Technology usually triggers feelings of trepidation for me. I am very comfortable with the technology that I use everyday. I appreciate the ease and efficiency technology can provide. However, I am always lagging behind the tech wave. I avoided the daily email routine as long as I could, still do not have a digital camera, do not have email on my phone... all of this despite working at an Internet company for a year. Since technology information comes slower to me, I think I have been "just getting by" in the tech realm. However, I have always had a hidden ambition to learn about new technology. I am so excited to finally have a video camera to use! This class will certainly be a challenge for me, but I know the reward of becoming more tech fluent will far and away surpass the frustrations I may have in learning it. I feel so lucky to be in a course about technology by people who also study teaching. Their efforts to engage us in the topic made me feel much more comfortable about the coming course.

My ideal classroom will definitely involve technology. (So I better learn how to use it... or, even better, learn how to learn how to use it.) As a future biology teacher, I want to use technology with two objectives in mind. First, I would like to inspire the students to be curious about the world-- like all of the five-year-old biologist digging up bugs and adults watching the discovery channel. Secondly, technology is also a great way to help me with differential learning. Technology can help make theory more tangible. Also, I believe science is largely action orientated. Technology allows students to create, interact, and to engage all of the senses while learning. I think technology in a science classroom can help students become curious, learn more effectively, and understand its multiple uses in the "real world."

Here's my dream list as of now:

Laptops would be great. An HD projector with surround sound would be key. It'd be great to have it be 3-D... Any kind of lab equipment to make learner more hands on-- spectrophotometer, magnifying equipment, ect... Ecology stations with either an aquarium or terrarium and other things for students. It would be wonderful if they were self-cleaning. I'd also like desks with locking wheels. That way the desks can be in groups or rows depending on what we're doing and the class dynamics. Also, that way they could be rearranged a lot without a splitting headache for myself or future teacher neighbors. I know that idea is much more low tech, but it would be nice. I would like field lab equipment. It would be great to be able to take the kids outside for certain activities. I'm sure at the end of this class I'll have more ideas about my dream class.