As a student one of the most common forms of technology I saw in the class room was the Doc Cam which was basically a live camera that would display the teacher's notes. I usually would see it in our math classes while a teacher explained new concepts and how to solve problems. Before the Doc Cam however was the overhead projector, a slightly less advanced tool. Both Doc Cams and overhead projectors had very similar uses. They both give teachers a more convenient way to show students what they're writing without having to use the whiteboard.Picture: mailer_diablo [1/19/2016] Overhead projector, used during lessons in a classroom. Retrieved from wikimedia
Even more advanced technology that is being used more and more often in schools is the iPad or other tablet devices. School's will often give each student a personal iPad they can use during school and can take home as well. It's meant to be used for storing student's books, but I often found that students used their iPads to play games or talk to their friends. Which I think makes them less effective, and why I prefer using other templates, such as kindles or actual paper textbooks.
How were technology-related skills taught to you as a student? What was emphasized?
Every time I learned about a new technology, it was usually a website that our school wanted us to start using, but we always were able to go through how it was used in class. I never had to figure out a website by myself, but sometimes our teachers wouldn't go over every part of the website he or she expected us to use.
How do you think technology will be different in your classroom?
I think by the time I start teaching, technology will be a very prominent part of the classroom and it will be used for a lot more for teaching tools. As a student, we were often expected to self-learn by going to different websites corresponding with that subject and completing different lessons. I prefer to teach in class and reiterate what you learn when you get home rather than the other way around
