Week 1 - Education technology: the big picture

The above, very wordy, Apple Computer advertisement, is from the early 1980's.  It is focused on parents and teachers and discusses how schools in Minnesota State school system now have Apple computers in 35% of their state elementary and secondary schools and why the state chose Apple.  The tone is very friendly and conversational.  According to the advertisement, some of the reasons the state chose Apple is because it was easy to program, they have a built in speaker, and colour graphics! These are things the average current consumer rarely considers. Clearly Apple are using the fact that their computers are in the state school system to influence parents into purchasing their computer for students.  

This contrasts with a current new Apple laptop computer MacBook Air advertisement, below, which is not in the printed format, but on Youtube. It is now very difficult to find a current (2025) Apple computer advertisement in print.  This advertisement shows 'Pros', that is, people who use computers in their everyday activities (which includes students) and tells the viewer the multitude of ways they can utilise their Apple MacBook Air. Ease of use and graphic features are still considerations, however speed, how cool it is and portability are now highlighted features. Apple launched their first laptop computer in 1991 (Computerhope, 2023). In the 2000's Apple started to rebrand their products, which now included iphones, ipods and iMacs, emphasising the look of the product and suggesting that they were part of an upscale lifestyle (Levy & Montevirgen, 2025). 

 Week 1 Question

As a teacher, how can you make informed decisions about the use of digital technologies in the classroom?

Response.

Incorporating digital technologies into a teacher’s pedagogy can enhance student learning; it is never a replacement for quality teaching.  Teachers need to be mindful of this.  One of my Key Learning Areas (KLA) is history, and digital technologies provide students with the ability to locate, assemble and share information like never before (Lim et al., 2013, p. 59). However, one of the internet’s great benefits is that anyone can use it to disseminate information, but for students this can be a curse as they need to be taught how to critically evaluate the information available to them (AARA, 2025). Students need to apply the CRAP (Currency, Reliability, Authority, Purpose) test to evaluate whether the information they can locate is actually reliable.  Social media should never be used as a source. Once students know how to critically evaluate the information available, the internet is extremely helpful in locating historical primary and secondary sources for study.

Digital technologies can help teachers to engage student in learning in the classroom by providing extra tools with which to give real world examples via an easily accessed you tube clip or documentary, or a quiz using an online quiz generator.  Educators need to have reliable access to the technology they wish to incorporate into their lessons, to provide quick access to the resources, otherwise they may risk losing students’ attention (Littlejohn & Hunter, 2016, p. 63).  Educators need to ensure their lesson is enriched by the selected digital technology.