After presenting a staff development to the teachers in my district, some of the complaints they wanted to discuss were concerning parents. They informed me that some parents say they already have too much "screen time" in front of the TV and are worried that with technology and computers being used so much in the classroom they are making their children lazy. To be honest, I kind of giggled. My first response was to tell those parents to limit the TV time at home then. Knowing that would never happen with so many parents working and trying to make dinner as the students are getting home from school, I told them to try to tell them all the other things we do in school to make sure they are getting enough exercise. I also told them to look at the Texas TEKS where it tells teachers we have to teach using technology. Some parents still (shockingly) don't realize that without the computer skills being taught as well as how to use them safely, their children will not be ready to be productive members of society. I would have loved to direct them to some of the videos and articles I just read for this class.

"Several groups have reviewed the literature on technology and learning and concluded that it has great potential to enhance student achievement and teacher learning, but only if it is used appropriately "(Dede, 1998).

When I read this quote it made me think about my Action Research plan that I created in my last class. My question that I am researching is, How are teachers using technology in the classroom, and is it effective? I want to know if it is having a positive effect on grades, behavior, parent involvement, and time on task in the classroom. Connectivism discuss how it is the ability to stay current with knowledge and learning. We are not the only information sources that we have at our disposal now. Using technology and its resources we can creat a network of people, places, and information in order to make our connections to certain subjects or ideas even stronger. In this day and age we rely more on each other and these networks to gain some of the same information we would have gotten from books articles, and individual experts. We are the experts!!