Tech for Teachers and Schools
Bringing technology into the classroom means addressing a series of challenges: budget, hardware, school infrastructure, internet policy.
Constraints:
- Bandwidth: If all the students in a class are going to connect at once, can the infrastructure support the demand?
- Permissions: Can people in the classroom even get to certain sites: YouTube, Vimeo, 2nd Life, Skype
- Developing new tools: Most teachers have been doing things without particular experience integrating technology; it takes time to do something new and different.
Here are some resources to help get started:Teachers should be using Twitter–many of their students do, and it’s a free resource.
Here is a link to an educator’s instructions teachers can use to set up accounts.
21 Signs You’re a 21st Century Teacher–some ideas for integration without thinking hard
Sources for tech-enriched learning experiences: NYC Public Television, for example
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) maintains on-line resources for educators. They maintain a presence in Second Life, Facebook and other social networking tools
Teachers can do snap polls using cell phones or other forms of text messaging using PollAnywhere.com. Mostly it’s free. And fun, since the rascals have their cell phones with them but hidden most of the day. Or teachers can run a pollafter school.
Take a quick survey with Poll Daddy–it’s free–
