1. I have heard rumors that we will be going to electronic books in the BC Business Department within the next 10 years. While the technology will be intially costly, in the long run texts will no longer be needed. No more tracting students with corresponding books, especially when the books do not come back to school. No more out dated versions of books, the upgrade will be readily available. No more clutter of books in the classroom. On the other hand, this means that each class room will be required to be a computer lab OR that each student will have their own computer notebook to access the e-book (which the teacher will have to track that technology. I am not sure how having e-books will improve the actual reading of the material, but it is the wave of the future and what the students' will be accustomed to.

2. My accounting book has a computer program that accompanies it. I have used it for the first 2 chapters and then it mysteriously will not work for the class. There are no cut and dry instructions for the teachers on how to get this program to work and the publishing company does not offer sessions to teach the teachers how to use the software. So, although many in the county have the software, it is either being used improperly or not used at all. As of last week, I travelled to another school to see how one teacher (who is using the software correctly) has been conducting class and the software. I was able to see that I didn't have all the software that was needed to operate the program after Ch. 5. I have now put in a $2,000 order for additional software. The point of this example is that the software that is purchased is sometimes difficult to operate. Unless the teacher is willing to spend numerous hours figuring it out, there is no other option. Some of my programs are sims and although they are on the desktop, the students will try them once, but not come back to them. Training of these programs (free with purchase or additional cost would be a wonderful idea.)
3. Many of the Wiki's and other collaboration websites are valuable to show the students because that is how many long distance learning will take place (normally at the college level.) However, I still like a face to face interaction for business students--they need to know how to interact face to face in the business world. That could mean anything from a class discussion, to showing a powerpoint presentation, to using an flip cam and movie maker, to generating pictures off a computer and putting them on a presentation board in order to present ideas and generate discussions.

I use some of the videos in Safari Montage--especially the one on Conflict Resolution, Ethics, Unions, and Labor Laws. I have also used Wordle for vocabulary words review at the end of units or as a review at the end of the year--it makes the students look for words they need to review for the test. I allow the students to use Wikipedia to begin their research, however they need to back up this information with additional research due to the fact that it is in real time and the information can be modified at any point in time by who ever.

I have used Project Based Learning in my Principles of Business Administration and Management class for several years. Following along with the Curriculum Guide, I find the appropriate reading materials and after the students have read about a subject and we have discussed it, the fun begins.

The first project is given the first week of school and it is a simple project that addresses Wants & Needs. The students work together in a group no larger than 3 people and create a poster with computer printouts of wants and needs. Simple use of technology. But the objective was also to get the students working cooperatively and to have them be able to present projects.

The next project was more complicated, but still a poster.

Now we are into PowerPoint Presentation Projects.

Next we will use PhotoStory. We will also use other computer based programs such as Publisher and Word Wizards.

Where to start...

First of all the Business lab was updated to 2007 and some of the students understood the program better than me and others were clueless. A lesson that I taught last year was to have the students create a Corporate Organizational Chart in MicroSoft Word. This year I had to re-teach the students how to create a chart and it took alot of prep time for me re-teach myself how to do this in 2007.

Power Points, etc. are great to use in the classroom. Finding the materials and creating powerpoints takes time. Long gone are the days when you had a file cabinet which you pulled out overheads and handouts that were the same year to year.

All the technology that is to help make my life as a teacher easier, has bogged me down. I am asked by students constantly if I have uploaded grades several times a class period. To tell the truth, I do not use the computer during the classroom period often--I am mingling with the students. Which leads me into the Distance Learning piece, many business teachers are "into" this concept--it just seems a little to impersonal. We teach networking skills--distance learning just don't go hand-in-hand with this.

Let me tell you about the accounting program that accompanies the book and it worked wonderfully for the first few chapters. Then at Chapter 5 it decided that it would show only error messages and not work. Of course, the students now want to have a few problems done on the compter.

Technology as a teacher (not to teach to the students, but to aid in record keeping) should "make my life easier." OKAY--I can keep up with GradePro, Swipe, STARS, and 100 to 200 e-mails a day--just barely. But when the Internet goes down...

The webinars would work well in my classroom for business guest speakers. We would not be limited to speakers in the immediate Essex area, we can go outside the area, state, and nation. As Hilary explained to me, I can set up my classroom lab as a site to conduct a webinar throught Baltimore County as long as I give them the specifics a week or more in advance. Gee, PBWorks was created by a Kenwood graduate--might give it a try.

All Business Courses are to be taught in computer labs throughout the county and this has been a policy for many years. It was thought that we would be using e-books much sooner also. The technology was provided and classes offered to help the teachers (now known as digital immigrants) interface our curriculum with technology. However it was still required that we have a physical book to use in instruction. Over the years and many workshops later--not to mention a network of business teachers who are sharing great lessons and software, we are starting to teach the curriculum the way the authors of it envisioned.

I find that the students will do the reading--but only if I give them a reading outline/guide which I create and I realize most just read for facts. That is okay. This generation is not interested in discussing all the topics--only those that relate to them or interest them. However the new 5E lesson plan format combined with access to a computer seems to work. If I give them a handout that I am going to model--they copy the information, but do not necessarily understand the information. However, when I give them the handout, give them 5 to 10 minutes to figure it out (Exploring) and then go over it, it seems to appeal to them better and they will learn through exploring and making and correcting mistakes.

Business also has several Virtual Business Software Programs that use a SIMMS type of program. However, these programs are difficult to use unless instruction is given by the teacher. Once again the best way is to let them have a go at the program without instruction and before they reach the furstration point, drop back and give them "pointers", what we digital dinasours call instruction.