Welcome to Week 4!
Welcome to Week 4 of Technology Methods!
Last week, we looked at the vision that Massachusetts has for digital literacy, examined Bloom's Taxonomy, and discussed what teaching with technology might look like in different content areas. Something that may be helpful to remember is that the entire burden of digital literacy does not fall on you as an individual - it's on all the teachers. You aren't going to be able to take care of all of their digital literacy needs, and they may not neatly fit into your content area. As a result, what teaching with technology and engaging students with technology looks like will necessarily be different depending on your discipline.
This Week in Technology Methods
This week, we will be considering the relationship between technology and equity. This relationship is often described as the "digital divide" between those who have access to technology and those who don't. We'll be considering the issue of access in light of the current pandemic.
1) Read the two Toness articles.
2) Observe the use of technology at your field site and talk to your mentor teacher about their approach to using technology. If possible, talk to another teacher at your field site as well, to get multiple perspectives.
3) Observe the available technologies in your field site through the lens of social equity. How do your expectations of the access that your students have to technology in the classroom or at home measure up with the realities of access? How might this affect the choices you will make when teaching with technology?
4) By Thursday at 11:59pm, please post a ~200-word response to the reading for the week. This post should address some portion of the reading and tasks for the week that struck you as important, provocative, or challenging in relation to teaching with technology. Please be sure to draw directly on the reading, including quotations, as you develop your response. Please use the citation format that is appropriate to your discipline to cite your sources. You should also draw on your fieldwork experiences and the specific tasks I have assigned for the week in your posts. Additionally, please post a ~200 word description of your current pre-practicum experiences with remote teaching.
5) By Sunday at 11:59pm, please post 6 substantial follow-up comments (~100 words each) on the discussion board (in response to classmates or to my or your classmates' responses to you). Three (3) should be in response to the readings and 3 should be in response to the question about pre-practicum experiences. These comments should not be simply, "I agree" or "I disagree," but should contribute to the emerging conversation about teaching with technology.