I had my first day of placement last Friday and upon being informed of the resources available in the newly furnished language centre, my first thought happened to be, 'Oh, so is there a Smartboard in there?'. It struck me as being a particularly odd thought, primarily because of my increasingly inadequate technological skills. I am by no means inept at operating a computer, but I do struggle to see the need for an iPhone (which I understand may shock some). I don't blog, upload photos onto Flickr or have a Tumblr account though I am aware that I have just violated the first rule of Tumblr. There is no Tumblr. And come to think of it, the second rule of Tumblr. There is no Tumblr. Fight Club references aside, I confess that I am actually quite eager to use the Smartboard in my class. I am also quite excited about the idea of sharing my limited knowledge concerning Smartboards, with my mentor tutor. She confessed to having no knowledge regarding the use or application of the fangdangled thing. For once, I may have to teach someone about technology...
This revelation did not astound me; nor did it disappoint me. I am beginning to realise that the future of a digitalised curriculum rests in our hands. As teachers of the future, it is up to us to realise the full potential of employing ICT in our every day educational practices. More than that, it is up to us to share our knowledge of such resources with those from whom we are learning. I suppose it's just like Kimbra's song, 'Love is a two way street'. Just replace love with education.
Both our first posts were quite similar, which has led me to believe that there is a key difference between Computer Literacy and perhaps Computer inspired fads. I would go as far to say that flickr and other r related sites need to be used in an innovative ways, before I would consider them useful beyond a fad.
ReplyDeleteI find it strange that I have never come into contact with a Smartboard throughout my teaching placement. However, it is talked about amongst MTeach students and is frequently mentioned by the education staff in lectures and workshops. Now that people are blogging about it I am thinking that I will be at a disadvantage with regards to using ICT in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteIt does make me sad to think that I probably will not get the opportunity to test out the Smartboard before I embarrass myself in front of a future class with my lack of technological skill. On the bright side, that may be still quite some time in the future...