Control the Technology - "A"

This article is about the technological equipment that most classrooms have for the teacher to use. The data/video projector, DVD/VCR, document camera, and classroom sound amplifiers are the specific tools the article talks about. For a teacher to use all of this equipment, the article says it should be easy to use. Before some of the recent advances in technology, teachers would have numerous remotes and controls to navigate their way with the equipment. Now there can be wall controls installed which allows teachers to use the media tools without the help of a computer. This can be useful when substitute teachers have to teach, because they usually don’t have access to the passwords on the network computers. Also, there is software that can be used to monitor and shut off equipment that has been idle for a period of time.
I chose this article, because as a future teacher it is useful information to know about the tools we will have available in the classroom. It answered my question of how technology can be used in the classroom and more specifically in secondary schools. The article can be used for a wide range of educators and I thought it was neat how the author was able to connect all of the technology to the willingness of teachers using it. It also was clear with specific materials that can be controlled by a main control panel and the software that can monitor activity. All of the equipment is seen in most of my college classrooms, but in high school it was less common for all the classrooms to have that technology. I’m guessing that it will vary depending on the economic level of the schools, but hopefully the future will bring better things.

Day,W.C. (2007). Now That's Control.(Column). American School & University 79(6). Retrieved March 27, 2007, from Academic OneFile database.

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