Using Technology in Today's Classroom

To use technology in the classroom, or not to use technology in the classroom, that is the question. 

Using technology in today's classroom is not necessarily a question of to use it, or not it use, but a question of how to use it, and not just how to use it, but how to use it effectively to help students reach a desired learning outcome.

With the explosion of teaching technologies in the last ten years, the teachers’ classroom is no longer an enclosed space where students can only act upon and access the information that is within its four walls. Today’s classrooms have been turned into interactive world wide connected entities that can access any information in the blink of an eye, or can access an event, or even interact with a different classroom all the way on the other side of the world. Teachers and students of today have the world and information at their fingertips like never before in the history of learning and education.

Whether teachers like it or not, their students are going to use technology to complete assignments, study for tests, and to communicate. Technology is so engrained in the lives of students today, a cell phone, the Internet, and a computer are now extensions of students. Students want to and need to use technology to succeed academically and socially, and teachers should allow for that want and need to occur in their classrooms.

Students of today absorb information much differently than the students of twenty or even ten years ago. Students’ minds expect “to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles” (Carr, Nicholas. Is Google Making Us Stupid?). Students will move from link to link in rapid succession with hardly a pause. See a link, click a link seems to be the prevailing philosophy when it comes to recreational use of the Internet and researching on the Internet. Whether the “Net” way of finding, absorbing, and processing information is good or bad, teachers need to take notice of this evolution in information processing. Now more than ever, it is vitally important for teachers to learn how to incorporate these “swiftly moving streams of particles” into their classrooms in a focused, resourceful, explicit, educated, informational, and specific application.

A fabulous strategy to incorporate the idea of “swiftly moving streams of particles” into the classroom is the use of SMART boards. SMART boards are a means for teachers to interactively and physically engage their students into the content area with the use of computer / projection technology. By using a SMART board, the teaching of grammar, reading, and writing skills can go from dry and dull, to exciting and engaging. Creating lessons that allow students to physically move words, parts of speech, numbers, or answers to questions around by the touch of a finger, not only helps teach the academic content, but also gives students a kinesthetic connection with that content. SMART boards can also be used for student PowerPoint presentations. Providing opportunities for students to use PowerPoint, and to use it with a SMART board "teaches students the skill of organizing information, thinking in bullets, and addressing the audience" (Gilster, Paul. Digital Literacy: Technology in the English Class). The use of a SMART board is one means of incorporating technology into the classroom, however, it is entirely up to the teacher to assess what is of technological value to their particular classroom and students.

Assessing the value, as well as the means and methods of using technology in the classroom is not an easy task with one defined answer. Many factors and variables will go into a teacher’s decision on how to implement the use of technology in their classroom. One factor that will go into this decision is how comfortable and knowledgable the teacher is with using technological resources.

If a teacher isn’t confident with technology, then that teacher will probably stick with the tried and true methods of educating students. Even if technological resources are available to that teacher (like a brand new ELMO document camera, complete with projector, Apple computer, and WiFi capabilities) that teacher will probably avoid using it, and will just let the ELMO sit in the corner of the classroom collecting dust. If a teacher is confident with using technology in the classroom, that teacher will probably come up with lessons and activities that will engage students through some kind of technological medium.

Technology in the classroom should be used as a way to engage and motivate students to not only want to learn in the academic content areas, but also as a means to push students further into those content areas in a more autonomous and independent level. However, with most things in life, there is a slippery slope. Drinking one or two glasses of wine a night is okay. Drinking a whole bottle of wine a night probably means you’re dependent and an alcoholic. This analogy can also be applied to using technology in the classroom. Using technology too much to educate one’s students can become a crutch and a hinderance for the teacher.

A teacher needs to be smart and calculated about when, where, and how to use technology with their students. Using technology to conduct research is probably one of the best and easiest ways to use technological resources in the classroom. Sure, this use will depend on the availability of computers and the Internet, but let’s assume and hope, that one day this will not be an issue for teachers or students. Allowing students the use of the Internet to conduct research is a fantastic way to use technology in the classroom, however inexplicit and unfocused instruction on using this resource will only lead to an undesirable outcome for both parties involved.

Utilizing a WebQuest is definitely one of the most productive ways to allow explicit and focused Internet research to occur in a classroom. A WebQuest "is an inquiry-orientated activity that is teacher-directed...the teacher decides on a path through the Internet" (Firek, Hilve. 10 Easy Ways to Use Technology in the English Classroom). During this teacher designed Internet scavenger hunt, students are required to complete specific tasks and "take an active role in their quest, constructing their own understandings as they create an authentic record of their learning" (10 Easy Ways to Use Technology in the English Classroom). This kind of Internet research is great for keeping students focused on the task at hand, and can lend itself well to either solo or group work. 

Another fantastic way to use technology in the classroom is for visual aids and modeling. English language learners can greatly benefit from a computer / projection system that is readily available in a classroom. ELL instruction usually takes a bit more time and slower pacing, because students are not only being taught academic content, but are trying to learn a whole new language as well. A computer / projection system and the pictures and graphics it can access, would greatly assist in teaching words and conceptual ideas that might be difficult for ELL’s to grasp without some kind of visual aid.

The fact is, technology in the classroom is here to stay, and it is not going anywhere. Using document cameras, computers, the Internet, projectors, and SMART boards are all wonderful technologies teachers can use, however it is up to the individual teacher on how use those technologies most effectively within their particular set of teaching circumstances. It is time for teachers and administrators to embrace technology’s integration into the classroom. Though the economics of the day are making this integration monetarily challenging, it is of the upmost importance federal and state politicians figure out how to make this integration complete. Those in control of education need to realize the future is now, and time and money needs to be invested in that future. Federal and state monies must be spent on upgrading schools’ technological resources, and if that means making difficult choices like letting go of older teachers who don’t want to learn and implement technologies in the classroom, then so be it. A younger, energetic, and more techno-savvy teacher can have that teaching position. Technology should not be seen as a hostile takeover of classroom education, but should be embraced as the evolution of classroom education.