle difficult tasks when they have a computer as a tool.


2. Top 10 Smart Technologies For Schools http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/TL/2002/11/topten.php

I also found this reading to be extremely helpful. I know there are many different types of technology, but I never really knew which technologies would help me in the classroom. One of my favorite technologies that were mentioned was the "voice to text" technology. A student that I know has a very difficult time writing her school work, and she uses a voice to text technology when she has extremely long papers. At first I thought that this gave her an unfair advantage, but after reading this article, I saw that it could hinder, but also help a person. Another technology that I read about was fingerprint recognition. At first, I didn't see how this technology could be used in the classroom. However, after thinking about all of the horrible things that have happened because people have gotten on campus, it makes perfect sense. Fingerprinting is one way that we can protect our students. We could have fingerprint locks, enabling only people that have been screened to have access on campus.