Tetrad Response to Group

The tetrads for Timothy Jetter and Alicia Roberts were not posted.

Here is my response for Lakeisha Coleman:
We basically had the same information for what it enhances, reverses, and obsoletes. With one exception, Lakeisha writes that it replaced "dads" and I do not know what that is. She opened up my eyes to the USB drive retrieving filing cabinets. I never considered this before. I like her connection between a filing cabinet organizing information and a USB doing the same. I agree.

Tetrad for USB

Benefits of using a USB Flash Drive

Module 2 Technology Selected

The technology my group is using is the Floppy Disc.

Identify an Emerged Technology

 The blackboard, or chalkboard, has stood up to the test of time. Dating back to ancient times, students in Babylonia and Sumeria used clay tablets and a stylus to write. These tablets were wet and then written on again (Concordia University, 2009). Overtime clay tablets turned into slates or painted wood and eventually led to green steel plates, which we now recognize as chalkboards. In the 1980’s the dry erase board was invented and many schools used that instead of the chalkboard because it eliminated chalk dust, which causes allergies (Concordia University, 2009).  

 Now, the digital whiteboard is making its way into every classroom that can afford it. The digital whiteboard engages students, is easy to use, and provides more opportunities than just writing information on it (SMARTClassrooms, 2009). The chalkboard allowed people to write information and draw pictures on it so students can copy it. Visual learners benefited from seeing the information displayed in front of them. The digital whiteboard not only presents visual text and drawn pictures, but can also share animated videos, graphs, sounds, and more from the internet. Students can interact with these elements when they come up to the board. Here is a website featuring the digital whiteboard, made by SmartBoard: http://smarttech.com/smartboard. There is a big need in society for a greater use of technology because students enter a world filled with technology once they leave the classroom. The digital whiteboard provides students with the opportunity to be challenged during lessons and to provide them with immediate information about the world around them.

            Challenges that occur with this technology are due partially to the hardware of it. With original models, if more than one pen is picked up at a time, the board does not work. Additionally, we are moving into an age where typing is the number one component for transferring information. However, with the digital whiteboard, the only keyboard provided is the visual one on the screen, which can be difficult to use. Digital whiteboards mounted high on the wall are often too high for students to reach. Those on wheels lose their alignment when they are accidentally touched or pushed. Lastly, students often get used to looking only at the digital whiteboard and they are not looking at the teacher. Even when the teacher is speaking, the students are often looking at the board instead of the teacher.  

            This technology could be even better if multiple styluses could write on the board at one time. If there was an external keyboard that could be connected and used rather than a virtual keyboard, typing on the board would be faster. A lock feature for the wheels or a way to install it lower on the wall would also make the experience better. If there was a way to turn off and on the board quickly so that attention could be diverted to the speaker, this would help attention.

References

Concordia University (2009). The history of the classroom blackboard. Journal of News and

            Resources for Teachers. Retrieved from http://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/reference-

            material/the-history-of-the-classroom-blackboard/

 

SMARTClassrooms (2009, April 13). SMART Boards why are they so easy to use? Retrieved

from http://youtu.be/0U05WeXPGlk

Select an Obsolete Technology From the Supply Closet

The Nextel cell phone used for walkie talkie capabilities is an obsolete technology at the school at which I work. The Nextel cell phone was bolted to every classroom wall with security screws. They were supposed to be plugged in and left on throughout the day so that each classroom could communicate with each other, the therapy rooms, or the front office if needed. Everyone was instructed to do this by “bleeping” each other, which was a term that meant pushing a button to activate the walki talkie feature, then punching in the code of a phone from another room, and then talking through the speaker. The purpose of the phones was so we could communicate with other rooms without physically going to those rooms.

            There were many reasons this technology stopped being used. First, the phones were placed too high from the outlet for the plug to reach it. As a result, every room had to add an extension cord to use it. In a school for students with special needs and behavior problems, the cord was always a hazard. Second, in order for the phones to work, they had to be on. The phones were turned off in some classrooms because anyone who owned a Nextel phone and had the phone’s number could bleep it, even if that person was not part of our school building or staff. That means people who dialed a number incorrectly would bleep the rooms and some of the rooms had the phone number of a phone that was recently disconnected so anyone trying to still reach that person continually bleeped. This was distracting during the day. Third, in order to answer a call, someone had to hold down the button and respond, the same way a walkie talki works. This means teachers had to stop teaching in order to communicate with the caller. Fourth, it was a long process to look up the phone number of the room you wanted to communicate with, wait for the person to answer, and then communicate though the walkie talki. Many times people felt it was faster to just walk to the other classroom, especially considering that our school is not very big. Fifth, our school is used my other programs, who rent the building, during the evening and weekends. The students who attended those programs would use tools to pry the phones off the wall, and steal the memory cards and batteries out of the back of the phones. Or, they would use it so much, that it had to be reset, which would mean we would have to pry it off the wall to reset it. Sixth, the school no longer had enough money in the budget to pay the monthly fee for all of the phones. The two technologies that are used in replace of the Nextel phones are two technologies we already had in place: the school intercom and email. The school intercom only works between the office and the classrooms. Email can work between anyone with an email address in the school. The only way for a classroom to communicate with another classroom immediately is by physically going to that classroom. If there are staff or teachers who are friends we also call or text each other from our cell phones.

            In order for me to want to integrate a technology into my organization, the technology needs to provide an opportunity that is not otherwise possible without it. This could mean bringing a completely new variable into the picture. For example, the students could use an iPad to simulate a cash register to help students learn to make change for vocational practice. It could also mean making a difficult task easier. For example, using an iPad to create a picture collage by cutting and pasting pictures already saved in the iPad rather than manually cutting them with scissors and gluing them down.