Views about Digital

Digital Literacy has played a big role in today’s world, in schools, work, and life in general because we live in a digital age. Many people rely and spend most of their time using technology for everything. For example, kids can spend most of their days on their phones or tablets reading or exploring the internet. But if they were given an assignment to read a book they wouldn't have any interest in it.  Kids nowadays only look to play with technology items rather than paper and pencil. It is in a way a bad thing because kids used to use their creative minds to draw and make things but now they just rely on technology. When I was in elementary school we didn’t have any access to laptops or even cellphones weren’t usually given to us at that age. I graduated from high school in 2014 and that’s when elementary and higher grades started using iPad and laptops in classrooms. They were even given a laptop to take home and use. But to take it away is pretty hard because it is used for everything and kind of impossible. 

What stood out to me in the article by Troy Hicks  was using “Cool” technology to deliver a planned lesson is a better way to help students learn. As most of us we were used to the old way and using power points for projects and assignments but students are not the same and don’t find that fun or even helpful. Students nowadays look for something fun and interesting, not boring.  As teachers we need to create ways to help students enjoy and actually learn something from using different forms of technology. Having students blogging is a great way for students to be able to communicate with one another and state their interests/thoughts.

After learning about the SAMR model it helped me understand how technology can be helpful in schools. The SAMR model can be used to see if technology application has an impact on learning. In this model it shows how technology is actually beneficial for students because students can express their thoughts and communicate with their classmates. For example, there is a mind mapping tool I found was helpful, Loomio. Loomio is a great way for students and teacher to communicate with one another in classrooms and even while at home. This tool can be helpful when trying to figure out certain topic for a project or even to have everyone express their thoughts on a particular assignment.  With Loomio it helps give people a voice and the discussions can either be made public or private.