3.

What are classroom technologies

Hardware in classrooms
The hardware device I have chosen in an ipad. This is for a number of reasons,
firstly it is usually a hardware device that is available at students homes, thus
most of them will already be familiar with it. Secondly, I have already witnessed
these devices incorporated into school settings with great success, although I
have had little exposure to them in a formal learning environment. Benefits of
this hardware device are multiple, they offer many ways to enhance the learning
experience through apps/software, I have used them in science to record
experiments and students predictions both before and after. This approach
enhanced the learning as each student loved using the ipads and replaying their
recording to the class, it also sparked conversation and discussion surrounding
the topic easily. Challenges are they do require some additional preparation time,
such as ensuring that all units are charged, and that the wireless network is
operational. Some stand out web based software I have discovered is Socrative
and Padlet. I am sure these will enhance my use of the ipads in latter lessons.

The affordances of classroom technologies

Like all luxuries in the classroom a raft of ipads don't come cheap. It is quite a
costly exercise to implement such a program. One of the schools I went to on
placement last year was in the process of implementing an ipad program, the
cheapest part of the exercise was the ipads themselves. With the infrastructure
required to run them such as apple configurator, internet availability and docking
stations making up the bulk of the cost. Giving rise to the evaluation of 'such an
expensive investment' (Morgan, Butler, & Power, 2007). Despite the cost
however, I believe that the benefits gained by the technology justify the
expenditure. It also makes schools that have spent the money on such a program
look much more modern compared to schools that have not.

Software in the classroom - basic tools

It is my belief that students should start word processing from stage 1 if not
earlier, these are skills students will come to rely on for many years to come and
may even need outside of school. Another way to think about it is we know
technology is rapidly advancing, by the time students in kindergarten are leaving
school, we will be another 10 years into the future.

I would argue we should teach only basic keyboard skills, as students will gain
fluency with practise and time.
It could be argued that handwriting will one day become obsolete as it will no
longer be used or required in day to day life for students, therefore, it will
probably have a terminal effect on it.
Word processing may skew particular results for assessment such as fine motor
skill control or spelling as the software/hardware will do the job for students. That
being said however, as teachers have done in the past and will continue to do so
in to the future, we will adapt.
Is auto correction a problem, yes and no. Yes because it will have a negative
effect on spelling results as we have already become reliant on it. But no
because baring a world war, there are no situations where we would not have
access to spell check. Which brings into question why we would ever need to
have perfect spelling habits (Roblyer & Doering 2014).

Morgan, M., Butler, M. & Power, M. (2007). Evaluating ICT in education: A

comparison of the affordances of the iPod, DS and Wii. In ICT: Providing choices
for learners and learning. Proceedings ascilite Singapore 2007.
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/morgan.pdf

Roblyer, M., & Doering, A. (2014). Integrating Educational Technology into

Teaching: International
Edition, 6th Edition, Pearson.