Etmer

This article states that "technology is now considered by most educators and parents to be an integral part of providing a high- quality education." I believe this to be true, as generations grow our use for computers is becoming larger and larger. But i wouldn't want it to take over our classroom activities. However, it is important to teach students the technology and give them great use of these as this is what they will be stepping out to in the future. So by hindering this process we are not doing our future generation any good.

Full integration of computers in the classroom is a distant goal (Marcinkiewicz, 93.) Teachers are hindering the progress of students in the progression of using technology to learn 'with' at school. Etmer argues that fear and control have more influence over us and ICT than the opportunity to overcome this and enhance technology in the classrooms significantly. If teachers do not believe that ICT can work in a classroom and be used for effective learning then they will not use it!

In other words students miss out on technology if a teacher has had bad experiences with ICT. We need to conquer these beliefs so that we understand that the value of ICT is important to students learning as this is the way of the future. Obviously as i keep saying, it should not overpower the classroom activities but it needs to become apart of it as it will be useful to students in the future, plus students love using them! We need a healthy balance between ICT and teaching. And we need to be comfortable with our uses of ICT as a teacher, why not let the students teach you a bit about it as well!

Bradshaw

This article states something that is very important to realise in teaching. Students get bored very easily and teachers do not expect much of students to dig deeper and really delve into what is being taught. They are saying it is something that is being taught and then re-said in the exact same way, regurgitation. It is important for us to remember that students need to develop their own opinions and to decide for themselves by being creative with what they have learnt.

Vygotsky believes that students need to develop new ideas from experiences and knowledge. As knowledge comes from the creation of meaning that occurs from life experience. Bradshaw states just that- get student to develop their own ideas and opinions instead of the teacher or seeing this is ICT, a web view.

Bradshaw states that there is pressure being felt by teachers to get so many topics completed by the end of the year that they feel they have no time for new ICT learning. However, when you think about it, ICT brings many ways of cognitive learning to the establishment. The discussion board is a great cognitive tool! We used this last year in ICT and this is a great way to hear what others think and you can then develop these ideas and create a more expanded view on top of your existing beliefs. You may have an article to read and then this is a great way to chat about it and develop your view into a more creative way of thinking, even changing your existing opinion maybe.

This blog we are doing is another example!
All students are creative and why not get this out of them by exposing them to ICT and prompting questions in class, get discussions going. Be realistic with the world, there are so many views it is not just one sided.