The Digital Edge Project

I believe that as future educators, we need to look for opportunities to use a variety of technology in the classroom that is conducive to development and learning. For this reason, I am very excited to have added another resource to my repertoire of places to go to look for new ways to use technology in the classroom: the Digital Edge Project. The Digital Edge Project is an online library exhibiting exemplary teaching paired with the use of technology in the classroom.
After reviewing the site, three lessons stuck out to me in particular: The first was “Photographing Geometry” (in which students recognize and take pictures of geometric shapes in their immediate environment). The second was, “We’ve Got Mail” (where kindergarteners created stationary to send and receive mail using word processing and KidPix). The third lesson I focused on was “Pop Portraits” (which was set in a high school art class to make Pop Art portraits while using digital cameras and iPhoto as an alternative to the traditional use of self-portraits in the classroom).
Of the three lessons above, the one that I am most interested in is “Photographing Geometry”. I really like this lesson because I believe it promotes skills conducive to expression and learning. In this lesson, students are encouraged to work together, create presentations, and share ideas. Students will also feel more comfortable about using technology as a way to express your ideas as well as identifying geometric shapes all around them. Although this lesson was used by this teacher in a second grade classroom, the teacher had the students receive help from their fifth grade mentors which promotes communication skills. I really like this hands-on project because the students are given many opportunities to search for geometric shapes, time to talk with peers, the resources and skills necessary to create a power point presentation, and the opportunity to share and present their creations. I think it is great that the students are able to experiment with a digital camera and that they are given the freedom of choice to decide what they want to use in their own creations. I really like how more than one type of technology is used for this project (especially since the power point presentations are being used as a tool for expression rather than the traditional use of copy and paste from the internet). I could also see how this same lesson could be used while incorporating even more uses of technology (such as photo-sharing programs or social spaces). I mean really, a teacher could get really creative with this lesson, and so could the students.

Rethinking Learning in the Digital Age

I thought this article had a lot of very valid points about education and technology today. I really liked how the article opened up talking about how we need to move beyond thinking of computers as a way to receive information and start thinking about technology more creatively. Going along with that, Mitchel talks about how teachers can’t just put information into a student’s head, the child must learn through an active process through “exploration, experimentation, discussion, and reflection.”
Just as the article talks about, I have found that throughout my educational career, and time I have been introduced to technology (specifically, computers), I have only been taught the “proper” way to type and to search the web. Instead of learning how to create, I’ve been taught how to filter through information until I am able to find what I need. That’s why I thought the Computer Clubhouses were so intriguing. I think that every child should be offered a place where they are free to express themselves and get the support they need to do so. Instead of hovering over students with assignments, rubrics, and grades all of the time, they should get an opportunity to be creative. They should be able to experience the feeling of having made something that reflects who they are.
Although I think it would be very difficult to merge all of the different core subjects of the curriculum, I do think that technology-related assignments should incorporate more than just one core area of the curriculum. It’s definitely true about how learning today was designed for paper and pencil. I agree with the fact that education should have more of a focus on strategies for learning the things you don’t know.