Technology Immersion Program

A couple weeks ago, Will led a discussion on a technology immersion program which was run by Prentice Hall. The article had praise from the teachers and students about an improvement in test scores. In our discussion, everyone thought the program was pretty good, particularly because the teachers got adequate training on using the computer system. Once we got to class, Sarah challenged us and asked us to look at the website for Prentice Hall. It turns out their system emphasized data documentation and logging how long and how often a student is using the equipment. Teachers then would have to make decisions and plan classes based on that data. In class, we heard from those who were student teaching or taught classes and the difficulties of tracking students. The basic message: it takes time out of the day which could be spent actually teaching or lesson planning. After this discussion, it really makes you think, what is in these softwares and programs being marketed to teachers. As we move into the lab design, I will have to be more critical of technology immersion programs and software in general.