First Day of Class

I just got back from the first day of the Technology in Education class.  Oh my.... I thought I was fairly tech savvy, and maybe I am in my Tinytown, Missouri...but there is so much out there I was completely ignorant of!  I'm in a group which is assigned to do a presentation on Augmented Reality.  I didn't know what it even was.  I did a quick Google search on the topic, and I guess I do know what it is to some degree.  You know the yellow line they show across the field on a televised football game?  Augmented Reality.  You know how they make the puck on a hockey game so you can see it when it zooms at a zillion miles per hour down the rink?  Augmented Reality.  (okay, I'll admit I didn't know about the hockey one....my husband told me...that's okay!  Use your resources, even if you're married to them)
So my part of the presentation is "field trips".  I'm thinking this may be fun!  Who doesn't like field trips?  And what schools can afford them these days?

During his introduction, Dr. Holder explained that the reason why George Bush didn't add technology to the original NCLB was because there was no proof that technology enhanced learning.  This was mildly startling to me since my school district is big on technology.  I guess that omission has been cleared up.  This made me think of another educationally-related topic that I've  been thinking about lately:  Co-teaching.  What little research I've done on the matter, mostly for a previous class, indicated that most people would say that Co-teaching is an effective strategy for helping students, both disabled and non-disabled, achieve success in the general education curriculum.  However, I have found little in the way of empirical data to proof this.  Makes me wonder what other assumptions of mine are wrong and unfounded.

Another point Dr. Holder made was the sad fact that states and districts throw money at technological additions to their schools, spend a minute showing the teacher how to use them, but neglect to show the teachers how to implement them in a valuable learning manner.  I thought of the technology I've been introduced to over the years only to vanish when a new toy comes out.  I went to an inservice a few years back on some kind of self-contained gizmo with a keyboard that communicated to the teacher's computers.  Some new, expensive gadget.  I've never seen on in action and have no idea if they are still around.

My building has Mobis and clickers, and I've been in classrooms where they are being used.  I've also been in classrooms where the teacher was trying so hard to get them to function without success that they have given up and gone back to the chalkboard. 

I'm looking forward to the rest of the week.  We're going to get to play with some programs.  Should be fun!