Blog 3

So I recently entered the Education program at Brandon University and one of the courses I am in is ICT.  This course is all about how to use technology in the classroom.  I have never really been one for technology.  I hardly had internet growing up, I was always the slowest typer in class, and so on.  So of course, when I enter the ICT course I was OVERWHELMED.  I heard of all the stuff we would be doing, like making a website and a blog, and all I could think was, "I could never do that."  

It's a few weeks in now and I am still overwhelmed but at least I enjoy it.  I've learned a bunch of new things, like Padlet, Google docs, how to make an internet portfolio, and how to make a website. I'm having a lot of fun doing the website.  I still don't know how I'm going to stay on top of all the things we do, but I'll figure it out.

For a few months this spring I worked at a high school and that is when I realized what a big deal technology in a classroom could be.  When I graduated everyone had cell phones but they weren't these fancy smart phones that could do all kinds of fancy stuff.  (I still have a "stupid phone")  At first I thought that students with cell phones in class was a bad idea, and to a degree I still do, but I also realized how useful they can be if used appropriately. A student who truly wants to learn can access the internet at any time to get help with a problem or even just to learn something new that is outside of the school curriculum. 

I realized how cool of a tool Youtube is in a classroom.  Lessons and cool teaching tricks from all over the world can be shown to a class.  Same idea with Pinterest; teachers from all over the place share neat ideas or projects.  a website is an obvious one.  A student does not have much of an excuse for incomplete work when all assignments are posted just a click away.  Not to mention how helpful they are in keeping touch with parents.

I have to say that the ICT has really woken me up to the uses of technology in a classroom. I guess I've come to realize that iPads and smartphones and social networking sites (and so on and so on) are here to stay and are hugely impacting today's teens, so rather than hiding from it, maybe I should embrace it.