Social, Ethical, Legal, and Human Issues AND Learning and Teaching with Technology

Chapter 5 and Chapter 6

• Chapter 5 covers the social, ethical, legal, and human issues with technology. Chepter 5 talks about the many problems with computer like misuse and fraud, viruses, scams, and how to maintain a secure network while using your computer. We have to be really careful when it comes to using our computer, especially nowdays. In the book, Using Technology In the Classroom, the author write that computer-related crimes cost the US businesses $67.2 billion a year. "Hackers" have become more and more prominant. Identify-theft is just one of the numerous crimes that these hackers commit. Another issue with computers is malware. Malware is, as the books states, any software which is created to attack, infect, or damage a computer system without the owner's approval. Malware can attack a single computer or a whole network of computers. Malware includes viruses, spam, email scams, spyware, and phishing. Placing a security system on your home computer or your business network can help minimize the chance of having a malware attack.
• Chapter 6 in Technology In the Classroom is about learning and teaching with technology. Technology is very important for students to learn especially with the growing society. Now days if a person graduates from High School without knowing technology they chance of them getting and keeping a job is slim to none. I really like how the authors of this book write "Rather than asking questiong like "Should technology be used in education?" eduators must now ask themselves, "How should technology be used to help students achieve higher levels?" This is a very important and very true statement. To be able to teach students how to use technology, teachers must now how to use technology. Teachers need to go through trainings at least once a year to help keep up with the growing technology. The problem that I see with this is that your 'old timey' teachers are going to have a lot of difficulty not only learning this technology but also implementing it. It is very easy for some like me who grew up with computers to learn new technology but I know that it is a lot harder for someone who did not grow up with computers to learn new technology. Technology has a lot of effects on each subject in school. Technology helps students improve language, reading skills, and writing skills. It also helps improve math skill, science skills, an history skills. When you have a technology centered curiculum you are more likely to have more cooperation. Technology allows the kids to learn using a different method that they actually enjoy.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

In chapter 3, Bitter and Legacy focus on the subject of the World Wide Web. I use the web everyday so this chapter was very easy to read and very easy to understand. Bitter and Legacy write about the many things that are made possible because of the web. They write about what actually helps you connect to the web, who helped start the web, and the many things that can be done with the web. They are write about web lingo and they explain what things like hyperlinks, hypertext, and web browsers are. They teach you how to search the web and the many different types of search engines available . Bitter and Legacy write about email and all the different things you need to know about email such as, sending, receiving, composing a message, attaching files, etc. They also write about Blog sites like this one. Another popular one would be www.xanga.com. I really like the fact that Bitter and Legacy give you a reference guide for popular and safe websites. They also included websites that are good for kids to use. This is a really good chapter to read if you are not comfortable using the web. The authors explain all the vocabulary and all the safety  and privacy to help any person learn how to use the World Wide Web.

Chapter 2

        

Chapter 2 in the book Using Technology in the Classroom by Bitter and Legacy is entitled Productivity Tool and Application Software. This chapter starts out describing different programs that can be found on the computer and some common tools or elements that go with it. For example the first thing Bitter and Legacy write about is about word and works documents. On page 39 table 2.1 they show some available tools that can be used when using these programs. I really like how Bitter and Legacy put in little tables that show how this technology can be used in the classroom. They lay out what it might look like if you were observing these types of technology being put to use. This helps me, as an educator, bring this technology into the classroom. They write about the importance of spreadsheets, and how spreadsheets can be used to compile data and analyze data while doing research projects. They also explain how I, as a teacher, could use spreadsheets in the classroom. Right now, I use a spreadsheet for grades and also to help me organize my own lesson plans. My favorite thing out of this chapter is the discussion about Inspiration and Kidspiration. It is very important to me that my students know how to use graphic organizers, especially how to apply them to the TAKS test, and this website gives you a ton of graphic organizers that I can put into my SmartBoard and the students can use them in an interactive way.

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 in Using Technology in the Classroom by Bitter and Legacy discusses the importance on teaching technology to our students. This chapter discusses changes in information age trends. Some of these trends include (1) a shift in demographics, (2) an acceleration of technology, and (3) an ever expanding base of available data through which to search, sift, sort, and select. The most interesting fact that I read out of this chapter is that the amount of information in the world doubles every 900 days. So by the time you learn the new technology, even newer technology is being developed. This proves that us, as educators, need to be continuing to attend workshops and trainings to help up keep up with the ever expanding technology. This chapter also goes into detail about the technology standards. Our state standard, the TEKS, have technology standards for every grade that we must make sure that our students are taught and also that they master. I like to use the SmartBoard technology in my classroom. The students have learned to use it and it makes learning a little more fun. It reminds me of a big iPad, which of course is big right now. This chapter also discusses how the technology standards came alive with the No Child Left Behind Act. The No Child Left Behind Act addresses technology specifically in the Enhancing Education Through Technology Act of 2001. This act basically states that all technology resources mist be aligned to state standards. Towards the end of the chapter, Bitter and Legacy discuss the break down of the computer and its components. They discuss the generations and developments of computer systems and they also give the public an idea of what a computer is made up of and how the operating system works.