Technology & Learning - January 2009 - (Page 28)

FEATURESTORY we’re going to be doing a lesson on the Civil War, let’s look at this Web site”—but it’s not an integral part of the lesson. We determined that it couldn’t be an integral part of the lesson because there weren’t tools available that easily allowed teachers to create lessons around the technology. There are products out there. But I can understand why teachers aren’t authoring their lessons everyday in these tools. It’s like asking them to program in HTML. How good are they at that? I would say many of them don’t even know what HTML is, especially when we see elementary education majors who are only required to take one three-hour course in technology. So what we did was create the Mobile Learning Environment. It is a tool that runs on top of Windows Third-grade Singapore school students using mobile computers in a mobile, conversational manner Mobile, Windows CE, or Windows XP. It allows teachers to easily take whatever applications they environment. These companies are saying, “You adopt this normally use and build a cohesive lesson in a short time with technology, and with it, you also adopt this curriculum.” We very little training. feel that this doesn’t work. School districts have existing ES: What Cathie’s explaining is that schools have existing curriculum they teach with, you can’t tell them to change curriculum that they have to teach. They bring that pencil the curriculum because of the technology. and paper curriculum to the table and set it down next to a computer and say “How do I take this pencil and paper stuff T&L: Some critics argue that handhelds present an and integrate it with the technology?” Some companies try opportunity to empower student learning in a way we’ve to replace the curriculum through a new computer-based never before imagined possible, but it could come at the expense of teacher control. Can student Cathleen Norris and Elliot Soloway are both pioneering empowerment and teacher control educators who are defining the future of technology and coexist in the classroom? learning. CN: The teachers who are out of control DR. CATHLEEN NORRIS, a former high school teacher when students have handhelds are the for over 14 years, is a professor in the Department of same teachers who are out of control Technology and Cognition at the University of North Texas. when the students have pencils and Cathleen is also the past president of ISTE and the past paper. I was a classroom teacher for 15 president of NECA, the organizing body for the country’s years and back then the threat was that leading technology and education conference, NECC. computers were going to come in and DR. ELLIOT SOLOWAY is a faculty member at the replace all teachers. All of the good University of Michigan. In addition to teaching at the teachers felt that any teacher who could university, Elliot is involved with a number of grant initiatives for the development of middle school science be replaced by a computer should be. instruction through technology. His research also There is always room for and a place involves working with many different school districts to for good teachers. In this case the role of define technology-based curricula. the teacher is different. It’s not necessarTogether Cathleen and Elliot have authored and pubily a role of handing out the information. lished over 100 different research papers on a variety of difYou don’t open up students’ heads and ferent learning technologies through the professional dump in the information. Rather, teachorganization the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). They are also founders, ers provide direction and contextualize partners, and collaborators of the handheld software company, GoKnow. things for students as they do their les- 28 | TECH & LEARNING

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Technology & Learning - January 2009

Technology & Learning - January 2009 Contents Editor’s Desk News & Trends Put to the Test VS Revo Group Mimio Studio 6 Software NewTek TriCaster Type to Learn 4 Pure Digital Flip Mino Video Camera Get Better With Your Tech The Future is in Your Hand Write On! A Guide to Buying Printers January 2009 What’s New What They Said

Technology & Learning - January 2009

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