Week 8 Readings

Obviously technology can be beneficial in an educational context or this class would not exist. For each educational challenge we encounter, we can look to technology for a solution. The difficulty, though, lies in choosing the right technology to integrate into the right situation. It is important to note that new technology is not always the answer. It could be something that already exists, implemented in a different way. Also, there may be more than one way to realize a solution to the educational challenge using technology. This seems trivial, but just as students learn differently, and teachers each teach in a distinct manner, technology must be integrated in a unique way for every setting. This all depends on the knowledge of both the instructor and the students about the technological tool as well as the effort put forth into integrating it as a part of the learning process, not just another way to regurgitate the same information.

If I were to use PowerPoint to give my lecture as opposed to handwritten notes on an overhead projector, it could potentially be the same exact lesson -with a few variables (in handwriting and pace of the lecture). The content is the same and the presentation of the content is the same. The key to technology is creating a new perspective on the material in order for the students to develop a deeper understanding, not to simply reiterate the same information typed as opposed to hand written.

Hooper describes the difference between using technology in education and educational technology. Technology in education is just the same information presented in similar manner using a technological tool - such as a tv or overhead projector, whereas an educational technology is pulling beneficial attributes from technologies that may or may not exist in order to create the best possible learning environment for each individual student. The idea is that no two students are the same. Each learn in a unique style; so in order to appeal to each student, the teacher must present the information from multiple perspectives. Each manner in which ideas are presented will bring a different level of understanding of the material to each student.

Just as students are introduced to division - knowingly or not - they learn two types of division: quotative and partitive. Partitive division is when the number of groups is known but the size of each group is unknown whereas quotative division is when the size of each group is known and the number of groups is the unknown. That's basically just a fancy way of saying that 24 can be broken up into four groups with six in each group, or groups of six, in which case there are four. Either way there are four groups of six that compose the 24 units and it really depends on how you visualize partitions.

Similarly, each student learns differently, and sees things from a different perspective. In my eyes, inquiry based learning is exponentially beneficial to each student because of this. It gives each student, or group of students, an opportunity to use their personal perspective as a tool to solve the problem at hand. It allows for students to see problems in different ways and take different paths to reach the same conclusions - or maybe different conclusions the teacher couldn't have even dreamed of.