Gadgets in the Classroom

Using Technology in Education

   Technology and education have always seemed to go together. In order to prepare students for the workplace or college they need to be able to be exposed to it. Teachers in the classroom use technology believing that the students are gaining valuable information and retaining the concepts taught but in reality the students need to be involved in the lesson and actively participating in activities that include technology. Student engagement is critical to student motivation during the learning process.

Uses of Technology

            There are numerous uses of technologies that are available to teachers to include students into the classroom’s lesson. These include Interactive Whiteboards, Proximas, PowerPoint games, interactive DVDs, Ventrilo chat software, Myspace, Blackboard, and scavenger hunts. To put the uses of technology into an effective practice, teachers need to help students set achievable goals; encourage students to assess themselves and their peers; help them to work co-operatively in groups and ensure that they know how to exploit all the available resources for learning (Hall, 2006). The following are how some technology is used to help students learn. 

Pen and paper still seems to be the preferred way for Rice students to record notes from class, but electronic gadgets are becoming more and more ubiquitous. Here are a few portable devices you may encounter in the classroom:

• Laptops & Tablet PCs
  Many students use laptops to take notes nowadays, and Tablet PCs are becoming popular as well. A Tablet PC is essentially a notebook computer with the keyboard, mouse, and monitor replaced by a touch screen for writing and computing with a stylus. Tablet PCs allow students to easily incorporate notes and files from several classes onto one portable device.

• Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)
  PDAs offer a variety of organizational tools, such as a clock, a date book, an address book, a task list, a memo pad, and a calculator, in a small hand-held device. PDAs also allow the user to synchronize data with other computers and usually include versions of popular word processing, spreadsheet, and web brower software. Many accessories, such as full keyboards, can be used to enhance their functionality.

• Smart Phones
  A new generation of phones combines standard cell-phone fare with the basic tools and connectivity offered by PDAs. By integrating a full keyboard into a phone, these devices allow a user to record notes, keep a schedule, write emails and surf the Web.

• Digital Audio Players & Recorders
  Digital recorders are available both as stand-alone devices and as accessories for digital audio players, such as Apple's hot-selling iPod. Duke University pioneered this application by giving a new iPod (along with a recorder) to all of their incoming students and encouraging them to bring them to class and record lectures.

• Digital Video
  Four Rice classrooms are equipped with Capture Classroom, a groundbreaking system that allows lectures to be recorded and saved to the Internet, where they are available for high quality stream or download. The system also incorporates images of what is on the professor's computer screen.