Technology Interviews

1. Technology Interviews Elle Gray

2. Parent Interview Do you feel that technology is effectively used in the classroom? Why or why not? Short Answer: Personally, I do not. I know that when my kid comes home from school he doesn’t use his computer for homework. He plays games, chats and Skypes with friends, and browses websites for hours. He writes his papers on Google.docs, but we have a home computer that he can do that on. Once I looked at his history and saw that he was looking up sports news and playing games all day. I don’t think that teachers have the ability to monitor student activity on the laptops and I don’t think that students are mature enough to use them properly.

3. Parent Interview Do you think technology is important for your child’s generation? Why or why not? Short Answer: I do think that technology is important for my son’s future. However, I’ll be honest; I don’t think that he needs to be using it in school as much as he does. His writing skills are absolutely horrendous—you can’t read a word he writes. But, he won’t write because he has a computer. It’s a double edged sword. He will need to know how to use it in high school and in the real world, but I don’t know how much of it he will need right now. I think he should be learning basic skills and concepts with his laptop, but I don’t see that being taught to my son in the classroom.

4. Parent Interview • You feel that that your child understands how to use, care for, and troubleshoot with their laptops? Does the school provide enough support? Explain. Short Answer: I think my son knows where to go to get help for his laptop. He doesn’t really know how to do anything with it besides basic programs like Keynote and Pages. If it broke or froze, he wouldn’t have any clue what to do with it, but I also feel like many younger people are in the came boat. Some of his teachers know how to do minor troubleshooting, but the technology director can fix it or send it out to be fixed so I’m not worried about the amount of support.

5. Parent Interview • Are you concerned with the growing trend of using cell phones and iPadsin the classroom? Why or why not? Short Answer: I think it would be too distracting for my son. He texts too much. Allowing him to have his phone out in front of him during class would be a disaster.

6. Parent Interview How would you change the way technology is used in the classroom? Short Answer: Students don’t need personal laptops. Why can’t schools have computer labs anymore? It’s not like the teachers can assign work that the children bring home. I think that if teachers can find someway to better use technology to reach and interest their students, that would be a more effective use.

7. School Board Member Interview • Do you believe that teachers use the technology in the classroom appropriately and purposefully? Why or why not? Short Answer: I think that for the most part our teachers do a great job at incorporating technology into the curriculum and using it to engage students. The 21st Century Skills need to be developed at an early age. Being exposed to so many different types of technologies will help them succeed from middle school to the high school to whatever waits for them beyond.

8. School Board Member Interview • If you had unlimited funds, how would you change the technology structure at your school? Short Answer: I would invest in our technology department. I think that buying students tablets and nooks at the high school level will help us in our initiative to be paperless with textbooks, as well as assignments. I would provide training for our teachers and support for our computer specialist. I would give every room a Smartboard and projector. I think that equipping our students and classrooms for the a future is important, and 21st Century Skills are the future.

9. School Board Member Interview • Do we need more or less technology in our schools? Explain. Short Answer: More! As you can tell from my last answer, I am a big supporter of technology. Students need to be prepared for the future and what the job market is going to ask of them. Successful technology starts in the classroom and expands to the students. I wish that the school district would require laptops to go home at the middle school so that the learning with technology doesn’t have to stop at the classroom.

10. School Board Member Interview • Many critics say that technology in the classroom (iPads and cell phones) are a distraction to student learning, while others say that they are useful tools. Which do you agree with? Why? Short Answer: I had a daughter that attended Marshwood. One of her college professors uses cell phones (Twitter) in the classroom. At first I was skeptical, but I think it really works. It’s difficult though because not all students have a smart phone (there is one in her class), but she still can complete her Twitter assignments through the computer. It actively engages students by using a different mode of communication.

11. School Board Member Interview • Why do you feel that technology is or is not important to this generation’s learning? Short Answer: Like I said before, 21st Century Skills are the future for students. Kids need to be prepared for the workforce. Most everything in society is now somehow based in technology. Communication is almost completely electronic. Emails, spreadsheets, presentations, etc.—[students] need to understand it to be successful.

12. Parent + School Board = Technology? Both the Parent and the School Board Member agree that Technology is important to learning, but that’s where it ends. The parent was very unimpressed with the school districts implementation of technology in regards to her son. She wanted more structure and moderation in technology. Her son doesn’t have the basic writing and reading skills. She thought technology should be a reward, not a skill. The School Board Member was the exact opposite. He saw the potential and importance that technology has in current society. He wanted more technology for student use. He wanted more technology in the classroom. Equated Technology with success.