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Week 1

What is Educational Technology?

     According to the AECT the Definition and Terminology Committee defines technology as “the study and ethical application of theory, research, and best practices to advance knowledge as well as mediate and improve learning and performance through the strategic design, management, and implementation of learning and instructional processes and resources” (Richey, Silber, & Ely, 2008, p. 25) Based on the AECT definition of educational technology, I believe it broadens up and makes the definition very loose.  Almost anything you do can be considered educational technology. Playing a memory game in class, playing hangman on the whiteboard, letting each kid come in one day and start the morning off with a joke or a story, almost anything you do to help kids truly enjoy and value coming to school and learning is considered educational technology in my opinion based off the AECT definition. 

    Before reading this I can honestly say when I hear the word technology I instantly think of something electronic such as a phone, computer, tablet, projector, etc. Which I think are a tremendous help in education today. Computers, phones, and other electronic devices have radically increased and changed how we learn. but I also think it limits what teachers think they can do. I can remember countless times in high school when a teacher's computer wouldn't load, the projector wasn't working, or they simply didn't have it, and it would ruin their lesson for the day. they would always complain about not having good enough technology. After reading this short paragraph about educational technology you can see that YOU are the technology. You are the one who improves your kid's learning whether that's through games, fun activities, connecting with them, etc.  Educational Technology is now anything that you can implement into the classroom to help and grow your student's learning ability. 

    Although BYOD has many pros it also has many cons. One of them being the applications. There are countless apps that are only downloadable on Apple and some only for Samsung, Google, etc. If a teacher has an app where all the kids have to send in their homework but some kids can't get that app it creates an issue. One simple/potential fix is simply to make sure the apps you are going to use for a class are compatible with all devices. Sure it's a little more work for the teacher but, guess what it's your job. There are pros and cons to almost everything you just have to figure out a way to make it work to your advantage as best as you can. 

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