Technology in the Classroom

The article “The Instructional Power of Digital Games, Social Networking, Simulations and
How Teachers Can Leverage Them," really struck me on why incorporating technology into the classroom is so important in a way that I hadn't thought of before. The article mentions that utilizing technology in the classroom is so crucial because it provides a bridge between the way in which a child learns in school to the way in which they are engaged at home. I had known that there were many benefits to teachers using technology to reach their students (increased engagement, UDL, learning the tools of technology, etc.,) but hadn't really thought about matching the classroom to a student's life at home until now.

While this article, along with the others given in this week's readings, provided lots of useful information on the benefits of exposing students to the online world, I still struggle with the element of safety and responsibility when it comes to managing a class. Klopfer describes different classroom settings in which the students employ various digital pathways (games, social networking, etc.), as well as the necessity for collaboration; and Richardson lists valid reasons for why students benefit from online exposure (helps them develop and understanding of how it works, builds social skills), however there is little mention of actual classroom management during students' online work. I think it would be really interesting to see the process from beginning to end of how a teacher incorporates technology -- how he/she preps approaches the school, how he/she preps his/her students beforehand, how the students are trained to use the technology, how the teacher supervises during online/digital work, and how the work is monitored over time.

I would be very interested in potentially taking on some of the ideas from these articles, but it would be helpful to see how one goes about it.

Learning with Social Networking

Contrary to adult perceptions, while hanging out online, youth are picking up basic social and technological skills they need to fully participate in contemporary society... Youth could benefit from educators being more open to forms of experimentation and social exploration that are generally not characteristic of educational institutions. 

This quote from the findings of the Digital Youth  Project really resonated with me.  While writing my technological autobiography, I came to the conclusion that most of my learning about technology came through personal use. For example, despite hours of typing class at school, I only learned to type fluently when I started instant messaging with friends in high school.  Both the papers from the Digital Youth Project and the MIT Education Arcade really take this idea a step further pointing out that when youth use new technologies they not only learn technological skills they learn higher order thinking skills as well.

I was particularly interested in the MIT article's discussion of how social networking can support collective intelligence.  I am excited by the potential for social networks to allow peers to support each other's learning and increase intrinsic motivation.  It seems that social networks effectively utilized could be more than just the bait to draw in students' attention; they could actually foster new forms of collaboration.  I would love to experiment with one of the more controlled social networking sites they recommend to see how this works out for me in the classroom.