The Relationship between e learning and learning? Using Ethernet

Two decades ago Fred d'Ignazio, a prominent American advocate of the use of multimedia software in education, wrote that
"Classroom experimenting within advanced teaching strategies are often devoid of technology"
Whereas...
"Classrooms using advanced technologies often employ older teaching strategies." (p.17)
Information technology has been expected over recent years to bring about pedagogical change in schools but, research has shown that this doesn’t happen automatically. E-Learning can be part of school improvement but there needs to be other things happening at the same time. I think at times that teaching steps beyond the bounds that technology holds and at other times it can extend what is possible. As teachers we try to grab the teachable moment and work with it but I think that at times the opportunity for us to use technology is taken away by so many other areas of focus. It is often easier to simply teach technology as it stands rather than as an integrated teaching tool. My first assignment was on the interactive whiteboard and it was suggested that many teachers using the IWB actually used more whole class teaching than what they had been using prior to the installation of the IWB. Why is this? I considered this for awhile and found that time is of the essence and the time to let children "have a go" is hard to find. When does, time warrant separate instruction. In our class of 20 New Entrants we have 1 computer and no ICT time. So When in the day would I find the time to teach just one child necessary skills to accurately use the computer. I have to admit that I have been using technology as a tool and feel that in my environment with limited resources and lack of funding is probably the best we can hope for. In an ultimate world we would have laptops for each child, we would utilise these when the teaching dictated it and we would learn through using them as well as learning of them. It simply can’t be how much you want to use new technologies sometimes it has to come down to what is possible with the resources that you have and the training and support that is offered or has been given.
The importance of teacher training cannot be ignored. It is the quality of the teaching practice that is the most important element of successful learning, not the technology used. Technology provides a number of different tools for teachers to use, and if used effectively can raise student motivation to learn and indeed raise student achievement, but used ineffectively and the students learning will suffer.
Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London: Routledge
I think that teachers will stay with what they feel is comfortable until they find something that is easier and or they can see the educational benefits for. The IWB was one example of an idea that proves worthy of exploration for installation in NZ schools but will this really change the way I teach. I don’t think so. I’m not sure what will. Time and money factor hugely.
The importance of teacher training cannot be ignored. It is the quality of the teaching practice that is the most important element of successful learning, not the technology used. Technology provides a number of different tools for teachers to use, and if used effectively can raise student motivation to learn and indeed raise student achievement, but used ineffectively and the students learning will suffer.

WEB 2.0 TOOLS TRIAL AND ERROR
One Web 2.0 tool that I have attempted is the ethernet
As explained before I have not used many Web 2.0 technologies and have mainly concentrated on Microsoft programmes such as Word, Power Point, Excel and Publisher. I have given children in my class the opportunity to upload photos from digital cameras to the computer and then manipulate, edit and add features. They have used the internet to research information and collate data. As yet this is as far as it has gone therefore while reading I thought that I would look at information on Etherpad. When I was searching Web 2.0 applications to see what all these terms meant I found that Etherpad was a highly effective and productive tool for collaborative writing. I found that I could easily implement this application into my teaching as it seemed to blend new and traditional teaching methods.
My first thought for using Etherpad would be for promoting collaborative writing. As teachers we have all experienced group research or writing tasks where one person does the writing and the others while trying to engage seem to loose motivation as time progresses. They lack a task to complete and feel disempowered to take responsibility for their own learning.
Etherpad could be used for group research tasks whereby they could find information from the web, brainstorm ideas and then add it to the pad all the while reading work added by others in their groups. They could also each take different parts of the topic and research and find information and then add to the pad therefore building up a report based on everyone contributing different ideas from which they have all had the opportunity to edit and ensure correct grammatical structure, spelling and meaning.
Eetherpad could be used is for a unit on persuasive writing, which requires the children to write persuasive letters using Etherpad, as there is a limit of 8 users per Etherpad and most of us have a class of thirty one document could be set up to gather ideas, and another one where children could collect persuasive words and phrases.
Etherpad could be used for editing. You could paste an article into a pad with grammar or spelling errors related to what you have been covering in class.
Etherpad could be used for Instructional writing such as recipes. Steps for a recipe could be out of order and then children could work together to rearrange as they hear a narration in the correct order. Or get them to write out a set of instructions together.
The more I thought about using Etherpad the more ideas I could think of. The only downside to using this application is that you would need to have enough computers or laptops for children in your class. At present in our school we only have one computer in the class and 12 computers in the ICT suite which we get use of for 1 hour each week. How can I therefore place importance on this when it seems important to teach children the basics of word processing before they can move onto these exciting new applications.