New Technologies

About a year ago I tried to incorporate using blackboard in the classrooms.  Blackboard is an online tool that is used for classes to communicate and submit assignments much like we do in online classes.  I wanted the technology department in our school system to use it so that we could share ideas that help us in the classroom and provide more resources to give our students.  The use of blackboard would help tremendously because it could cut down on email and conference calls and most of all meetings that take hours to complete.  The first response was that it would take time because it had to be set up and everyone would need to log in and make comments and responses almost daily.  A few were not sure about using it because they were used to the old way of communicating through email and phone calls and most of all text messages.  I tried to explain the relevance of it.  If we use it we are more apt to get our students involved in using it and making it a large part of our curriculum.  If we display confidence in it then students will take to it more readily than if we look like beginners ourselves. Lastly, I informed them of the satisfaction they would get out of using it and not have to check emails all day everyday. They could simply check the communication board and see if their questions were answered or not.  While I did not have success in doing it, a few of us have adopted the use of blackboard and one by one others are joining us.  It has become a most helpful tool to my overall instruction.

Source:

http://www.arcsmodel.com/home.htm


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