Module 7 — Kingsborough Community College

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  Posted by Ifeoma Nwoke (she/her) on June 13, 2023 at 6:26 pm

  After reviewing the visual resource, “Powering Connections: Teacher candidate perspectives on Computer Integrated Technology”, please respond to the following questions in this thread:

  What are your thoughts on the teacher candidate visual resource? What surprised you? What resonated with you? What other perspectives do you wish had been included?

• Joanna (she/her)

  Member

  June 17, 2023 at 1:11 am

  The visual resource is awesome. It brings the stories to life in many ways.

  I can definitely relate to the page with the “logged out” drawings. I have felt that way whenever starting a new job – you need to get several different accounts and one gives you access to another…logins are similar to one another but yet different….and it is so easy to get caught up in a frustrating situation. In my Saturday course, I have a few students that have not been in school for many years. They are getting accustomed to technology and have also experienced this frustration.

  I think what is really powerful about this comic is the fact that it highlights the power of human connection. Teachers express finally feeling comfortable with technology once people taught them to use it. Even when we encourage tinkering with technology, that tinkering becomes more doable when we know there are HUMAN resources available for us.

  What perspectives do I wish were included? It seems that many of the pictures associate computing with screens. I think we can teach computing without screens in very hands, sensory ways. This is what I am going to focus on for my artifact…Stay tuned for more!
  Carol Carielli

  Member

  June 17, 2023 at 7:24 pm

  I think the data gathered and the way it is delivered is informative and actually enjoyable to read in the format presented.  It would be interesting to compare data of traditional college age students vs. non-traditional to see if there is a difference in whether age (and to what extent if it does) presents any challenge in approaching, accepting and ultimate use of technology. Chronology of exposure may make a difference.  Does the high motivation level often appreciated in non-traditional students, level the playing field.   This is something I may like to pursue in regard to my artifact. (Of course, so many other equity oriented variables could be investigated as well.)

  Garnering information about the way our students learn is key to how new technology could be presented. Addressing different learning styles and recognizing varied stress levels would be valuable in helping my students comfortably develop their tech lives.
  Laura Kates

  Participant

  July 2, 2023 at 4:36 pm

  I’m realizing from my participation in CITE so far, that I’m not that visual a person, meaning I don’t always respond to graphics that well and don’t always comprehend them that well. Although I love visual art, I’ve been intensely drawn to print and to reading and writing since I was a very young child.

  So, maybe it’s me but I didn’t enjoy engaging with this resource as much as I did with the others I’ve encountered in CITE so far. I found it to be kind of cluttered and unsettling to navigate. I also felt like people’s stories and perspectives were presented in kind of a superficial way. As a qualitative researcher, I was aching to know more about people’s life context, where they live and work and to be able to read (and/or watch videos or listen to audio) about their beliefs and experiences in more depth and detail. It’s interesting to me that my dear colleagues Joanna and Carol had such a different response from my own.

  In terms of other perspectives, I think it might be good for CITE to find some early childhood practices to use as exemplars that are more authentic and child-centered than the examples offered here. I’m sure that the teacher candidates included here are very sincere and well meaning but the tasks described are quite teacher-directed and divorced from any connection to young children’s interests, experiences, or wonderings. This is surprising because these approaches are unlike the meaningful, constructivist learning experience that the CITE team has designed for us teacher educators and the practices described don’t really align with the CITE values in my opinion. If desired, I think that I and other early childhood faculty in my program and from other campuses could help you find some examples of teacher candidates using technology in more authentic, developmentally appropriate ways.