As a teacher and a student, I have always enjoyed learning about new technology that can be used in the classroom. Students are always excited about using computers in the classroom as opposed to writing. I am excited to watch students use technology and their conversations about different topics on skills and concepts they have learned. This past school year, we had teacher web pages. That was very exciting for me. I used links on my web page for the different 6thgrade classes. I would post different activities that the students have completed in class and they would be able to post comments and feedback to one another.
On my teacher web page, there was a site for each class that I taught, as well as helpful math links, and various announcements throughout the school year. Eventually, I became to go-to person on my hallway for technology questions. Many of the teachers that I work with felt that technology was another thing that they had to add to their list. This meant that there were more things they had to learn how to use and then implement in their lessons. I assured them that it wasn’t as hard as they thought it would be. Oftentimes, technology makes it all a bit easier and leaves less work for the teacher. Our web pages were already set up; we just had to add the information that we wanted parents and students to know. I quickly learned that there are many different attitudes that will surface when something new is introduced within the school building.
This was the case also when we received the smart boards in our classrooms. Many teachers were apprehensive about this because we were all required to participate in training workshops and a smart board class. Many felt that this was another tool that they had to add to their daily instruction. However, they began to see how it saved them time and actually became an intricate part of their daily instruction. Students love it and it keeps them engaged and involved in the lessons taking place. The smart board is great for interactive learning strategies.
John Keller’s ARCS model of motivation design consists of a set of categories of motivational concepts and strategies. These concepts and strategies came from the research on human motivation combined with successful motivational practices. The model provides a problem solving approach to designing the motivational aspects of learning environments to stimulate and sustain students’ motivation to learn (Keller, 1987). With this design, teachers can see the reasoning behind the technology put into the school. The design believes in gaining teacher’s attention, getting them to see the relevance of the product, being confident in knowing what and how to use the product, and their satisfaction of the product and what it offers for the classroom. If some of the teachers would take time to explore what is being introduced and the different things that can be done with the programs, they would have very different comments than before.
References:
Keller, J. M. (1987). Development and use of the ARCS model of motivational design.Journal of Instructional Development, 10(3), 2 – 10.
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