Red Group- Technology in the classroom!

I've never really thought about applying the technology we use everyday to the classroom. A lot of the technologies we use in our everyday lives, we can not assume that everyone can afford them. The technology devices that are out today are rather expensive. If you made it mandatory to use a cell phone, i-pod, video games, and etc. to use in a classroom, I think a lot of students would not be able to purchase them. I also don't think that the school would be able to purchase all these technologies for every student in the school. I really don't think that these technologies are something you can learn over night, most people (I know myself) would have to take it home and fool around with it a bit. I've had a cell phone for several years and I still don't know how to use every program and thats not to mention that technology is expanding everyday. With that being said, the kids who can't not afford these different technologies will not be as advanced and familiar with the different devices. So the students that can afford these different technologies have a bit of an advantage over the kids who can't. In my opinion, that is not fair to everyone. 

I don't think using the technology that we use everyday is useful in the classroom at all. The reason I feel so strongly about that is it could be a distraction. If the class were suppose to look up youtube video, how do you know they are doing the actual assignment. They may be looking up videos for personal enjoyment. The whole idea of using cell phones is not very realistic because most of the students would be texting their friends instead of doing what they are suppose to be doing. It is very easy to get distracted and go off task in a regular classroom setting without all of these technologies and would be much more easier if we could use cell phones, youtube, and i-pods. I think most kids would probably be listening to music on there i-pod, rather than doing the required assignment. I think that the technology that we use in the classrooms now are very efficient and gets the job done. I think that using technologies that are more controlled is the better way to go, for example; different softwares, wiki's,and blackboard.