Technology in the Classroom

(Image taken from google, NOT MY OWN)

“Education is evolving due to the impact of the Internet. We cannot teach our students in the same manner in which we were taught. Change is necessary to engage students not in the curriculum we are responsible for teaching, but in school. Period.” – April Chamberlain

To some teachers, technology can be the stepping point from knowing how to do something to completely understanding the concept, but for others it can be a total disaster where nothing is being added in the lesson. Where some teachers excel and others struggle is finding the balance between using technology effectively. Teachers who excel with technology have learned this balance, while teachers who struggle with technology have not. The teachers who struggle, in my experience, either do not know how to use it or use it too much. In my opinion, technology is a great addition to the classroom, IF you understand how to use it.

For most of my education, from junior kindergarten to now, I have not had the access to the more advanced technology like SMART boards or IPad's that students do now. In fact, I hadn't even learned about SMART boards until I was in grade 5. Before then chalkboards, whiteboards, and projectors were the only form of taking notes that I knew of. When my teachers began using the SMART board, it made learning faster as they could pre-make lessons as documents, save these lessons and then use them multiple times without having physical copies. These saved lessons saved a lot of time when trying to plan schedules, and gave more time to do each topic.

As the years went by, more and more of my teachers learned how to add this form of technology into their routine and lessons. The teachers who added or had SMART boards added to their classroom could do more with the time given to them each day, but the teachers who couldn't or didn't had less time to do things. While in some classes or courses, technology isn't needed to increase the classroom atmosphere it may have helped a bit.

For example, just this year I have had teachers who excelled with technology and those who still have troubles. This class depends on technology in order to receive assignments and post them, while it could be handwritten the choice of having everything on a blog emphasizes the time of each student in their classroom and allows us to learn a new skill, like blogging or designing for those who made their blogs different than the stock supplied layouts. However, in some of my other classrooms technology certainly isn't the teacher’s strong point, whether it be from lack of knowledge on the technology or something else. In one case, where the teacher knows how to use and maximize the effectiveness of technology, it becomes a positive thing. While in the other case, the teacher does not know how to maximize the effectiveness and thus takes away from the learning experience.

Thus, it depends on the teacher how much technology is incorporated in the classroom. Some are more adapt to learning how it works, which maximizes its effectiveness, while others are not as knowledgeable and when they use it, it becomes more of a hassle than anything else. As the years go on though and teachers become more informed on how to use technology to its highest potential, technology can become an extremely useful tool and should become more involved in the classroom.