| p>It's an exciting time for education and | | | | concern has been actual "computer access" the |
| technology. Educational technology is consistently | | | | students have throughout the week. Having |
| improving and more common place in the | | | | enough computers and creating a consistent |
| classroom. Google "21st Century Classroom | | | | schedule for the entire school has always been a |
| Presentation." You'll find schools moving to a | | | | challenge. An answer to this challenge has been |
| different kind of environment. Is this good? Are | | | | mobile laptop carts. Imagine a large cart with 25 |
| there problems with adding interactivity and | | | | laptops shelved, plugged into outlets within the |
| engaging materials in the classroom? | | | | cart. Only the cart needs an external outlet to |
| These questions won't be answered in this article. | | | | power all laptops. This cart is moved from |
| This article is going to focus on educational | | | | classroom to classroom and students are |
| technology. Technology that is consistently | | | | assigned a computer number. Instead of |
| demonstrated at conferences for teachers and | | | | scheduling computer time to the computer lab, |
| administrators. This article is intended to educate | | | | teachers are reserving these laptop carts...bringing |
| you on what technology is currently available for | | | | the computer lab to them! |
| schools. We're also going to stick with the 21st | | | | Classroom Response Systems or Voting |
| Century Classroom theme. | | | | Response Systems or clickers are becoming a |
| Document cameras, projectors and computers | | | | common trend as an added piece to their |
| are becoming common place in the classroom. | | | | educational technology plan. You will be sure to |
| Document cameras are an incredible piece of | | | | find more information when you Google "21st |
| technology used in education today. The ability to | | | | Century Classroom Presentation". These devices |
| show a page in a text book or a worksheet up | | | | allow for true interactivity and engagement within |
| on the board without making a transparency! | | | | the class as a whole. |
| Many schools still use transparencies and overhead | | | | The last piece of any educational technology plan |
| projectors. Overhead projectors limit the freedom | | | | is the software. Blogs, wikis, games, curriculum |
| to adapt to the class and create real-time learning | | | | software, reading and math intervention software, |
| experiences based on student responses. | | | | etc. are all things students do on the computers. |
| Projectors and interactive whiteboards are a must | | | | Once hardware is in place, the question is, "What |
| ever since the Internet became available. | | | | do the students do on the computers?" |
| Multimedia, simulations, videos, maps, research, | | | | Educational software is such a broad term, |
| etc... Projectors allow for whole class learning and | | | | schools constantly are researching software |
| engaging discussions that extend from a specific | | | | specific to a target group of students: high school |
| topic or skill. The interactive whiteboard | | | | credit recovery, homebound students, before |
| technology allows the teacher to stay in front of | | | | after school programs, supplement content to the |
| the classroom notating and controlling the mouse. | | | | school's curriculum, state test prep software, etc. |
| Another important educational technology piece | | | | One thing is for certain, educational technology is |
| are computers. Computer labs have been | | | | constantly improving and classrooms are moving |
| common in schools for sometime. The real | | | | closer and closer to the 21st Century Classroom. |