Obsolete and Emerging Technology
Obsolete Technology - Overhead Projector
Educators began using overhead projectors in the classrooms about the year 1960 (National Museum of American History,” n.d.). It offered an excellent interactive method of instructional delivery for teachers. It aided teachers who wanted to pre- prepare for lesson or preserve lesson activities for other classes they taught. The overhead projector did not require instructors to be tech-savvy because it was easy to use. However, it became obsolete in my department about 3 years ago for some of the following reasons:
1. The demand for the projectors to be moved from classroom to classroom for use became strategically cumbersome to transport and repairs of the projectors increased because of the constant movement. The cost of the repairs were minimal but the time to repair them took longer each time because of the lack of focus of the IT department.
2. It became easier to transport smaller LCD projectors to offsite locations than transporting overhead projectors. Also, the public schools that allow us to use their technology had already switch to LCD projectors in their classrooms and overhead projectors were no longer available.
3. Teachers began using the interactive white boards and LCD projectors placed in the classrooms and found it easier to access because they were right there in the classrooms. Additionally, even though these new devices require some technological knowledge the teacher found it easier to use and more interactive for their students.
4. The demands of our systems’ office (Technical College Systems of Georgia (TCSG) to promote the use of technology in the classroom and train all teachers meant a move towards newer technological devices, so overhead projectors were phased out.
5. The change in our student population and their access to more modern technological devices pushed the teachers to use more up-to-date instructional devices.
The emerged technology that replaced overhead projectors in my department was an interactive white board called the Promethean board. The Promethean board “has the potential to be the second revolutionary teaching tool. Just as the blackboard was seen as a key part of nineteenth and twentieth century classrooms (Becker & Lee, 2009, p. 2). This board offers more interactive opportunities for teachers and allow them to do more than just continue with teaching topics and skills in the same old way. The Promethean board offers a wealth of unimagined ways to enhance the teaching and learning process (Becker & Lee, 2009). When teachers are trained properly in the correct use of the boards these boards can offer a wider scope for instructional flexibility and hands-on learning than overhead projectors.
The installation of Promethean boards brought our classes into the technological age and forced many of our teachers to learn to use this massive “computer screen” that was placed directly over the dry erased white broads in the classrooms. It offered their classes more interaction and pushed teachers to use the technology they could not ignore. In the past, the desktop projectors could remained turned off and the screens pulled up, but the interactive white boards were prominent and could not be ignored if a teacher desired to do his or her job effectively.
The teacher needs to move the class from a static passive non-participating student to one who is dynamic and want to be involved in their own learning. Using and Promethean boards in the proper way can help the teacher become more dynamic and help motivate the students to become collaborative active members of the class and ultimately active directors of their own learning.
Emerged Technology - Promethean Board
