A Great Resource
I recently picked up a new journal called, "The Creative Educator". This very informative journal features an article on "Making Time for Technology". The article was written by David Cochran, Ed.D.
Here is just a little of what they suggested:
The Cup of Time and the Saucer of Lost Learning
Imagine a cup holding all the time we have to help our students learn. Each new thing we add to the cup fills it more until something overflows into the Saucer of Lost Learning. Think for a minute about your overflowing curriculum. When you add something new, what stays in your cup and what overflows into your Saucer of Lost Learning?
One of the myths of technology use in the classroom is that it takes too much time and forces other important subjects to spill into the Saucer of Lost Learning. There is truth in this widely held belief if we envision technology as something more to drop into the Cup of Time. If we treat technology like a new subject, it will force something into the saucer, creating new problems and frustrations. If, on the other hand, we see technology as a tool to help accomplish the learning goals we would seek to accomplish anyway, then it is not an add-on subject. In this view of technology, we are trading traditional ways of learning for newer, perhaps more exciting ways of accomplishing goals. When we replace something in the Cup of Time, less, or nothing, spills into the Saucer of Lost Learning.
We need to:
(1) Keep the end in sight. We should make it clear in the beginning what we want students to know and be able to do by the end of their experience.
(2) Take a hard look at ourselves and the dynamics of our classroom to become aware of the ways we waste time. (3) Realize that we do not need to do everything with computers.
(4) Add to our repertoire over time. Each year we can add more and more lessons that involve technology.
(5) Understand that using technology is a front-loaded time consumer. The first time we do anything with a computer usually takes longer than we would like. The good news is that when we work out the details and save our lesson, it becomes a time efficient activity in the future.
Here is the link to the entire article: http://www.thecreativeeducator.com/stories/current/time.html
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