Interactivity #3

            The group process required by this interactivity was both authentic and collaborative.  Besides this assignment being labeled as a group project by the professor, I think there was good communication between all of the group members (through emails, etc).  I also think that everyone completed their share of the spreadsheet and worked well together, considering that it was an online collaborative project with almost no face to face meetings.  The final inventory that emerged from the spreadsheet made was useful and beneficial to all content areas, more specifically world language, art, and history.  I feel that the technologies that I listed, which all pertained to world language, could also be useful in other content areas and vice versa. Many technologies that were listed by both the history and art majors were technologies that I was never familiar with, but could definitely be useful for lesson plans and activities in my content area.  I think that creating this spreadsheet was a good opportunity for us future teachers to learn from each other and improve teaching methods through technology.  I believe that no teacher is perfect and there is always room for adjustment and improvement, and collaborating to form a final list for inventory technologies is a good way to do it.  This list of inventory not only serves the purpose of future methods and lesson planning as professionals but can also be useful in other courses throughout the semester.  These technologies, especially the ones that are new to me (possibly to other group members as well), can be used as tools to help complete homework and other major assignments in my other courses.  This type of work may include producing lesson plans, completing papers, and even note taking and studying for exams.  I think this interactivity was a great way to learn about new technology that could help us as both the students and the teachers in the classroom environment.

The History of Technology in Schools

Since the 1820's technology has come a long way in classrooms all across the United States.  Over time, all subject areas have improved and modified their particular curriculum to incorporate activities and even add new standards that involve the use of technology.  During this historical time period, more particularly during the 1960's, language labs were introduced into foreign language classrooms.  These labs were a huge break through for foreign language teacher's classroom environments and for their content materials and activities.  From then on foreign language teachers were no longer limited to using lectures, chalkboards, and textbooks to teach grammar and culture.  With the use of language labs, students are now able to audio sound and images to help with language acquisition.  The use of  computers in these language labs has also opened up a bigger spectrum of possibilities to learn about the culture of the target language as well.  Over time the technologies and other types of media used in language labs have improved, which means that learning a new language has become easier and more fun then the traditional (lecture/textbook based) classroom environment that was used before language labs were introduced in the 1960's.

Interactivity #2: The History of Technology in Schools

Foreign Language Labs:  A step into language acquisition and foreign cultures