Blog #2

In class we have been researching different tools to use in the classroom. Though these tools are very beneficial to use, I still don't see how this will work in the elementary classroom without the teacher doing most of the work. Learning is both the child's, parent's, and the teacher's responsibility at this time in their educational career, and though the internet is a vast reseource for education, this requires more monitoring.

I see many of the tools being used in a secondary education class, and just having little exposure in the upper elementary classes. There are plenty of assignments that can be created using all different types of programs, but I feel like with lower elementary grade levels that the most useful is smartboards and wikis. Almost everything requires an email address, which requires that parents create one for the students since there are age restrictions. This is a problem because not everyone has a computer, though many have access. Another problem is if parents aren't actively involved in the child's education. Students already lie about their age to create social networking accounts, so it would be like encouraging that for those who have parents that won't let their children go onto certain sites on the internet.

There are rules in the school that students are not to use technological devices in the classroom. Those items are usually taken away in the elementary level if they are found, so some of the tools that can be accessed on the phone would not be ideal unless the schools change their policy on technology. If a teacher should decide to use technology in the classroom, like a cell phone, I think that parents should be informed. This would require that more records be kept with the communication between teachers and students. I think that should the school policies change, then the tools can be more beneficial, but until then, students will only have some exposure in the elementary levels.