Putting it All Together: Technology and Learning in the Classroom

 Can Technology Provide Suitable Learning...

...for all students in every kind of classroom? This is the question that I have been trying to answer the past couple of months. What do you think? 

To be honest, I have always been a pencil and paper kind of guy, as that is how I have learned and most enjoyed math (my favorite subject) over the course of my education. However, especially in the past two years, I have learned that technology can play a vital part in the education and learning of students of any age, and that it's important for students to be able to use and understand technology in a variety of ways.

Integrating technology into a classroom is like adding another content area to a course, and with it comes just as many possibilities and paths to take. Technology integration can have many levels, including substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition. Each of these levels incorporates technology into the classroom in a more meaningful way, with redefinition completely recreating a lesson so that technology plays an integral part (SAMR). 

However, not every lesson needs to reinvent the wheel of technology integration; a lot of the time, the lower levels work just fine. Substituting a paper worksheet for an online one not only saves paper but can allow students to interact with it in ways that they couldn't originally, such as adding audio responses with Mote or drawing on it with Notability. This is key for any student at any grade level, as it provides more accessibility to and options for learning and understanding.

Technology can also be used to help make learning more fun and interactive, while still allowing students to be independent if they wish. Tools such as Google Slides can be utilized to create a Classroom Learning Center for students to explore, either as a station or a whole class. When students get to explore a created lesson themselves, it gives them a sense of autonomy and motivation to learn since they are able to do so at their own pace. This sort of differentiated learning is key to introducing young students to choice, something that they will benefit from in the future.

If the last two years have not made it apparent, expanded communication capabilities are also a huge benefit of using technology in the classroom. Applications like ClassDojo give teachers the ability to strengthen the teacher-student-parent loop through class blog sites and weekly updates that can be sent out via mass email. This is a much wider-known use of technology, but it is still important nonetheless.

Regardless of how technology is integrated into and used in the classroom, safety and responsibility (for both students and teachers) are paramount. Making sure students understand how to be good digital citizens online can keep them from making any mistakes that could come up later. Teachers also have the responsibility to educate students about and protect their student data privacy, regardless of their age. Common Sense Media, a site for teachers and students alike, can help anyone educate themselves on how to properly use technology in the online digisphere.

It is clear that technology can not only be used in the classroom, but has a very special place in it. Learning in today's day and age can rarely happen without the use of technology, so why not educate students from a young age on how to get the most out of it?