I don't think that with the way that classrooms are changing, only five pieces of assistive technology would be enough. Classrooms are constantly evolving, and technology is too. New technology is always on the verge of becoming obsolete by something newer, faster, and more efficient. Just five years ago, Smart Boards were almost unheard of. Today, it seems as though it is unheard of NOT to have a Smart Board. If I had to select only five technologies to assist me in my classroom, though, I would have to choose a webcam, a digital camera, an overhead projector, an interactive whiteboard, and clickers.
I think that when students can see themselves and their classmates learning on a webcam, it makes them more excited about the educational topic. It would be interesting to use webcams to alter the way students feel about the core subjects when there is a digital twist. If a student was having trouble with pronunciation, for instance, they could study their image through a webcam to detect what part of their mouth wasn’t making the right movement.
I’m a huge fan of taking photos of students while they are on trips or learning something. Having photographs can, in my opinion, be a way of helping students to correlate a learning experience to a memory, which could help cement the information a little more. If you have a photograph of a student portraying a famous person from history, every time they look at that picture they’re going to tie it back to something they know from that time.
Overhead projectors have been a huge part of my education and personally, I think they’re effective at giving out information to the whole classroom at once. If every student is looking at the exact same thing, it becomes easier to produce group learning.
Interactive whiteboards, like projectors, produce a group learning effect. If a teacher had to change up his or her lesson momentarily to accommodate the learning taking place, an interactive whiteboard would be a great tool to have.
Clickers are probably the thing that I would desire most for my own class. With each student submitting answers using their clicker, I would be able to determine which students were struggling or excelling.
