Summative Post for ICT in Education

"Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time" - Chinese Proverb

This is the main principle that I have learned from taking the course ICT in Education. Over the course of first term and still today, I feel that this course has sparked my interest in how I can integrate technology into my classroom in creative ways.

I've always had a passion for technology and especially games, but I always kept these ideas separate from technology. Why, you ask? I never thought that I could integrate the two together because of the ideas that were drilled into me in my elementary education such as "video games will rot your brain" and "computers are distracting children from reading books."  Today, I do all of my reading on my tablet computer and download my textbooks to it if I can.  And, I have to give credit to Pokemon and Mega Man X for helping me learn how to read as a child.

It's necessary to be teaching kids today how to use the most modern technology so they don't have to be teaching us how to use it.  Smartphones and tablet computers have become such powerful devices and it should be our job to teach kids to use them beneficially.  If we as educators decide to ignore technology when teaching, we are only harming our students for the future.

ICT has taught me the importance of having a class website. Not a single one of my teachers in my childhood had a class website.  Most families own a computer or have access to one nowadays, so I will communicate through a website in the future.  It will be a great way for me to organize myself and interact with parents as opposed to trying to reach them by phone and sending out news letters which could potentially get lost.  You can't lose a website if you bookmark it!

ICT has also taught me how to use a SMARTBoard.  When I was in high school, I was afraid of the SMARTboard.  I think this is a big problem with teachers and technology today:  fear. Fear of breaking it, fear of looking stupid... it's understandable.  This is why we need to educate children today to use technology so they can get past the point of being afraid of what it can do. This is also why courses such as ICT are offered at teacher training institutions.  I was unaware of the many features that a SMARTBoard has and now I am eager to have one of my own (if I'm lucky) in my classroom someday and explore it's capabilities further.

ICT has allowed me to realize that we now live in a digital world where everything is online at your fingertips.
The education system has to make a transformation in how we deliver knowledge to our students to prepare them for the future.  My goal is to make students comfortable with computers, tablets, eReaders, and more.  I want to teach students to write music through programs such as Finale and Sibelius and teach them to appreciate music through Naxos Music Library and Youtube.  Technology should not take away from learning and creativity, but help nurture and develop it.