Integrating Technology was founded in 2006 by Dr.

Nellie Deutsch, an educational

technologist and social networking expert with a doctorate in educational leadership
and specialization in curriculum and instruction. The aim of the organization has
always been to provide free online professional development workshops for
educators around the world. The community grew as more and more teachers found
value in taking workshops with an international population. In 2009, Integrating
Technology changed its name to Integrating Technology for Active Lifelong Learning
(IT4ALL).  

Today, IT4ALL is a huge network with followers and graduates of Moodle for
Teacher (M4T) workshops. The members of IT4ALL contribute to the success of the
workshops and the learning community. The workshops at IT4ALL are facilitated by
educators who follow a relationship-based collaborative learning approach where
participants become active learners. Active learning goes beyond active participation
as teachers and students become partners of learning and learn through teaching. 

IT4ALL network is self-funded by Dr. Nellie Deutsch. If you would like to show your
appreciation, you are invited to make a donation by clicking on Donations on the
menu bar at the top.

Why Integrate Technology into the

Curriculum?: The Reasons Are
Many
There's a place for tech in every classroom.

By Edutopia Staff
M ARC H 16 , 2 008
Technology is ubiquitous, touching almost every part of our lives, our communities,
our homes. Yet most schools lag far behind when it comes to integrating technology
into classroom learning. Many are just beginning to explore the true potential tech
offers for teaching and learning. Properly used, technology will help students acquire
the skills they need to survive in a complex, highly technological knowledge-based
economy.

VIDEO: An Introduction to Technology Integration

Running Time: 5 min.
Integrating technology into classroom instruction means more than teaching basic
computer skills and software programs in a separate computer class. Effective tech
integration must happen across the curriculum in ways that research shows deepen
and enhance the learning process. In particular, it must support four key
components of learning: active engagement, participation in groups, frequent
interaction and feedback, and connection to real-world experts. Effective technology
integration is achieved when the use of technology is routine and transparent and
when technology supports curricular goals.

Many people believe that technology-enabled project learning is the ne plus ultra of
classroom instruction. Learning through projects while equipped with technology
tools allows students to be intellectually challenged while providing them with a
realistic snapshot of what the modern office looks like. Through projects, students
acquire and refine their analysis and problem-solving skills as they work individually
and in teams to find, process, and synthesize information they've found online.

The myriad resources of the online world also provide each classroom with more
interesting, diverse, and current learning materials. The Web connects students to
experts in the real world and provides numerous opportunities for expressing
understanding through images, sound, and text.
New tech tools for visualizing and modeling, especially in the sciences, offer
students ways to experiment and observe phenomenon and to view results in
graphic ways that aid in understanding. And, as an added benefit, with technology
tools and a project-learning approach, students are more likely to stay engaged and
on task, reducing behavioral problems in the classroom.

Technology also changes the way teachers teach, offering educators effective ways
to reach different types of learners and assess student understanding through
multiple means. It also enhances the relationship between teacher and student.
When technology is effectively integrated into subject areas, teachers grow into
roles of adviser, content expert, and coach. Technology helps make teaching and
learning more meaningful and fun.

Technology Integration: A Short

History
Learn how technology has changed education and how educators can
leverage new educational tools to personalize learning, encourage
collaboration, and prepare students for the future.

By Suzie Boss
S EP TE M BE R 7 , 2011
What does a well-equipped classroom look like in the 21st century? Few would deny
that it needs to include technology tools for teaching and learning. But which tools?
How should teachers use them to best serve the needs of a diverse group of
learners? Should we set any limits on access? And how might the use of these tools
reshape teaching practices?

Questions about technology integration persist, even after more than half a century
of research documenting the use of technologies such as television and the benefits
of using computers for learning. But for students who have grown up in a digital
world, there's no debate. They're already active users of technology outside of
school. The challenge is leveraging the opportunities technology creates to prepare
learners for a globally connected, information-saturated world.
Where the Vision Begins
Seymour Papert, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was
among the first to recognize the potential of technology to fundamentally change the
learning enterprise. During the 1960s, after collaborating with renowned Swiss
psychologist Jean Piaget, Papert developed the Logo programming language and
began introducing it to children. Designed to be simple enough for those who do not
yet have sophisticated mathematical understanding, Logo enabled students to use
the computer to take control of their learning environment. With minimal instruction,
they were able to write -- and debug -- programs that controlled the movements of a
turtle robot. They not only gained deeper understanding of geometry concepts along
with programming expertise but also showed an engagement in learning that's rare
in more traditional, drill-and-practice classroom activities.

In a 1970 interview with Computer Decisions, Papert said, "With computers, there is

a substantially bigger chance that you can lead the child with less effort into
something he really likes doing. . . . The intersection with the set of fun things with
the set of educational things is sufficiently big so that you should be able to keep
every student internally motivated."

Since Papert's groundbreaking work, the tools available for learning have become
increasingly powerful and widespread. At the same time, barriers to using
technology have steadily diminished. Today's learning landscape includes an almost
dizzying array of tools, from inexpensive personal computers and handheld devices
to interactive whiteboards, digital video cameras, and a constantly expanding suite
of Web 2.0 tools. Disparities persist between technology-rich schools and those that
have limited access to outdated equipment. But after a decade-long effort to expand
access and close the digital divide, nearly every public school in the United States
has been connected to the Internet, making it possible to connect students to the
world.

Benefits Galore -- Potentially

A substantial body of research has documented a range of benefits for learners
when all this technology is integrated effectively into instruction. Research scientist
Harold Wenglinsky, looking at math achievement scores in a 1998 Educational
Testing Service study, found positive benefits for educational technology, as long it
was used for challenging activities such as simulations. Using computers to drill
students on fundamental skills, in comparison, had a negative impact on
achievement. Researchers have determined that, when used for more ambitious
learning goals rather than basic skills, technology can help students develop higher-
order thinking skills, creativity, and research abilities.

Credit: Michael Warren

In a 2000 report, a team from SRI International identified four ways that technology
enhances how children learn: It offers active engagement, the opportunity to
participate in groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and connections to real-
world contexts. Technology also expands what students can learn by providing them
with access to an ever-expanding store of information. Yet the same researchers
(Roschelle, Pea, Hoadley, Gordin, & Means) emphasized that merely making
computers available does not automatically lead to learning gains. They described
technology integration as only one element in "what must be a coordinated approach
to improving curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, teacher development, and other
aspects of school structure."

According to learning-science experts, the increasingly interactive nature of

technology, exemplified by Web 2.0 tools, creates new opportunities for students to
learn by allowing them to do a task, receive feedback on it, and then build new
knowledge. In How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, authors
John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking explain that technology
can be used to advance learning by

 bringing exciting curricula based on real-world problems into the classroom

 providing scaffolds and tools to enhance learning, such as modeling programs
and visualization tools
 giving students and teachers more opportunities for feedback, reflection, and
revision
 building local and global communities that include teachers, administrators,
students, parents, practicing scientists, and other interested people
 expanding opportunities for teacher learning

Social Media and Collaboration

Today's technology tools also support what experts understand about the social
nature of learning. "Technology resources for education . . . function in a social
environment mediated by learning conversations with peers and teachers," explain
Bransford and his colleagues.

Social media opens new possibilities for connecting learners and taking education in
new directions. Digital gaming, simulations, and social networking, for example, offer
opportunities "to convey concepts in new ways that would otherwise not be possible,
efficient, or effective with other instructional methods. In other words, these
technologies don't just help us teach the old stuff in new ways -- they can also help
us teach new stuff in new ways," report MIT researchers Eric Klopfer, Scot
Osterweil, Jennifer Groff, and Jason Haas in their paper "Using the Technology of
Today, in the Classroom Today."

Although schools have been slow to bring social media into the classroom, many
students are using digital tools on their own to create and publish content, connect
with acquaintances, and pursue their own interests. The book Hanging Out,
Messing Around, and Geeking Out summarizes three years of study about kids'
informal learning with digital media. The authors found that kids use these tools to
extend friendships, navigate the challenges of adolescence, and pursue self-
directed learning, sometimes in great depth.
New Demands on Learners, Teachers
Becoming literate in the 21st century puts new demands on learners to be able to
use technology to access, analyze, and organize information. The International
Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) updated its National Educational
Technology Standards for Students (NETS) in 2007 to better describe the skills
needed to learn and live in an increasingly digital world. "The ISTE Standards for
Students"now includes creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration,
research and information fluency, critical thinking, problem solving, decision making,
and digital citizenship along with technology operations and concepts.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills lays out a similar vision in its framework. "To
be effective in the 21st century, citizens and workers must be able to exhibit a range
of functional and critical-thinking skills such as information literacy, media literacy,
and technology literacy," states the organization.

Teachers also need to develop new understanding to capitalize on the learning

potential of technology. In a report for the foundation Cable in the Classroom, James
Marshall found that educational technology "complements what a great teacher does
naturally. . . . With ever-expanding content and technology choices, from video to
multimedia to the Internet, there's an unprecedented need to understand the recipe
for success, which involves the learner, the teacher, the content, and the
environment in which technology is used."

Teachers who don't make regular use of classroom technology, Wenglinsky and
other researchers have consistently found, lack experience using it. With in-depth,
sustained professional development in technology integration, teachers are more
likely to bring technology into teaching and learning.

The latest National Education Technology Plan, "Transforming American Education:

Learning Powered by Technology," was released in November 2010 by the
Department of Education. It outlines a vision "to leverage the learning sciences and
modern technology to create engaging, relevant, and personalized learning
experiences for all learners that mirror students' daily lives and the reality of their
futures. In contrast to traditional classroom instruction, this requires that we put
students at the center and empower them to take control of their own learning by
providing flexibility on several dimensions."

The plan also calls for "connected teaching" in which educators connect to
"resources and expertise that improve their own instructional practices and guide
them in becoming facilitators and collaborators in their students' increasingly self-
directed learning."

Although the tools have changed dramatically since the early days of educational
technology, this vision of using technology for empowered, self-directed learning has
remained constant -- and consistently hopeful.

Effective technology integration is achieved when its use supports curricular goals. It
must support four key components of learning: active engagement, participation in
groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and connection to real-world experts.

Technology has changed education and how educators can leverage new
educational tools to personalize learning, encourage collaboration, and prepare
students for the future.

Integrating technology with classroom practice can be a great way to

strengthen engagement by linking students to a global audience, turning them
into creators of digital media, and helping them practice collaboration skills
that will prepare them for the future.

Effective technology integration is achieved when its use supports curricular goals. It
must support four key components of learning: active engagement, participation in
groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and connection to real-world experts

Through the intelligent use of technology, combined with new approaches to

education, a more personalized style of learning can be realized.
This review helps you navigate useful results, including key elements of successful
tech integration, learning outcomes, recommendations on practices and programs
by academic subject, tools, and tips for avoiding pitfalls.

http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration

What is the Impact of Technology on

Learning?
By Susan O'Hara|Robert Pritchard — Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall

Updated on Apr 30, 2014

Research literature throughout the past decade has shown that technology can enhance
literacy development, impact language acquisition, provide greater access to
information, support learning, motivate students, and enhance their self-esteem (ACT,
2004; CEO Forum, 2001; Boster et al., 2004; Mann et al., 1999; Tracey & Young,
2006; WestEd, 2002). Indeed, researchers have affirmed that computer technology
provides abundant opportunities for students to build or modify their personal
knowledge through the rich experiences that technology affords.

Technology and Content Area Learning

Kinzer and Leu (1997) demonstrated positive effects of technology on both learning
in a content area and learning to use technology itself. They studied the potential of
multimedia and hypermedia technologies. One study, The Reporter Project, used
multimedia technology to enhance sixth-grade students’ information gathering and
writing skills. The Reporter Project was developed and tested in sixth-grade
classrooms for two years and showed that students made statistically significant
improvement in their recognition and use of elements such as main ideas, supporting
details, and cause and effect relationships. Their writing was also more cohesive than
their control-group peers who were taught using similar materials and sequences but
without the use of technology.

Technology and Reading Comprehension

Findings consistent with these emerged from a meta-analysis conducted by Pearson et
al. (2005). The authors reviewed 20 research studies related to using digital tools and
learning environments on middle-school students in the following areas:
 Strategy Use
 Metacognition
 Reading Motivation
 Reading Engagement
 Reading Comprehension
They defined digital tools to include a wide range of media forms: images, video and
audio clips, hypertext, hypermedia, and Web pages. The majority of studies they
found dealt with reading comprehension and vocabulary development. Pearson et al.
concluded that a wide range of digital tools enhance reading comprehension and
vocabulary development by providing students access to word pronunciation, word
meaning, contextual information, and comprehension scaffolds to guide an
individual’s reading. Thus, a strong research base supports the conclusion that
technology can enhance all aspects of literacy development.

Technology and Language Acquisition

There is also a large body of research that supports the benefits of technology for
language acquisition (O’Hara & Pritchard, 2006; Pritchard & O’Hara, 2005; Leu,
2005; Cummins, 2005; Zhao, 2005; Duran, 2005; Egbert, Chao, & Hanson-Smith,
1999; Pennington, 1996; Zhao, 2003). Numerous other studies demonstrate that
students who learn in existing multimedia and/or hypertext environments show greater
gains in areas of language development than students who learn in more traditional
environments (Ayersman, 1996; Boone & Higgins, 1992; Charney, 1994; Martinez-
Lage, 1997). Studies investigating the impact of student construction of hypermedia
environments on language development came to similar conclusions (Goetze, 2000;
Lehrer et al., 1994; Nikolova, 2002).

In a review of studies that focused on technology’s impact on language acquisition,

Zhao (2005) examined studies that researched the use of digital multimedia and
language. Zhao concluded that technology can be used to enhance language
acquisition in the following ways:

 Enhancing access efficiency through digital multimedia. Multimedia

presentations (video, images, sound, text) can create stronger memory links than
text alone. In addition, digital technologies allow instant playbacks, which provide
the learner with quick and easy access to different sections of instructional
materials than when they are using a textbook.
 Enhancing authenticity using video and the Internet. The Internet provides
learners with access to authentic materials, like news and literature, while video
can offer context-rich linguistic and culturally relevant materials to learners.
 Enhancing comprehensibility through learner control and multimedia
annotations. Video materials online can be enhanced with full captions, key-word
captions, and speech slowdown, allowing the reader to more easily digest the
information. Digital reading materials can be hyperlinked to different media,
which students can choose to help their comprehension of the material.
 Providing meaningful and authentic communication opportunities. Students can
engage in authentic types of communication through e-mail, chat rooms, and other
digital means. (p. 16)