Journal 2

The third article titled The Laptops are Coming gave an in depth viewpoint of a teachers experience with the assigning of laptops for each student in her secondary school. At first she was thrilled at the idea and all the potentially amazing class activities she could now conduct. As the year progressed she found that these computers became more of a curse than a blessing. Between mandatory assignments from the faculty and the ability of the tech team to monitor he computer it became a distraction rather than a helping hand. She found herself trying to determine if her students were looking up certain research materials or if they were e-mailing their friends. She reflected towards the end of the article that in hindsight she wishes they had better planned for the perils that may come with the introduction of emerging technology into the classroom.

As a future teacher I found this article very surprising. Most people would see the addition of this technology to their school as a blessing, but she gave many examples of how the lack of preparation for the new computers lead to many downfalls within the program. It gives all the people who have read this article a heads up on how to handle this inevitable situation that we will all face in some way or the other.

Question: How do you prepare for incoming technology into your school?

Answer: I believe that the only way to prepare for incoming technology is to research the pitfalls of each addition to the classroom. Also by brainstorming with staff and faculty about potential problems many of these problems can be avoided by using administrative controls on the computers.