Week 10/11 - Classroom Technology

After enjoying a week off in week 10 we got back in the swing of week 11 with an important discussion of how technology works in the classroom and some boundaries that come with it. The first thing we learnt about was '1 to 1 which means brings your own device. One child = One device. This has many perks as student's have their own learning work space to learn, be creative and do school work.

To ensure every student has equal opportunity it important to have an understanding of affordable devices. Devices don't have to be expensive, we learned that a Chromebook of $300 can achieve all the same learning outcomes and necessary learning softwares/apps as an expensive computer/Mac book of $1200 plus. One to one is prescriptive as it is locked in to the school's network meaning teachers have full control of the learning and what's accessible from apps to internet exploration. This is very important as it ensures digital safety of students and locks/bans them from accessing prohibited, distracting content.

School's tend to have mobile phone bans as they pose as one of the biggest distraction possible for students. Phone's do not suffice to be a learning device at school despite having the same capabilities/apps as a computer, laptop and tablet. Phones provide the convenience to allow students to easily engage in distractions such as games, non learning related apps and the biggest distraction of all being anything social media (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat etc)

The class ended with a discussion on about using apps/learning tools that are cross platform through android to apple. When lesson planning and incorporating technology in to the classroom its important to make sure that students have equal access opportunity know matter what the operating system on their device is (Apple, Android, Windows). For example setting a music technology task around the DAW Logic or Garage-band wouldn't be fair to the students with Windows/Andriod based devices as that is an apple exclusive DAW. An alternate solution would be using a free DAW such as Reaper that can be used across all platforms.