Week #8

A School That's Too High on Gizmos

Welsh, By Patrick. "A School That's Too High on Gizmos." Washingtonpost.com - Nation, World, Technology and Washington Area News and Headlines. 10 Feb. 2008. Web. 19 Aug. 2010. .

Summary:
Recently the teachers from T.C. Williams High moved into a $98 million dollar building. Technology is flourishing throughout the school. LCD projectors line every classroom. Students have their own laptops, and are monitored by 126 different security cameras throughout the day. So what have all these gizmos brought to T.C.? One would expect a high moral and interest in the new technology gizmos and students who are eager to immerse themselves in the technology presented in front of them. Although these things sound real nice, that is simply not the case. Actually, all these fancy things have done just the opposite as planned. Teachers are no longer eager to come in and teach. Teacher guidance and instruction is so constricted that the art of teaching has left the big expensive doors of T.C. and is no longer existent. Students now find themselves playing the "online helicopter" games during class instead of following along with the current activity. Is there such things as too much technology? Has T.C. Williams High School out done themselves and created more of a hindrance than an accelerator and tool?

Reaction:
I found this article to be very interesting in the fact that most technology articles are suggesting more technology! This article looks at the very under talked about aspects of technology. Without a doubt there is too much technology. I truly believe that T.C. High has achieved this level and set the bar. I am really interested to find out how many hours and how much money was spent in training these teacher on how to use all there fancy gadgets. Also, I would like to know how many days of school they had to miss for these training classes. This whole process costs a great deal of money. I would hate to pay those taxes!! All in all this was a great article and allowed us to look at a different prospective of technology integration that we don't normally look at.