Integrating Technology in the Classroom Means MUCH More Than Just Having Computers

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Recommended: Impact of technology on students learning and achievements

With the rapid advances in technology that we are seeing on a daily basis, there is a clear disconnect when it comes to finding a meaningful way of incorporating these technologies into the classroom. We rely heavily on the technologies of yesterday -- whether it be the typewriter, the television, the calculator, or the computer, with little regard to what our current technology can provide.

If we look at our youngest generation, K-12 students, we see a perfect example of the impact these technologies could have on education. These children have grown up in the digital age, there is no need to adapt to continuing changes in technology as we have seen in previous generations, it has been fully integrated into their lives from birth. Children are able to use this new way of thinking to create, teach, learn, and communicate in ways that we might have previously thought impossible. Instead of leveraging this new found desire to see the world in a different way, current trends indicate that we are holding fast to the same tired ways of doing things because we fail to fully comprehend the actual value of change. Green and Hannon give us a perfect description of this “Children are establishing a relationship to knowledge gathering which is alien to their parents and teachers” (Green and Hannon 2007, p. 38).

With an overwhelming amount of evidence supporting the positive effects of using social media and new technology in the classroom, it is vital that we shift more of our efforts into making better use of these technologies.

The Case For Technology

Technology and teaching have the potential to have a very symbiotic relationship. Technology continues to push the boundaries of education, and provides us with new ways of le...

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...ry. Chicago, IL: The MacArthur Foundation.

Waxman, H.C., Len, M., & Michko, G. M. (2003). A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of teaching and learning with technology on student outcomes. North Central Regional Education Laboratory. Retrieved April 22, 2008, from http://www.ncrel.org/tech/effects2/waxman.pdf

Bos, C. S., & Vaughn, S. (1994). Strategies for teaching students with learning and behavioral problems (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Schacter, J. The Impact of Educational Technology on Student Achievement: What the Most Current Research Has to Say. Santa Monica, CA: Milken Exchange on Education Technology, 2001. Retrieved April 22, 2008, from http://www.mff.org/pubs/ME161.pdf

Bearison, D., & Dorval, B. (2002). Constructive features of collaborative cognition. In, Collaborative Cognition: Children Negotiating Ways of Knowing. 117-121.

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