Teaching Responsible Technology Use

I think that one of the most important things that we can do as educators who plan on utilizing technology in the classroom is to educate our students about how to use it properly. This education could cover a multitude of different ideas and topics. It could discuss maintaining a positive online reputation. This could assist students in avoiding finding inappropriate things about themselves on the internet. In doing so, our students could avoid possibly losing a job or not being accepted by a university due to something as silly as an inappropriate picture on the internet. A second thing that teachers should discuss with students when it comes to using technology properly would be cyber bullying. This type of bullying has become more prominent during the digital era and because of this teachers should really explain to their students how harmful this can be. One final thing that I think would be vital for teachers to discuss with their students while utilizing technology in the classroom is how to avoid releasing too much personal information. If students aren't careful, it is possible that they may release their addresses, friends and family names, and so much more to the online world. This can make students more at risk to be susceptible to dangers of online predators and stalkers. This type of danger has very clear and frightening implications. These are only three of many topics that children should understand so that they can use technology safely and responsibly. Since technology is so large in student's lives in and out of the classroom, it is extremely important that teachers help to protect their students by proving them with strategies to protect themselves online.

Why do you want to be an educator?

I honestly had never considered the idea of being an educator until I was 19 years old. I first started college at the University of Pittsburgh and was majoring in pharmacy. After my freshman year, I started to realize that pharmacy wasn't something that I wanted to do. When I first decided to change my major, I chose to stick with the sciences and to try out majoring in occupational therapy and rehabilitation. However, while doing this my sophomore year at Pitt, I was still unhappy. Luckily, it was also my sophomore year that I also first started to realize that I had a passion for education. It started when I got a job working with an organization called Jumpstart. This was an organization made up of college students who would go into low-income pre-k classrooms and work with the children on their literacy skills. I loved the program. I really enjoyed working with all of the kids and seeing how they would grow over the course of the year. So at that time, I started to see myself having a career that involved working with children. I thought that I could do something in the medical field that also involved working with kids. Once I finished my first two semesters with Jumpstart, I was devastated to hear that I had lost my work study and would no longer be able to work in the classrooms with jumpstart. I couldn't imagine not working in the classroom and it was in that moment that I decided that I wanted to go to school for Early Childhood Education. I got a job working as a classroom aide in a children's center and started talking to my adviser about what I needed to do. My adviser informed me that my only option at Pitt (unless I wanted to completely restart my entire education over) was to virtually any major, complete education electives, and then apply to go to graduate school for ece at Pitt. Since I really didn't want to transfer and leave the friends I had at the University behind, I decided that I would get my degree in social sciences. I spent one semester attempting that major when I finally made the choice that I should transfer. This led me to the education program at SNHU.

Technology During My Education

Before coming to college, my technological experiences in school were mediocre and sometimes completely unsuccessful. I remember completing almost all of my assignments that required a computer at home. Most of the time that I recall using the technology in my school was spent just trying to make it work. However, that doesn't mean that ALL of my technological experiences were terrible.

In elementary school, I was fortunate enough to have classrooms that always had at least one desktop computer. For the most part, I always remember these computers working fairly well. Also, the higher the grade level, generally the more computers we had available. I thought that was a good thing because the older I became the more I had to use technology. We also had a computer lab, but I don't recall using it that often. My most significant memory of using the computer lab in elementary school was when we were first learning how to type and always had to hide the keyboards with those black, rubber covers that would keep us from looking at the letters on the keyboard. Aside from that, my only other memory of the computer lab is using the printers to print out reports or word art for posters.

In high school there was definitely an increase in the technology available. The downside was that it didn't always work very well. Our computer lab was generally up to speed, but was almost always reserved for a class so unless you were in the class that reserved the lab, it was hard to come by a computer. In addition to the computer lab my school also had laptops that were available for teachers to reserve during their class periods. The downside to the laptops was that only about 5 out of the 25 available always worked. By junior and senior year we all actually had the numbers of the ones that worked memorized. So if you weren't one of the first people to select your laptop, then you typically spent the entire class period hoping that the one you chose would somehow start working.

Overall, I was never impressed with the technology that my schools had to offer, but I also understand that we were still more fortunate than other schools so it was never something that upset me too much. I'm sure since I've graduated they have probably upgraded and enhanced the technology available and would be interested to see how much technology is available now.

Journey to SNHU

I grew up in rural Pennsylvania for most of my life. So when I first began college I only looked at schools that were in my home state. With a desire to stay in Pennsylvania and the urge to move to the city, I found myself beginning my college career at the University of Pittsburgh. I fell in love with Pitt and I also had made some great friends. However, I struggled with deciding what it was that I wanted to do with my future. When I first arrived at Pitt I was planning on pursuing a career in pharmacy, but I found that I didn't enjoy the classes I was taking. After one semester of being a pharmacy major, I decided that I wanted to try out the occupational therapy major. Once again, I was unhappy with the major and with the classes that I was taking. Finally, I became a Corps member in an organization called Jumpstart that sent us into preschool classrooms so that we could help teach young children language and literacy skills. It was through this organization that I realized that I wanted to pursue a career in early childhood education. However, Pitt didn't have an undergraduate ECE major and my only options were to get my Bachelor's degree in whatever major i desired and then apply to the graduate school of education to obtain a Master's in ECE. I was unhappy with that option and that was when I decided that I would look into transferring to a new school. After taking the time to look into several programs I decided that I wanted to transfer to SNHU and finish my Bachelor's degree here.