Teachers in Farmington, Minnesota, recently held a two-day conference on new and emerging classroom technologies to brush up on their tech skills before school resumes in September. As advancing technology becomes increasingly available in classrooms, the ability to properly make use of new hardware and systems is key to taking advantage of their capabilities.
"The SMART boards are great, but if you do your same lesson on it, what good does it do you?" said Jennifer Legatt, a technology integration specialist. "Technology instruction has to change. That’s one of my goals this year."
Products like tablet computers and HDMI projectors allow teachers to reach students with many different learning styles.
Teachers convened at Farmington High School, and lessons covered everything from optimizing email to advanced computer programming. Different teachers use the technology in different ways, and some more than others. As students become increasingly familiar with advanced technology, however, adapting lesson plans to include new technology keeps students engaged.
Using the technology to the height of its abilities was a focus of many classes at the conference. One group in particular taught teachers how to use document cameras not only to project text and images, but to connect and video conference with students in other schools.
