Deck 7: What Should Teachers Know About Technology and Its Impact on Schools

Question 1

Clearly describe a specific topic or subject area which you will be teaching and then indicate at least five ways you could use educational technology with your students to support and enhance effective instruction and learning.

Answer 1

Suggested answer: Answers will vary. Look for the widest variety of applications suggested in the text .

Question 2

Pick one of the controversial issues surrounding the use of technology in education. Clearly state contrasting points of view on the issue and then give your own opinion and support it.

Answer 2

Suggested answer: Answers will vary depending on the issue selected - , education of teachers, parents, equity, or integration into the curriculum.

Question 3

Discuss the pros of a balanced focus on productivity AND cognitive tools with students.

Answer 3

Suggested answer:Productivity tools provide users with greater efficiency and organization in completing tasks.  Students can produce work faster and with fewer errors due to tools like spell check and grammar check and can keep track of data with greater efficiency and speed in calculating.  Cognitive tools, while sometimes resisted by students because they require greater thinking, do engage students in authentic tasks in which they must think more deeply about content or problem-solving tasks and which allow students to use greater creativity in producing products and sharing expertise.

Question 4

What is the most significant benefit of instituting distance education within a school district?

A) Establishing and maintaining a program is less expensive than paying a teacher.
B) It provides a way to provide educational equity between rural and poorer students and those who come from larger, more affluent districts.
C) At-risk students who are enrolled in distance education programs demonstrate greater academic achievement than those who are not participants.
D) Distance education programs have been shown to stimulate student productivity and time on task.

Question 5

Teachers will be able to use computers effectively only if

A) they receive proper training in their use.
B) they have on-site support.
C) each teacher has adequate access to appropriate hardware and software.
D) all of the above are true.

Question 6

When a new technology is first introduced in the classroom, it is often proclaimed that

A) the materials will be too expensive.
B) students won't have to work in order to learn.
C) it will be the end of instruction as we now know it.
D) teachers will automatically know how to use it.

Question 7

When elementary school classes all over the world add ozone measurements from their community to an online database and then analyze the data and draw conclusions, this is an example of using technology as

A) distance education.
B) a digital archive.
C) a news group.
D) a cognitive tool.

Question 8

In what way can using graphing calculators aid students in understanding mathematical concepts?

A) They allow students to more easily organize and analyze data.
B) They keep students from having to memorize lists of mathematical facts.
C) They allow teachers to go over greater numbers of problems in class, giving students greater practice opportunity.
D) They prevent careless computation errors.

Question 9

Equity concerns regarding the integration of technology revolve around

A) the rapidity with which technology advances, making most hardware obsolete within three years.
B) the potential for increased resource disparities between rich and poor schools and students' home access.
C) the lack of space in many schools for technology hardware.
D) the difficulty of finding qualified maintenance personnel.

Question 10

Choose one of the four ways that computers can be distributed in a school. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of this arrangement and tell why you prefer it.

Question 11

Briefly identify and explain various sources of pressure to change schools' approach to using educational technology within classrooms.

Question 12

Which of the following allows the social studies teacher to do something innovative with technology?

A) Online activities
B) Virtual field trips
C) GIS software
D) All of the above

Question 13

When Mrs. Sanchez creates a multimedia project to individualize for her gifted and talented students, she is using her computer as a

A) cognitive tool.
B) facilitator of instruction.
C) communication tool.
D) poor substitute for her personal attention.

Question 14

A framework that helps us conceptualize how technology is used to enhance teaching and learning is called

A) Technological content knowledge
B) Technological pedagogical knowledge
C) Technological pedagogical content knowledge
D) None of these

Question 15

The use of new technology in the classroom, which includes the computer, CD-ROMs, and multimedia, can enhance the curriculum by

A) accessing data banks from diverse sources.
B) creating simulations to solve real-life problems.
C) linking students in different states or countries to one another.
D) doing all of the above.

Question 16

The Berkeley public school district has just invested a considerable sum of money in computers for classroom use. If the administration and the faculty want to encourage widespread, habitual use of computers by the students, they should ensure

A) a one-to-one ratio of computer to student.
B) that students are rewarded with "computer time."
C) that the students have adequate access to computers during and after class.
D) that each student has a computer at home.

Question 17

Digital imagery allows students to view

A) objects that are too small for the naked eye to view.
B) processes that are too fast or too slow to be observed under regular conditions.
C) objects that are too far away to be observed clearly.
D) processes that are normally uninteresting to students.

Question 18

Located in a remote region of New Hampshire, Carr High School has several students who are ready to enroll in calculus and others who wish to take Latin, but there aren't any teachers who can teach either course. Based upon the most recent advances in education, which proposal represents the best solution for Carr High School's problem?

A) An individualized correspondence course for each student
B) Telling students that they should postpone taking such courses until they enroll in college
C) Instituting a distance education program whereby the students can enroll in calculus and Latin
D) Busing the students to other schools that do offer such courses

Question 19

Joey was born with a birth defect that left him unable to use his vocal cords and consequently to speak. Yet Joey has successfully completed his high school studies and looks forward to a challenging college career. How has assistive technology helped Joey communicate in class?

A) He has a full-time interpreter who speaks for him.
B) He makes use of a voice output device that produces synthesized sound.
C) He uses a voice input device to translate spoken words to written text.
D) He uses an adaptive word processing program to write his papers.

Question 20

Students who use word processors to write are likely to

A) finish the assignment more quickly.
B) make more substantial revisions.
C) include more errors.
D) learn less about proofreading and editing.