Guiding Principles for Technology v1.1

Just a recap below are my guiding principles from before.  The original post can be found here.

1.  Be more proactive in the use of technology that are currently in my classroom.  This includes using more than just an LCD projector, Word, and a SMART Board.

2.  Have students be more involved with the technology present in the classroom.  That includes traditional uses (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and new uses, such as blogs and wiki's.  My vision is that by having both traditional and new technologies students will become more hands on with their own learning.

3.  Instruct/Guide the students on how to navigate the information overload of the web.  This will include helping them to think critically about the information presented and come up with their own conclusions.  Use of principle #2 will most likely be key.

4. Educate the administration about the need for technology in the science classroom.  Currently I'm limited to a few computers in the room, and no other technologies for student use.  (The computers do have internet access.)  In fact, in our entire school (K-12) there are a total of 3 digital cameras, 2 video cameras, and 2 scanners.  When it comes to technology upgrades, the business department gets the upgrades.

5. Have fun and experiment with new technology so that as I become comfortable with the technology I can effectively incorporate it into my daily lessons.

__________________________________________________________________________
After revisiting my guiding principles I cannot see changing many.  However, as I progressed through the class, I've decided to rank order the current principles, with a brief explanation why it was moved.


#1 Instruct/Guide the students on how to navigate the information overload of the web. (I do think that one of the main goals of science education is to produce scientifically literate citizens.  Thinking critically about information will not only help in science, but help them navigate the world of information.  Some of the web 2.0 resources may be able to help, such as blogging, with this.


#2 Have fun and experiment with new technology so that as I become comfortable with the technology I can effectively incorporate it into my daily lessons.  (This class has made me very excited about the possibility of using technology again in my classroom.  I also think this is important, because without being excited, I'm less likely to incorporate the next three principles.)


#3/#4  Be more proactive in the use of technology in my classroom.  This includes both myself and students.  In the past, the more that I've had students use the technology, the more interested I've become in using the technology myself.  The students and I will definitely have to work past using technology as reference material, and put more of the focus on collaboration.  Using technology for collaboration I feel will definitely make the students more excited about their learning and have more vested interested in science.

#5  Educate administration.  Probably the best way will be to show the administration what can already be done and how it contributes to student learning.  Although this point is extremely important, I don't think it can be done effectively until I've shown that I am using the technology that I have to the best of its ability.

__________________________________________________________________________
I'm curious to see how these principles will change after I've used a few of the technologies and resources I've discovered in this class in my teaching practices.