Technology in the Classroom

        This past week in class we spent a majority of the time watching a video about the use of technology in South Korea. This video was of particular interest to me because a good friend of mine just moved to South Korea to teach through Teach for America. It's interesting that a country so far away with cultures so different from ours can be so similar in a mechanical way. South Korea is much more highly advanced when it comes to technology. On top of being one of the world leaders in technology creation and implementation, South Korea educates its citizens on the proper usage of such devices.
      I think that if we are going to implement any sort of tool in the classroom, that we first need to teach responsible behavior for said tool. If we do not set up rules and/or guidelines for usage of new tools in the classroom, then students will go awol with them. Technology usage in the classroom has opened, and will continue to open, many doors for learning within the classroom. It is not plausible for me to take all of my students to a country halfway across the world, but it is plausible for me to pull up a national geographic movie on my overhead projector or classroom TV and show my students what it is like in those distant lands.
     Technology is the gateway to global learning. It allows us to encourage open-minds and reach beyond our own backyards. I think that like any other tool in the classroom, technology usage needs to be moderated and supervised. It should have specific purposes and one should stick to those set uses.

Academic uses for a webcam

        I've always used my computer's webcam for personal tasks, but never really considered using it for academic reasons. People tend to associate webcams with online, video chatting, but someone doesn't need to be on the other side of the camera to make use of it. Based on the different backgrounds that were availible, and the option to include your own backgrounds, I would use the technology of a webcam to do a world-wide tourism project. Each student would be  given, or would select, a country and then they would have to find out everything there is to know about that country. They would need to 'photograph' themselves at various important locations (tourist spots, monuments, etc) in that country. The ability to change photo backgrounds for the webcam would make this project possible.
       
         Another way I would use this, if studying Operation Iraqui Freedom/The War on Terror, is to video chat with some friends that I have who are in the military. Doing a weekly video chat would keep the students up to date with what is going on over in the Middle East as well as give them a personal connection to the task.
    
        I would then have the students, depending on grade level, use the xtranormal program to create a 30 second commercial 'advertising' their country.

       These are just a few simple ideas, but I think that they would make the information come alive to the students as well as make it personal to them.