Pedagogical (science and art education) reasons for the use of technology in the classroom.
In my position, I am fortunate to travel to many schools while working with various technology tools and diverse students and teachers. I find that our students crave learning and naturally gravitate toward technology, hands-on, engaging, interactive lessons and activities. This is what they know and they don’t understand when their learning does not revolve around some form of technology, engagement, or as they call it, “doing.” All of our schools are fortunate enough to have partial to full intelligent classrooms (projectors, interactive whiteboards, document cameras) and I hear all of the time, what would I do and what did I do without technology? Would my students still be engaged in learning if I didn’t have technology? This is “exactly” what our students are feeling every day. What am I doing in a classroom without technology or without the daily use of technology? Why can’t I use my cell phone or mobile device? How do we expect our students to be ready for college or a career without high expectations in technology? Our teachers cannot function without a computer to do lesson plans, research, or communicate, why would we expect anything less for our students? Our students crave digital learning (mobile, paperless, web-based, social media) because this is what they know, what they are growing up with, and what engages them in learning. If this is what they know and are comfortable using, why can’t we provide learning that is individualized, mobile, and paperless?
Many of our schools are encouraging BYOD to provide an alternative to spending money. Our students are loving BYOD because it is individualized, mobile, paperless, and most of all, engaging. Students can become immersed in the curriculum at school and at home. BYOD has become a wonderful alternative to one-one computing and has provided much-needed individualized, responsive, and spontaneous learning. Plus, the mobile aspect has truly increased the “anytime, anywhere” capabilities for all users. E-books, e-learning, and collaborative tools are just a few of the ways mobile learning has become a necessity. Web tools like Glogster, Prezi, Powerpoint, and LiveBinders allow students to develop interactive presentations, Wikispaces, Wordpress, and Weebly provide interactive websites, while Edmodo, Kidblog, Wallwisher, and Moodle provide collaboration and communication. These tools are just a few of the ways our students use technology as a vehicle for learning.
Without technology, what is our vehicle for learning? Do we go back to paper and pencil? Remember the fears that a pen provided teachers in class – answers are permanent with a pen. Those same fears continue to revolve around technology in education. Will the students be permanently attached to technology? We could only hope because most already are! We, as educators, must continue to enthusiastically embrace technology and its enormous possibilities. Technology is here to stay and in the business of molding our youth, we need to model good use of technology and its capabilities!
Many of our schools are encouraging BYOD to provide an alternative to spending money. Our students are loving BYOD because it is individualized, mobile, paperless, and most of all, engaging. Students can become immersed in the curriculum at school and at home. BYOD has become a wonderful alternative to one-one computing and has provided much-needed individualized, responsive, and spontaneous learning. Plus, the mobile aspect has truly increased the “anytime, anywhere” capabilities for all users. E-books, e-learning, and collaborative tools are just a few of the ways mobile learning has become a necessity. Web tools like Glogster, Prezi, Powerpoint, and LiveBinders allow students to develop interactive presentations, Wikispaces, Wordpress, and Weebly provide interactive websites, while Edmodo, Kidblog, Wallwisher, and Moodle provide collaboration and communication. These tools are just a few of the ways our students use technology as a vehicle for learning.
Without technology, what is our vehicle for learning? Do we go back to paper and pencil? Remember the fears that a pen provided teachers in class – answers are permanent with a pen. Those same fears continue to revolve around technology in education. Will the students be permanently attached to technology? We could only hope because most already are! We, as educators, must continue to enthusiastically embrace technology and its enormous possibilities. Technology is here to stay and in the business of molding our youth, we need to model good use of technology and its capabilities!