Philosophy of Technology in Education

I would like to open by sharing my opinion that, despite shortcomings, the use of technology in the classroom is rapidly becoming a requirement for educators who are wanting to give their students the best education possible.  Yes, availability of technology is often an issue in these tough economic times, and these tools are often inconsistent or buggy, but at the end of the day, it is through them that our students will be fully prepared for the rest of their lives.

My opinions have not changed noticeably over the course of the quarter:  I still feel that technology, despite it's advantages, should be used sparingly, and not be used as anything resembling a replacement for good instruction.  "Students can neglect to use informational resources unless explicitly prompted." (Powerful Learning)  Unless students have become very familiar with both the technology and the process for using it, they still require keen attention from their teacher... handing students a task and a laptop is irresponsible and ineffective.   That being said, I now have a deeper and wider knowledge of not only more varied examples of instructional technology, but also of new uses and purposes for pieces of IT I was already familiar with, like the classroom possibilities for sites like Flikr or Picasa.

A number of factors come in to play when examining the advantages and disadvantages of various technologies for different learners.  I feel that primary among them in importance is accessibility, how easily a student (or teacher!) can use the tool to do what it was designed to do.  As the CARET studies suggest, well planned use of technology in the classroom is beneficial for all learners, particularly if the use of technology in the classroom remains common, rather than dusting off the computers every once in a while:  student familiarity streamlines the process greatly.  Applied technology offers some assistance for students with a wide range of special needs: for example, students with vision impairments can benefit greatly from digitized texts, either through increased print size, or programs to dictate text to the student. A similar example is students with difficulty writing, who could gain from digital note taking - possibly through an over sized keyboard if fine motor skills are lacking - or from a dictation program that converts their speech into text on screen.  What is important here, as with technology use as a whole, is to keep an open mind. Search out alternative uses for the tools at your disposal, ways to maximize the usefulness of the technology you have at your disposal, not just for your students, but for yourself as well.

For my own future classroom, assuming I end up teaching within the age range I prefer (k-3), I'd like to focus the use of technology on communication and collaboration.  Pieces of technology that help students take in information, such as interactive whiteboards and document cameras, will be high on my list of tools to utilize, as 'upgraded' versions of existing old fashioned technology.  I hope to make good use of computers not only for traditional tasks such as word processing and publishing for my students, but also to facilitate and showcase collaboration within the class (writing stories together or creating class photo albums, for example).