Advantages and Disadvantages of using Technology in Math

Advantages of Integrating Technology - Mathematics

One challenge schools face is shifting the way many teachers work, however technology can often be used as a “catalyst to move teachers towards an instructional style that is more student-centered, active, and relevant to the world we live in” said Roblyer & Doering (2013, p. 310).  Technology can also be used by the students to learn concepts that were once more physically hands on, but can now be taught through virtual manipulatives.  According to Roblyer and Doering (2013, p. 312), Virtual Manipulatives are replicas of real manipulatives that are accessed via the internet and can be manipulated through a keyboard or other input device.  These type manipulatives allow the students that have a somewhat hands on experience with the data, however it is via a clean, graphical representation of the concept.  The technology of a calculator has also helped many students to understand and process concepts that may have otherwise remained foreign to them.  According to Roblyer and Doering (2013), as students acquire number sense, they begin to make generalizations that lead to concepts in algebra, which in turn they can use along with technological tools to explore the critical concept of functions; hence using a graphing calculator.  

Here is a video that discusses how technology is used in math to help students connect the concepts to real life.

Disadvantages of Integrating Technology - Mathematics

What seems to be the largest disadvantage to integrating technology is that access to technology seems to be one of the fundamental issues that all schools mathematics programs face, according to Roblyer & Doering (2013).   An issue of integrating technology that teachers face is learning which tools to use and how to teach most effectively with those tools.  The key to handling this issue is for the teachers to familiarize themselves with the tools that are available, including virtual manipulatives, spreadsheets, calculators, graphing calculators, CBI, data loggers, and simulations (Roblyer and Doering, 2013).  The fact that technological tools are always changing can often create another disadvantage to integrating technology.  The resources needed to integrate and maintain the tools may be more generate more trouble than there is advantage in utilizing some tools.

Here is an article that discusses whether technology in the math classroom is a tool or a crutch.

Specific Activities, Programs, Etc.

The Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, released by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, is used by all who make decisions that affect the mathematics education of students in pre-kindergarten through 12^th grade.  This documents provides a vision of math teaching and learning, which calls for a common foundation of mathematics to be learned by all students (Roblyer & Doering, 2013).  Many programs have been developed to help meet these standards, including Geometer’s Sketchad, Maple, GeoGebra, Fathom, and Cognitive Tutor.

References

Engleward, Andy (2012, November 13). Technology in Math Education: the iPad a Game-Changer? Retrieved from http://www.extension.harvard.edu/hub/blog/math-teaching/technology-math-education-ipad-game-changer

National Science Foundation (2009, February 4). The Role of Technology in Math Education. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn7rHDRljO0

Roblyer, M.D. & Doering, A.H. (2012). Integrating educational technology into

teaching (6th ed.). Columbus, OH: Merrill Prentice Hall.

To wiki or not to wiki?

Wiki

A wiki is a "collection of web pages located in an online community that encourages collaboration and communication of ideas by having users contribute or modify content sometimes on a daily basis" according to Roblyer and Doering (2013 p. 223).I teach the sixth grade in an elementary model, so I chose a 5th Grade Wiki because most 6th graders, other than mine, rotate classes.  I love the page called “Creativity” that is full of links to games, etc. Another page that I would be sure to duplicate is the Digital Citizenship page. This page breaks down to "Don'ts" of internet usage and lets the kids know exactly what is expect of them. This will help to alleviate several of the 5 potential problems that Roblyer and Doering discuss on pages 214-216.

Widgets in a Wiki

One widget I would use in my Wiki is the Google calendar. It is easy to synchronize, and it is a real-time calendar, so if you change something, it will automatically update your wiki as well. The Google system is also linked seamlessly with many other platforms, which will allow you to edit it from most any device. This could be used in my classroom to allow the students and parents to see events and assignments coming up.

Tamara Calander

Another fun widget is Voiki. It allows you to chose a character (with many choices to choose from), give it a voice (which you can record if you want or type), and tell it what to say.  This could be used in my classroom to remind them of homework, help illustrate the mood a writing assignment should be in, or even just to make an announcement stand out on a webpage or blog.

Voki Test

Web-based Lesson

Although web-activities "are often time-consuming to develop and implement, and difficult to design in ways that have substantial, positive impacts on students' learning" (Chen, Lambert, & Guidry, 2010; Coulter, Feldman & Konold, 2000; Hannafin & Hannafin, 2010; Roblyer and Doering (2013 p. 238), in today's times, we don't have to search for long until we are able to find something that will satisfy the need we have with providing students access to web-based lessons. 

"Web-based learning has changed greatly over the past decades," said Roblyer and Doering (2013 p. 238) and this could not be more proven than to consider just how many web-based lessons exist today.  Here is a link to a site that is full of web based learning that I would use in my classroom. The site allows you to chose a specific topic to cover, and it breaks it down to a very detailed point. I could use this website to re-teach students that are still struggling once we have completed a lesson in math. For example, we are working on dividing decimals in math right now, so I could use this Math Lesson to reinforce the lesson, maybe in a different way than I originally taught it, which could encourage a better understanding of the material. This would be a prime example of using the online lesson as a form of enhancement as discussed by Roblyer and Doering on page 238.

Works Cited

- Roblyer, M.D. & Doering, A.H. (2012). Integrating educational technology into

teaching (6th ed.). Columbus, OH: Merrill Prentice Hall.

- Chen, Lambert, & Guidry, 2010

-  Coulter, Feldman & Konold, 2000

- Hannafin & Hannafin, 2010

- https://wke-5th-grade.wikispaces.com/

- https://www.google.com/calendar/embed

- http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=10518429&height=267&width=200

- http://www.internet4classrooms.com/skills_6th_original.htm

URLs and Search Engines - Module 3

URLs

The term URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a fancy way of saying the website address.  By looking at the URL, you can usually tell a few things about the site before you ever visit it. The first indicator would be the last three letters of the address line, which tells you the domain designator.  "The most common designators are: .com (commercial site), .gov (government), .net (networks, Internet service providers), .edu (higher education institutions), and .org (non-commercial organizations)." (Roblyer and Doering, 2013, p. 216).  The next thing that may be an indication would be the actual URL itself. For example, if I were to tell you that for more info about an upcoming event you could visit http://cahawbachristianacademy.com you could likely make the safe assumption that the event would be located at or sponsored by Cahawba Christian Academy.  Also, by looking at this URL, you could also see that this location is a christian school. Not all website URLs will be as "reveling" as this one example, but there are many companies and organizations that chose a URL centered around the name of their company/organization so that people can easily find them by doing a simple search in a search engine.

Search Engines

There is so much information available on the internet that companies have developed special searching programs, called search engines, to help us locate things.  According to SearchEngineWatch, the most popular "Major Search Engines" are Google, Yahoo, and Bing; while the most popluar "Metacrawlers" are Dog Pile, Vivisimo, Kartoo, and Mamma (Roblyer and Doering, 2013).  A metacrawler is "a program that uses more than one type of search engine at the same time to locate things" (Roblyer and Doering, 2013, p. 219).

The ability to effectively use a search engine can be very beneficial.  It can save you time, verses digging around in multiple websites to find the information you are seeking; help direct you to places you may not have considered as a source before, especially if you use a key words search; as well as allow you to possibly find the correct URL for a company or organization that you didn't have a direct link to before.

Favorite Sites

Choosing only two favorite sites as a teacher is quite challenging.  The first one that I would recommend to any teacher is http://www.superteacherworksheets.com.  This site has so much to offer a teacher of all ages!  It has worksheet links for any subject you can think of, but my favorite part is the Generator section, which allows you to create many different types of worksheets specific to what you need. This website has all that Roblyer and Doering (2013) ask for in a website, including good structure and organization, clear text and/or graphic links, good visual design, and easy navigation.

My favorite wiki site is https://wesleyan-6th-grade.wikispaces.com/6th+grade+home. This site has great structure and organization with the menu on the left with links directly to each section. The text is clear, and the design is simple to follow. This site contains a calendar that allows the students to know what is going on each day, as well as additional details about each event if they want to know more.

Website Evaluation

Below is a video of a How to Guide for Website Evaluation for Middle School Students.

Hypermedia

Commercial Hypermedia Product

There are many different kinds of development resources found on the internet and CD-ROM, such as collections of clip art, sound effects, photos, flowcharts, concept maps, video clips, animations, and document templates. Each of these collections would be a form considered commercial hypermedia (Roblyer & Doering, 2013).

“Many educators recognize and use hypermedia systems when they see the powerful capabilities to enhance classroom learning” (Roblyer & Doering, 2013, pg 176).  I have found that the use of www.superteacherworksheets has come in very handy in my classroom. It has tools that I use on a week to week basis.  There are templates available on this website that will allow you to generate customizable worksheets based on your specific needs, such as a list of spelling words or multiple choice questions needed, as well as generators that will design the worksheets for you once you set the parameters, such as multiplication practice sheets.  This particular site does require a subscription to access all of their material, therefore, I have also linked here an example of the “Math Minuet” sheet we do daily to help my students with their multiplication; and here is an example of a fill-in-the-blank version of a spelling test that I created for extra practice with our spelling words last week.

Multimedia Authoring Tool – Audio and Video Production and Editing Systems

Since the release of the IPOD in 2001 and YouTube in 2005, there has been an explosion of videos posted and shared with the world (Roblyer & Doering, 2013).  Educators, especially with the flipped classroom models, are embracing the idea of using the audio and video systems in the class room.  Here is a link to more info about creating a flipped classroom.  Teachers can also use video clip recordings to help encourage student discussion or help students to analyze their own behaviors (Pannell and Hutchinson, 2010; Roblyer & Doering, 2013).   Another more interactive way to get students involved in demonstrating real-life examples of concepts they have learned is for them to create videos that demonstrate their findings.  “Bedrossian (2010) described a project that made important scientific and technological discoveries come alive for students as they interviewed, recorded, and made podcasts of oral histories of people who lived during the time these innovations happened” (Roblyer & Doering, 2013, pg 190).

Here is an example of how a flipped classroom might look.

References

Roblyer, M.D. & Doering, A.H. (2012). Integrating educational technology into

teaching (6th ed.). Columbus, OH: Merrill Prentice Hall.

Overmyer, Jerry (2011, October) Creating the Vodcast retrieved from http://www.flippedclassroom.com/process/creating.php

www.superteacherworksheets.com

Classroom "Basic Three"

Software Tools for the Classroom

 There are three basic software tools included in the software suites sold today. Those include word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software. 

Word Processing Software

The software that has had the most prevalent impact on the classroom is the word processing software (Doering & Roblyer, 2013, p.116).    As a 6^th grade teacher, I can tell you that I use this software the most in my classroom.  Teachers find that it can save them time by allowing them to modify materials without having to start from scratch; improve the appearance of documents by providing a typed version rather than a handwritten version; allows them to easily share documents that can be edited with other teachers; and also collaborative sharing of documents via programs such as Google Docs, which has opened a whole new window of opportunity in the education world alone.

There are disadvantages to using word processors as well.  One of the most impactful issues I have found in my classroom is the effects the use of it has on handwriting and spelling. Though no researchers have done official studies to validate that word processing has impacted handwriting as a whole, cursive handwriting “is on the wane” due to word processing and other technologies (Supon, 2009; Doering & Roblyer, 2013, p.120).  Assessment, auto-correct and questions of what age to start students using word processing are other concerns.

 

Spreadsheet Software

Of all software available, spreadsheet software is my favorite!  This software has so many tools and functions built into it that you can complete most any type of data organizing task imaginable.  It is designed to organize and manipulate numerical data in rows and columns (Doering & Roblyer, 2013, p.122).   Advantages to educators using it include saving time, organizing display of information, support use of “what if” questions, and increase motivation to work with mathematics.  The largest issue with using it is the hurdle of getting the students over the fear of processing numbers, mathematics (Doering & Roblyer, 2013, p.125).   

Presentation Software

Presentation software is used to display information in a slideshow format.  (Doering & Roblyer, 2013, p.125). Teachers use presentation software to help organize thinking about a topic, enhance the impact of spoken information, and allow collaboration of presentations (Doering & Roblyer, 2013, p.124-125).  The disadvantages to using it include the impact of the software on the info presented and teaching style. I don’t utilize it in my classroom as often as I could, as it takes a while to build a presentation, and it can take a fair amount of research to prepare.  Many educators utilize it to present info summaries, demonstrate materials for discussion, present illustrative problems and solutions, practice screens, assessment screens, brief tutorials, and book reports; while students use it to present a project (Doering & Roblyer, 2013, p.131-133).

 My Classroom Usage

As mentioned above, I use the word processing software most in my classroom.  Here is an example of a field trip permission form that I recently sent home if you would like to review it. 

References

Doering, A.H., Roblyer, M.D., 2013, Integrating Educational Technology Into Teaching: 6th Edition,

United States of America, Pearson Education