Week 1- The Time is NOW: Technology in the Classroom

Should we integrate technology in the classroom?? 

We have to integrate technology in the classroom.  There is no doubt that the future of education lies not so much in the content that teachers teach, but in how teachers teach students to search for that content through the vast ocean of information that lies at their fingertips.  The 21^st century learners are digital natives, those born and raised in a completely digital world.  (Schrum & Levin – Leading 21^st Century Schools)  They have access to information instantaneously, unlike me who is a digital immigrant who had to look up answers in encyclopedias and to find movie times in the daily newspaper. 

Almost every job available today incorporates some kind of technology.  If we don’t incorporate technology into students’ education they will fall behind.  Today’s student is immersed in technology and to expect them to sit in a classroom and be lectured to for 50 minutes about the history of World War II is an antiquated mode of teaching.  If that same 50 minutes uses a class discussion Skype with a class in England about their views of the war in their country, a 5 minute YouTube video on the technology of the war and a Prezi outlining the major battles of the war – that student will be engaged in the class and exposed to technology that will enhance their learning. 

In the video ‘A Vision of K-12 Students Today’ we hear a calling that students are hungry for technology to engage their minds.  The more students are exposed to technology the more prepared they will be for the future.  In today’s classroom only 14% of teachers let them create something using technology.  When will we heed the call?  When will America stop being concerned with standardized testing and start being concerned with the amount of technology being used in the classroom? 

I had the privilege to attend a private boys Catholic high school in Long Island from 1990 to 1994.  Chaminade High School prepared me for the rigors of college life.  Back then the most advanced form of technology in the classroom was the overhead projector and a VCR.  We were fed information.  We wrote it down in notebooks, and we were tested on it.  There were no laptops or YouTube videos used to enhance the learning process as there are today.  Chaminade has evolved with the times, and today they use cutting edge technology across all subject matters to help prepare their students for today’s rigors they will have to face in college. 

History of technology in the classroom:

I am currently employed in the Amherst school district at Souhegan High School as a paraprofessional.  I support a variety of students in the classroom from day to day.  I am simply amazed at the amount of technology used in the classroom regularly.  Teachers are able to utilize the internet at the touch of a button to answer student questions where 18 years ago, those same questions had to be answered in a book at the library.  Every teacher has a laptop and is able to plug the class into the internet and use it as a resource.  One of the social studies teachers whose class I am in refers to some of his presentations as ‘multimedia extravaganzas.’  He incorporates music, art, political cartoons and internet research into a classroom where kids are engaged and eager to learn.  These students learn by doing not just listening to lectures. 

Students need to learn how to think.  They desire to learn in a variety of ways and through different mediums.  We live in a multi-tasking age where kids are able to listen to music, write a blog, and communicate with their friends while studying for a history exam.  Technology touches all of their lives.  When they arrive at school in the morning sometimes they aren’t immersed in that technology that will be crucial to their future.  We need to integrate technology into the classroom now in order to better prepare our students for the brave new world they will enter and a job force that requires technological capabilities. 

Check out these articles that discuss technology and education:
Technology as a Tool to Support Instruction

Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The Reasons Are Many