Technology+in+Classrooms+(Peer+Review)

=This page is a peer review about the wikispace created by Richard Lambert= === A. Describe the pieces of the mosaic that your colleague utilized in his/her ‘Portfolio-of-Learning’ and how those pieces demonstrate her/his learning about the topic overall. For example, what evidence does the portfolio-of-learning provide that indicates your colleague learned a lot from his/her research on the topic? ===
 * Richard created a portfolio about technology in the classroom which is informative and well organized. His home page offers an overview of the specific areas he learned about, along with links in context to more information.**
 * The first link in Richard’s overview is ‘[|David Sobel].’ This article addresses a concern near and dear to myself, whether technology is appropriate for children, or whether their time could be better spent experiencing the ‘natural world.’ The conclusion is that computers in schools can offer children learning experiences beyond what they are receiving with current materials, and afternoons at home could best be spent in the ‘natural world.’**
 * Next, Richard gave a link to resources which offer to make it easier for teachers to bring technology into their classrooms. I found this link the most helpful, and plan to save it for the future, especially because I currently do not know much about this area. I found the link [|National Library of Virtual Manipulatives] particularly helpful and plan to use it with students in the near future. I also liked the link [|Khan Academy], and plan to use it as a resources for myself when it comes time to teach an unfamiliar subject/ topic lesson. Richard added emphasis to one of the links from this page as it a non-profit organization, the link is [|Digital Promise].**
 * In his concluding paragraph Richard added a link to an article, [|8 ways Technology is Improving Education]. This article gives even more ideas for incorporating technology in the classroom, such as being able to show students a science experiment too dangerous to do in class.**
 * The final link on his homepage is to a video which shows how a teacher uses the internet to reach all students, as they learn in different ways, and to bring the experiences of the world into her classroom, it is the [|Flat Classroom].**

B. Provide thoughtful commentary about the evident learning growth of your colleague in each of the required areas:

 * 1) vocabulary and concept development- **The key vocabulary terms Richard found important were: Skype, TI Navigator, Digital Promise. I too learned many new vocabulary terms while reading these articles. Although I knew Skype, TI Navigator is new to me and I enjoyed hearing about how Richard is seeing it used at his partner school.**
 * 2) key ideas –**To keep up with other countries, technology should play a supporting role in classrooms; this is possible as there are many resources available to teachers these days. Richard writes that "the adaptation of educators" is the only existing limitation when it comes to technology in classrooms. I found this a very interesting point because, especially when working in urban settings, I first think of funding to be a limitation.**
 * 3) partner school connections- **Richard connects the economical status of his students to their ability to obtain necessary technology devices of their own, finding that while many may not be able to bring laptops, they do have MP3 players and cell phones. He also describes the devices and software being used in the classrooms, SmartBoards, online support for text books, and TI-Navigator.**
 * 4) action plan for teaching- **Although Richard writes that he thinks more technology should be used in the classroom and he plans to make that happen, it is unclear exactly how.**

C. Discuss at least two suggestions you have for the portfolio to improve its impact and/or demonstration of learning growth.

 * 1) **It would be nice to have short descriptions of the links on the resource page, so that when a teacher is looking for something specific they do not have to go through all of the resources.**
 * 2) **Also to have elaborated more on the links. I’m not sure if it’s the idea, but I had to go and read the articles and links for myself in order to gain information about the topics.**

D. Elaborate on specific things you learned about this topic from viewing/reading this portfolio.

 * In virtual classrooms students can move at their own pace. I like this idea because we have learned that a lot of differentiation is necessary in order to meet the needs of all students, a virtual classroom seems to be an easier, more discrete way of doing this. With this said, it makes sense to hear that research is showing that technology is making students improve academically.**