Week Three

In the video clip—Using Handhelds in the Classroom, mainly two ways in using handheld computers to teach were mentioned. The first one used it for science. Students used palms to draw graphs like circles to build up and develop their ideas. The other use is that people can have many programs like Sketchy put onto their palms and problems can be solved.

One of the advantages of the handhelds over laptops is that they are quite cheaper. Since handhelds they use will not connect to the internet or play the videos so the kids can focus on what they are learning and they have fewer distractions.

I personally believe that the application of wireless technology in classroom is an unavoidable trend in education because it has many advantages and can greatly facilitate teaching and learning. The first advantage of it is the portability. Since all the equipments are wireless, teachers and students can take them anywhere they like, and classroom activities will not be confined to their seats and there will also be more communication. Another great advantage of it is the high comfort level brought to teachers and students. If teachers and students are becoming more comfortable in the classroom, teachers can effectively provide more information to students and students can focus more on the content they are learning.

With the development of the wireless technology, the traditional way of education will be greatly changed. More and more courses will be offered online and students can arrange their schedule easily since they can take the course anytime and anywhere.

In the video clip—Classroom Management Software, all the teachers and students are discussing one useful online tool, the Class Server. With Class server, teachers can create resources, assignments, activities, and then add all the materials to server via the teachers’ website. Teachers can also assign different tasks to different students. On the students’ tool of the class server, they can easily get access to the assignment. They can finish their assignments and get their feedback immediately. Via the server, parents can also find out the progress of their kids and get to know how their children are doing in school.

This tool definitely offers teachers, students and parents various advantages. To the teachers, this class server can greatly reduce their time and efforts with the students’ assignments. They don’t have to correct students’ assignments that much since the system can automatically correct students’ assignments and offer students the feedback. This online process can also save much paper for no paper work needs to be given. Teachers can easily design the customized assignments to different students easily. To the students, this system can offer them more interaction and they become more and more interested in the assignment. Whenever they finish the assignments, they can also get the feedback immediately. They can also learn the course content easily. To the parents, it is easier for them keep track of their children’s progress in school.

I definitely hold a positive view towards the use of the class server in school. It can greatly benefit all with its interactive feature and this would facilitate the teaching and learning process in a better way. Students can become interested in it and they can greatly concentrate on what they are learning. Instead of spending a lot of time correcting students’ assignments, teachers can save the time to think more to develop the course. This is a catalyst to the traditional way of teaching and learning.

Of course, the system may not be perfect to all. For some teachers with less computer literacy, they may find that the system is overwhelming to them and they may have a hard time in using it or even reject it. There might also be some technical or internet problems during the whole process. With internet access, some kids may also be distracted by some other content on the internet and then fail to focus on or accomplish all the assignments.