Hello folks, my name is Artashes Bezjian and I'm majoring in English Literature. While I am not aspiring to be a teacher I do have some thoughts regarding what I feel is the best role media technology should play in teaching. Media technology has made teaching easier in some places but also difficult in others. The main boon of media technology is being able to show students educational videos from the internet via a projector, which is most effective with History and English classes. The use of powerpoint slides is also very effective as opposed to the teacher writing everything on the board as it both saves time, is much more eye catching, and allows the teacher to go through the important topics of the class faster. I believe all of this because that's how a lot of my classes were taught during high school. Every classroom had a built-in projector that could link up with the teachers laptop, and the teachers would primarily teach using powerpoint presentations that they made for the class and only used the writing board when needed. And for many history and english classes, the teachers would even show us videos about the topic to help us better understand it and would ask us to write short summaries of what we just watched to make sure we paid attention. I personally found this teaching method using media technology to be a lot of fun and effective in regards to teaching me. It made the teachers job easier without subtracting from the teaching quality.
But on the other side, another thing I noticed when I was in highschool regarding media technology is how much other students used their smartphones, even during class time. Some students would barely even pay attention and just use their IPhones to pass the time. This is a common problem with the advent of the Information Age and isn't a new dilemma as it is almost a decade old. The most ideal solution would be for teachers to have their students put their smartphones in a bin or some table in the corner of the classroom when class starts and pick them up when class ends. That way the students aren't being distracted by their phones but their phones are still nearby for them to be able to contact their parents or receive phone calls from them. This is already what is done whenever we take our finals or midterms during highschool so I don't see why it couldn't be done for every class.
These are my general thoughts on how media technology should be best managed and utilized in a school environment and what its overall role should be. I implore readers to give their opinions on my perspective, do you agree? Disagree? Are there things you would change with how I think media technology’s role should be in a classroom? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
