Article Review #4 "In Classroom, Computers Often Yield More Glitz Than Guts"

Brenda Dyck, in her article "In Classroom, Computers Often Yield More Glitz Than Guts," discusses how the important learning enhancing aspects of technology are often overshadowed by all of the cool tricks and imagery that are made possible. I agree with Dyck on this point. She discusses how when she first started requiring students to use technology on projects, the content of the information was not up to par with the presentations themselves. I have seen similar projects in my own classroom and also agree with Dyck on the ease with which something like this can occur and be allowed. The "bells and whistles" accompanying projects can be extremely impressive, but as educators, we need to remember to keep the focus on the learning and the information. Dyck suggests coming up with projects that involve more than just collecting and sharing information. The more in-depth the project is, the more involved the students become. A couple of the collaborative projects that she mentions in the article gave me some good ideas that I could use in my own Biology classes.