Resources for Philosophy of Technology Portfolio

Here are some resources provided below that might be helpful for pre-service teachers to use when developing their philosophy of technology. The sources helped give me a better perspective about my own philosophy of technology and will help me in developing my own portfolio.

Adams, Dennis, Helen Carlson, and Mary Hamm. 1990. Cooperative Learning and Educational Media: Collaborating with Technology and Each Other. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.

Britt, Judy, Joe P. Brasher, and Lydia D. Davenport. 2007. “Balancing Books & Bytes.” Kappa Delta Pi Record 43, no. 3: 122-127. The techniques presented in Brit and colleagues’ article suggest that computers should not replace the need for students to read good books. However, sharing a book can employ contemporary strategies, such as project-based learning, that provide an exciting balance between traditional teaching and technology tools

Carter, LeAnn, William J. Sumrall, and Kristen M. Curry. 2006. “Say Cheese! Digital Collections in the Classroom.” Science and Children 43, no. 8: 19-23. Digital cameras offer great potential for incorporating technology into lessons. Camera provide creative uses of technology in the classroom and can be used for a variety of interactive projects as well as a source of documentation in the classroom.

Ching, Cynthia Carter, X. Christine Wang, Mei-Li Shih, and Yore Kedem. 2006. “Digital Photography and Journals in a Kindergarten-First-Grade Classroom: Toward Meaningful Technology Integration in Early Childhood Education.” Early Education and Development 17, no. 3: 347-371. To explore meaningful and effective technology integration in early childhood education, Ching and colleagues investigated how kindergarten and first-grade students created and employed digital photography journals to support social and cognitive reflection. These students used a digital camera to document their daily school activities and created digital photo journals to represent their experiences. The authors also discuss implications for meaningful technology integration in early childhood education.

Fox, Christine. 2008. “Elementary Schools: The Time Is Now.” T.H.E. Journal 35, no. 7: 10-11. Fox describes how various schools across the country are offering formative assessment tools to help teachers apprehend students’ learning difficulties early on in the learning process.

Kali, Yael, and Marcia C. Linn. 2008. “Designing Effective Visualizations for Elementary School Science.” Elementary School Journal 109, no. 2: 181-198. Kali and Linn’s research has shown that technology-enhanced visualizations can improve inquiry learning in science when they are designed to support knowledge integration. Visualizations play an especially important role in supporting science learning at elementary and middle school levels because they can make unseen and complex processes visible. They identify four principles that can help designers and teachers incorporate visualizations into curriculum materials.

Kovalchick, Ann, and Kara Dawson. 2004. Education and Technology: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

Ohler, Jason. 2008. Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Sorensen, Elsebeth Korsgaard, and Daithí Ó Murchú, eds. 2006. Enhancing Learning through Technology. Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishers.

Zawilinski, Lisa. 2009. “HOT Blogging: A Framework for Blogging to Promote Higher Order Thinking.” Reading Teacher 62, no. 8: 650-661. This article describes instructional practices with blogs in elementary classrooms. Four common types of classroom blogs with accompanying examples are shared: classroom news blogs, mirror blogs, showcase blogs, and literature response blogs. This by Zawilinski provides teachers with a systematic way to integrate blogs, deepen comprehension, and teach the new literacy of online reading comprehension.