#18: Technology in the Home

The past 4 years, I have been in a portable with minimal technology at my fingertips. This year I am more blessed with a projector that rolls and a few student computers. Regardless, technology fascinates me and the power it can have over education. Therefore, the past several years I have really tried to implement technology that students can use at home that is beneficial and engaging at the same time. Whenever you use technology that students must or can use at home, you risk several things. First, you risk students come in and giving excuses for not having a particular assignment because their log-in didn’t work, there computer was down, or their printer was broken. The risk of student excuses means you must have a backup plan for if the technology is faulty. Second, many parents have different rules regarding technology and can impede with the technology implementation. For instance, one time I did not post a “Blog bonus” for the next day’s test until seven and many students could not use the internet past six. Another time, I did a texting activity in class. Many students had to participate with their friend because they did not have free texting or texting at all.

As always, safety issues come around when the Internet is being used. I recently created a Facebook group which I had talked about previously. Though the benefits are great, I have had a few parent calls about the group regarding safety from the children who did not previously have a Facebook account. Internet safety has been a very legitimate concern for parents. The idea that children can do so much on them and parents don’t necessarily know what their children are doing creates a negative stigma around Internet use at home. Though the Internet can be such a useful tool, many students are not mature enough to use the Internet in the correct manner. Educators and parents must teach acceptable and appropriate Internet use strategies or the child could end up in serious trouble and many times, mistakes are not easily erased in regards to technology.

One technology that I do have an issue with is the overwhelming power of videogames. With PlayStation and Xbox, students really can become addicted to these games. Physical exercise and play have decreased and I hear of students being up playing videogames until the early morning hours, finding they come to school exhausted the next day with homework incomplete. Many of these video games, like the new hit Call of Duty, are violent and contain pervasive language. Not all videogames are like this. For instance, in NCAA Football 2009 kids are able to strategize plays for their teams, make and execute decisions based on data shown on different players, etc. Though it revolves around football, some of these videogames can be a true stimulus and create a learning environment through engaging problem solving.