Jonassen...Computers as MindTools
Along with being a high school teacher, I also teach computer classes after school to my colleagues. Our district technology instructional staff struggles to find the appropriate classes to teach so my colleagues will us the available technology in the classroom. By using technology, I mean to use it to increase and strengthen student learning and understanding, not just to use technology for the sake of using it. I think this article has valid points in it that will result in increased student learning.
I again found myself wanting to try out all of the available software mentioned in the article. I did download 2 of the programs and I was disappointed to find the science program was no longer available. It was interesting for me to work through the Model-It example from the 10th grade English class covering Lord of the Flies. It took me a few minutes, but when I figured out their example, I was very impressed by the ability of a class to come to a concensus on the functions of the program. It makes me wonder if we are doing this in our school district.
The one major flaw that I find in working with teachers in general is that there is a reluctancy to give up the time to have the students "discover their own solutions" because of the push to get ahead. What if it takes the students 2 weeks to accomplish the task rather than the 1 day it would take for me to "tell them". It will be interesting to discuss this time crunch vs. process during class. Don't get me wrong, I am a visual and a kinesthetic learner and I do benefit for finding things out myself, however it seems as though the question always goes back to "how far in the book did you get this year".