Public School Teachers Using Machines in the Next Decade

In the article, Public School Teachers Using Machines in the Next Decade, Larry Cuban describes and argues the spread of telecommunications, in businesses, industries, and the military. Furthermore, he offers three scenarios of how teachers will use technology in the future and predicts (from an educated guess) what he believes will actually happen in the future.

The first scenario is the Technophile’s. This scenario sounded really far fetched but I could imagine some people believing that this would be a truly great step into the right educational direction. I believe that computers are definitely needed in the classroom; however, I would never want the computer to become the main force in teaching.

The second scenario is the Preservationists. In this scenario, “policy makers and administrators put computers and telecommunication technologies into schools largely to improve productivity but no to alter substantially existing ways of organizing a school for instruction.” This scenario seemed to be the most traditional and least progressive in regards to computer technology.

The third scenario is the Cautious Optimists. This scenario sounded much more realistic to what is actually happening in today’s classroom. The Cautious Optimists believe that it is “slow because schools as organizations take time for their teachers to learn how to use computers to guide student learning.” Nevertheless, I must say that I hope that the continued introduction of the technology into our school’s and classrooms do not continue to be slow.

With all that said I believe that technology is a good thing but should not be the only thing. We need teachers, books, art, music, technology, etc. to provide an all round education.

Teachers' Views of Computers as Catalysts For Changes in Their Teaching Practices

In this rapidly changing world, where employment requirements and fundamental literacy expectations are constantly changing, we as teachers need to evolve so that we may help our students meet those demands. In the article, Teachers' Views of Computers as Catalysts For Changes in Their Teaching Practices, I found myself agreeing with many of the educators and policy makers whom were spoken about in the article. They suggest that with the introduction of computer technology into the classroom, we as educators will act as facilitators “by helping student’s access information, process it, and communicate their understanding.” Therefore, computer technology must become a part of the general curriculum so students are prepared for the world ahead of them.

Many teachers now have access to computer technology in their classrooms, however, in my personal experiences of have seen very little being done on the part of the teacher to introduce technology to their students. According to the article, several aspects could help the “educational technological field by examining deeper into how it might apply theory and research on the change process and teacher development.” For example, teacher as decision maker, teachers are constantly making decisions about how they teach their experience and knowledge base also influence their decisions on what course of action they will take. Teacher as learner, “for teachers to implement any new instructional strategy they must acquire new knowledge about it and then weave this together with the demands of the curriculum, classroom management, and existing instructional skills. These are some of the few ideas that could help teachers introduce computer technology to their students more effectively.

Teachers have always been responsible for what their students learn. With the growth of the technological world teachers must also take on the added responsibility of teaching students how to use the computer as a tool as well as increase computer literacy for all students. Clearly defining expectations for the teacher is critical and I believe that with clear expectations about what a teacher should be teaching will show that teachers can be successful if they take ownership of a new instructional strategy. Additionally, allowing self reflection on all teaching methods is a sure fire way to improve teaching performance.

Ensuring Equality of Educational Opportunity in the Digital Age

The Brown vs. Board of Education addressed equality of educational opportunity for all students regardless of race. The case specifically speaks of closing the gap between children who do have access to computers and children who do not have access to computers. I couldn’t agree with this more. I think it is important to recognize that all children deserve to have the same opportunities. If we do not provide the same opportunities to all children we are not doing our jobs as teachers.

Additionally, the article speaks of tangible and less tangible factors that influence students working with computers. Some of the more tangible factors reside in the socio economic status of the students attending school, as well as high enrollment of minority students. Given that there is no immediate existing solution to this problem, the article offers some wonderful ideas to help reduce the divide. Such as soliciting businesses for donations of computer technology, and/or help students access computer technology that is in the surrounding public libraries. I thnk that these ideas would be great to temporarily remedy the problem. However, we must remember to not look at it as a way to fix the problem, because the ultimate goal is to give equal access to computers and internet to every child.

Some of the less tangible factors include the way a student was being regarded as a member of an inferior race when required to attend an equal but segregated school. Furthermore, the emphasis in some inner city schools to use computer technology to learn basic computer skills, where as more affluent school use computer technology to develop higher order critical thinking skills. We must remember that no matter what school or socio-economic background a child is from, it is important to give each child the same education. I believe that by teaching different curriculums with different requirements sets the children up to view one another even more differently than they already do. This also may show a child attending a more affluent school that they are somehow “better” than the children attending an inner city school.

This article really brings to light that we as future teachers need to be educated in computer technology thoroughly so that we may provide every child with a bundle of computer knowledge. It also sheds light that we as adults need to show the future world leaders that no matter who they are or where they come from that they are brilliant beings and will not be limited to educational access because they cannot afford it.