It is very interesting that as there are more and more
information, tools, and applications put on the web everyday, the school’s firewall blocks more and more of
them from being used. I understand the
reason that sites like Facebook and YouTube are blocked. However, I also know
that there are many educational way to use sites like these and others. At my school we have wireless Internet
throughout the school, while the desktop computers that we have do not have
wireless cards to access them. Even if
you get a USB wireless adapter you can
only connect to the guest network for security reasons. This prevents me from using programs like Air Server
to mirror what I am doing on my iPad.
Each of the algebra and geometry teachers were given an iPad at the
beginning of the year with the new book adoption. With this Air Server it would make this
device much more beneficial to my students.
This is much like when Anna had the two new computers in her classroom but didn’t have the software to take advantage of it. “She found some free and “shareware”
drill-and practice instructional practices and instructional game software
packages, and successfully lobbied the principal to buy others” (Roblyer and
Doering, 3). Myself and other teachers have talked with our principal about the wireless network situation and it
seems like we might be coming to some kind of a solution. I can
only imagine what types of problems that I will face in the future. I think that we will see the virtual classroom
becoming more and more common. With the
evolution of educational social networks like Edmodo, I think education will
continue to have more of a presence in the virtual world. My students already depend on this social
network to get information like homework, test dates, and even turn in
assignments. This virtual world is not
without its own problems. One of the
biggest problems with most social networks and teenagers is cyber bulling. As there are more and more outlets for the
students to have an online presence there are also more ways for them to abuse
the power. I think this will become an
increasing problem in the future. As we
overcome these and other obstacles, I think that the greatest power that these
new technologies bring is in the area of scaffolding. We can use these technologies to reach each
student where they are and help be the best they can be.
