Entry 2.... The LoTi Continuum

I just read the LoTi website, which was really interesting and a bit disheartening to me, as a novice teacher and a continuing adult learner.  I definitely see myself as a Level 2 in the continuum as a teacher, using technology almost exclusively for grading, researching, and curricular planning. There is one computer in my classroom, and my students have never used it for anything, aside from watching videos that I think help bring our science explorations (on ocean environments) to life. It's basically a glorified TV.

 In high school, I went to a school that used technology in very specific ways. As students, we did a lot of work with spreadsheets, scientific equipment used for measuring light and sound frequencies, chemistry, some physics, and a lot of graphing. I honestly don't remember most of the things we did, but I know with certainty that our use of technology surpassed most of the things I see being done in other high schools and even some colleges. The school (Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy) received grants and endowments for scientific research, and that gave the programs a lot by way of resources. Nonetheless, seeing as my memory of these things is very general (and vague), perhaps the use of edTech was not particularly well explained. I know many of the people I went to school with continue to be in contact with this type of tech in their chosen professions, but I clearly am not.

 In college, I used technology to write papers, do research on the internet, and edit films for my major in Cinema/Tv. I did not see technology as a particularly interactive part of my education, but more as a tool for doing assignments. I was not comfortable with much of the technology I did interact with, in particular the editing bays - which gave me nightmares and headaches. No teachers were really involved in making technology and its usage "friendly" or applicable to my life. I relied on friends to keep me informed about the social networking uses of websites like Facebook, and I learned to use iTunes after receiving my first iPod during my junior year.  Technology was not a major facet of my college experience, particularly in the capacities described by the LoTi Framework.

 I don't think I have been to any classrooms where students are involved in "making meaning" of their lives or their studies through technology. I don't know what those classrooms would look like, and I would very much like to know how much students gain from exposure to this type of interactivity with technology, which they seem to have such a tremendous ability to absorb. I watch my students using cell phones and handheld video gaming devices, and I wonder if I could ever catch up with their flexible use of technology! I am so worried about teaching my students simply to TYPE and play basic educational games on our computers, but I see the limitations and lack of authenticity in focusing on only these discrete skills.

I would very much like to know how to take EdTech in my classroom to the next level! Any advice???