Week 6 Discussion

1. One of the major concerns several of us have voiced in class regarding integrating technology into lessons has been how it does or doesn’t play into the always prevalent role of high-stakes testing. On page 240, Hew and Brush offer an example for implementing technology into lessons while still considering state standards. The teachers at Newsome Elementary School let the students choose which SOL’s (Standards of Learning) they wanted to address the most, and the teachers brainstormed project-based learning activities that utilized technology in order to meet these state standards. What do you think of this implementation of technology? Do you think this is an effective way to use technology to meet assessment standards? Why or why not?

2. In Table 2 on page 240, Hew and Brush link the first-order and second-order barriers to strategies they present in their article. Which barriers listed in this table do you think are the most pressing—the first-order or the second-order barriers? In other words, which barriers do you think weigh as the heaviest burdens on teachers who are being asked to implement technology into their lessons? Why?