Has Technology Redefined Learning?

While there are still many classrooms that shun the use of technology in school, I feel like learning happens outside of the classroom so much that it would be crazy to say that technology hasn't redefined how we learn. You can turn on the TV and see a website for every product advertised and this means the information is, most literally, a click away. At the grocery store, you can see many people on Pinterest or All Recipes on their smart phone gathering items for new recipes found online! Shopping centers and products everywhere now have QR Codes that can be used to gather instant information directly on your phone. So, has technology redefined learning? You bet. 


So many schools are now truly using technology as one of the main aspects of their teaching! In all classrooms today, the interaction with both the teachers and other students in the class is so important. The nice part of having technology in a classroom is that the social interaction can go way beyond the walls of the school. Alan November discusses shifting control from the teacher to the students and how important, yet difficult, that can be. Students have plenty that they are interested in learning about, we just have to listen. There are so many tools that we can allow and teach our students to use on the web. All you really need to do is search for Web 2.0 tools and you will find a plethora of websites that can be a great addition for your lessons and the students' learning. Technology tools like Type With Me and Skype are great ways to help them connect to others around the globe that are interested in the same subject. Just this week I used Type With Me for a group note taking experience for my graduate class! It is especially cool to look at the time lapse of the note taking between all four of us. We all had different Aha! points from reading and watching the same material and it allowed me to look at the material and see ideas that I may have missed, otherwise. 


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I am an art teacher and anyone can tell you that usually the best part of art class for the students is the process of actually creating artworks! I couldn't agree more. I do utilize my smart board in the art room to allow for better demonstrations. I also use the size of the smart board to my advantage in the study of art history. It allows me to show artwork in a way that it makes a big impact on all my students. Art is very visual and kinesthetic and the smart board allows me to show techniques on a large scale so that my students understand the process better. One of the websites that I use with students often is the National Gallery of Art Kids site as well as the Museum of Modern Art's Destination Modern Art interactive website. The students love to use the interactive options on both of these websites on their netbooks or the white board. We also have iPads that we can use to explore the Museum of Modern Art MOMA apps. Even though we do use technology in the art room, I still feel like the hands on human aspect of creating is the most important part of my lessons. I think that classes still need to have a balance of human interaction, hands on creating, and technology use. Our students need to know the technology that they will have to use when they have jobs in the future and we need to prepare them for this, but they will also need to know how to work with people and that should be part of our teaching, as well.