Which group below would you choose as the most effective for teaching and learning over the past 30 years? Click the comments link below to tell us why!

While it's true that some of these tools couldn't have come into existance without the invention of another, I picked Internet tools/resources as the single most effective tool to come along in the past 30 years because of it's ability to save us hours and hours of time.

Although I think that Web2.0 is great. I am extremely surprised by the number of people/teachers who selected it because anyone have any knowledge regarding techology knows that Web 2.0 has not even been around for 30 years! Why would they even select this??

While all are valuable or meaningful in their own right, the portability of laptops, pda's and the like have changed the way everyone teaches and learns (teachers as well as students). The fact that we no longer sit in a spare room in our homesconnected to the internet with a phone line pretty much says it all.

Having watch first hand the introduction of interactive whiteboards into the classroom, I have seen the evolution of the teaching/learning environment. Although they haven't been around for nearly 30 years, when used effectively they do revolution and revitalize the way teachers teach and the way kids participate in the classroom.

Without the internet where would many of the other tools be -esp. Web 2.0 -
the information that we have access to and the work hours that are saved have allowed teachers to have time to try new and better tools in the classroom- the interactive white boards- Web 2.0 - pda's , cell phones- what good would a pda be if we could not connect to the internet- cell phones would be fancy walkie talkies- I know the internet has been around longer than 30 years, but I feel that the open access that we have to the internet is one of the catalyist in the classroom, in teaching, and just living and working in today's society

The Internet has revolutionized the relationship everyone has with gaining knowledge. Although it has also created its own new set of challenges to overcome, today's students can gain access to a world of information within seconds, freeing educators to focus more on teaching them how to think critically and creatively rather than on just pounding the facts into their brains.

I believe the interactice whiteboards and projectors have help students VISUALLY see and understand the information presented. Gone are the days of long lectures. Students are engaged and actively involved and creating their own learning. The visual/interactive component of learning is especially important for our ELL students. I took the time to develop visual/interactive lessons for all my math lessons. It was a labor of love...I love seeing my students succeed!

Over the past 30 years interactive whiteboards and projectors have been most important because they allow students and teachers to engage with the material instead of just look at it. Our young adult foreign military students can visually grasp an idea, which gives them a rest from trying to negotiate a lot of text in English. Also, classroom management systems in tandem with electronic whiteboards really bring lessons to life. (But if you ask what the most important emerging tech is for the near future, I'd answer Web 2.0.)

The use of web 2.0 technologies is what has driven our laptop program at the American School of Warsaw. With Google Docs and Moodle both students and teachers have been able to collaborate and work on documents outside of the normal meeting times. The quality of work has improved, and the writing process has been greatly enhanced and easier to facilitate. Our administration and school board have moved this direction as well.

The ability of teachers to use productivity tools such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Publisher to create and electronically save instructional materials is a powerful thing much taken for granted, yet we've had that ability widely available for the past 20 years. Without this ability, lessons would have to be created from scratch over and over every year, wasting thousands of valuable time that could be spent improving and refining last year's lesson. Coupled now with email, the possibilities of sharing lesson plans and instructional materials cross district, state, and country boundaries are limitless, making teaching a true collaborative profession.

Productivity tools came in long before the internet was available and certainly made a difference to me early on. As times have changed I would not be without the internet and I use the digital projector or the Interactive Whiteboard when I can. Changing from handwritten notes on the board and handwritten stencils to word processed material was one big step to producing better, more interesting lessons, and sharing with others.