My Vision for Technology in the Classroom

It is no secret that technology is continuously developing and changing. With millions of users uploading content to the internet on a daily basis, it would seem that there is no question you cannot find the answer to online. As technology becomes more and more integrated into our daily lives, it raises the question of how technology should be incorporated in the classroom. While there are those who believe incorporating technology in education has very few benefits,  a recent study conducted by CompTIA reveals that the majority of teachers and administrators believe technology has had a positive impact in education. The study, which surveyed 500 educators across the United States, revealed that 78% of K-12 teachers and administrators believe technology has positively impacted the classroom and the productivity of students. 

The key to successfully incorporating technology in the classroom, is to make sure it is being used purposefully. Purposeful use means that the technology is being utilized to enhance the classroom learning experience. A common mistake educators make is using technology in their classrooms, because they think that the technology itself is interesting or cool. Instead, instructors should be focusing on the goals and objectives of their lesson, and what types of technology can be used to help their students gain a better understanding of those objectives in a meaningful way. In addition to enhancing the classroom learning experience, incorporating technology in the classroom will also increase the productivity of students. If a student is enjoying the task they are working on, they will be more likely to think deeper, work harder, and as a result gain a greater understanding of the topics they are working on. Utilizing technology in their lessons is only one of the ways teachers can bring technology into the classroom. Teachers can use email, video chatting, blogging, texting, etc. to communicate with fellow faculty and staff members, students, parents, or with the education community at large. Technology makes communicating with someone on the other side of the world fast, easy,  and convenient all within the four walls of your classroom. Using technology gives students the opportunity to not just learn about the world around us, but to interact and be apart of it, all without having to move from the comfort of our chairs. 

I personally try to incorporate technology for instructional use as much as possible. After incorporating technology into my activities, I noticed how much more engaged my students appeared to be in the lessons. For example, when I was student teaching in fourth grade we were working on a poetry unit for Language Arts. The students were each given a poem to memorize which they would then be required to perform at the end of the week. The objectives I was trying to achieve with this activity were less about poetry, and more about public speaking skills. I told the students I would be video recording their speeches so that we could watch them together as a group after, and reflect on their performances. The results were amazing. By Friday of that week (performance day) I had about five emails from parents requesting if they could come watch their child perform, and even more emails requesting that I send them the video of their child's performance because they could not attend. This was not the first time I had required my students to give a speech, but it was the first time I had students and parents so excited about it! On the day of the performances I had students coming into school dressed as characters from their poems, students who had brought in or made their own props, and students who had memorized their entire poems even though it was not required. I chose this particular story to share with you, because it completely blew my mind the impact that one small technology addition had on the moral of my students. Every single one of them gave an A+ performance that day. 

Want to know more about technology in the classroom? Watch this video to see how one first year teacher used technology to transform her classroom:  New Teacher Survivor Guide: Technology in the Classroom.