Technology in Classrooms 1

Technology in our Classrooms

Wednesday, March 11, 2014

Ms. Waad Sleiman

Prepared for

Dr. Bilal El Kadri

 Technology in Classrooms 2

tech·nol·o·gy [tek-nol-uh-jee] noun

1. the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their

interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as indust

rial arts,engineering, applied science, and pure science.

2. a scientific or industrial process, invention, method, or the like.

3. the sum of the ways in which social groups provide themselves with the material objects

of their civilization.

4. the terminology of an art, science, etc.; technical nomenclature.

(dictionary.com accessed March 11, 2014 at 8:07 p.m.)

The term “technology” has four basic definitions all of which highlight the essence of this

term in its practical aspect and usage in today’s everyday life. Wherever we go and whatever we

do, we are in one way or the other using technological devices and in fact allowing them to

become a principal part of our life whether we accept them or not. Our televisions, phones,

ovens, microwaves, cars, laptops, communication and even medical diagnosis and treatment

have become technologically dependent. So how can we be so indifferent towards it when it

comes to education?

Technology today is no longer an issue of debate in business, society and medicine, how

can it still be in education, when all that we have reached today from conclusions and revelation

all pay dues to technology and its usage in this field?

Many of today’s educational communities have started to implement a technology

dependent system through which both educators and learners enjoy the benefits and privileges of

learning through technology. This revolution in educational procedures has brought several tools
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into education in an attempt to facilitate teaching and learning. An educator today can make of

any instance a learning experience and thus can use any available tool to promote and motivate

students to learn. Technology has provided educators with ample tools to use in their classrooms

from the simple tape recorder to the highly technological interactive board.

As a teacher I strongly encourage and promote integrate technology in my classroom

because it has proven its efficiency and effectiveness in many instances. This change in my

teaching method and strategy is due to the global change in the field of education, regardless of

the fact that some educators are still denying it. It’s not a shame to say that at the beginning the

experience was very intimidating and novice but nothing is perfect the first time. My regard of

technology at the beginning was very blurry; I thought that it could be used without prior

preparation and well-though planning. I still remember the reaction of the students when they

first saw me installing the LCD projector; they were excited and wanted to help out in the

installation. I felt their motivation and enthusiasm and for a while though; “well, this is a

success”. I turned off the lights and began the lesson when all was properly installed and

connected. The students stared with eyes wide open to the screen that displayed the lesson were

taken by this magical instrument being used. However, as the lesson progressed the overall

classroom atmosphere began to change and students started to feel bored and agitated. They

wanted to stop the lesson, some even wanted to leave. They became uninterested and

uncooperative. I did not stop, in fact I continued the explanation and when the session ended I

instantly uninstalled everything and ran to my office. “That wasn’t so successful”, I thought to

myself. Why is that so, what was the problem? Was it me or the whole technological aspect? I

had to dig deeper into the matter, to find out what was the problem.
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Looking back at research and articles on integrating technology in education and what is

its primary aim, I was able to realize that the problem was not with the technology, or the lecture

or me, but in fact with the way the technology was used.

Research highlights several benefits of technology and advices for several other

difficulties. Just as technology has facilitated most of our daily life task and duties, it should

facilitate the educational process and in my experience, in fact, it didn’t. It obviously hindered

the process. Technology use should allow students to actively think about information, make

choices, execute authentic tasks, improve skills, evaluate their work, work cooperatively, and of

course learn. Technology, in addition, should be used in a way that puts the educator in a

facilitators position, and this is what modern teaching approaches have encouraged and advised.

Technology should be used to promote the following aspects:

 Build background knowledge

 Increased motivation and self-esteem

 More collaboration with peers

 Offer a variety of accommodations

 Attention to audience needs

 Increased use of outside resources

 Improved design skills

 Teach technical and 21st century work skills

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Educators/facilitators should make use of technology to help students build background

knowledge by engaging them in tasks that requires them to gather information about topics of

interest to them, as people, places and things (Harbison, 2012). Such tasks will lead to increased

motivation and self-esteem because learners are personally engaged in the learning process and

are willing to share their findings with friends and instructors. Shy students will not fear to

participate anymore because they have now the confidence of gathering information from

reliable sources and actually communicate them with their peers before discussing them as a

classroom.

If used in a way that encourages group work and collaboration, technology can be a good

source of collaboration and cooperation with peers since it will unconsciously involve them in

interacting with each other and cooperating to present a common final product.

It should be evident for any teacher that a classroom is a diverse environment and that

students have diverse educational and learning needs that need to be addressed in many ways to

improve learning and production. Therefore, if teachers strictly use simple and old-fashioned

teaching methods, they won’t be able to address the diverse learning styles and needs of their

students. However, with the use of technology this has become very easy and at our finger tips.

First, technology facilitates access to learning material and provides better presentation modes.

(Edutopia, 2008) For instance, if a student has difficulty seeing small fonts and print, with LCD

projections or computers, they can now see print and font larger and better than before. In

addition, different technological devices provide students with different learning instances and

address the different learning styles (Harbison, 2012). If a learner is a visual learner, he/she can

now look at, assess and evaluate diagrams and pictures better and easier than before. Not

forgetting that they can share their opinions and thoughts on the internet with peers or experts.
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Moreover, technology once used properly shall make learners more aware of audience

needs and thus anticipate any obstacle of difficulty when using technology themselves next time.

It puts them in the place of receivers of information and providers as well and thus allows them

to make correct decisions with regards to what to display, how to display and how to present it.

This not only gives them a new learning perspective, but also a new planning perspective.

Finally, technology; whether the internet, LCDs, interactive boards and others, provides students

with authentic outside resources which are the concern on many modern education researchers

and thinkers and thus increases their cultural awareness and keeps them up-to-date with daily

advances and innovations (Smart, 2008). All of this will yield positive results because students

are no longer detached from the learning process and are in fact engaged in learning language in

context, especially in the language classrooms (Smart, 2008), for they are now using language to

communicate information and also using this same language to communicate with others to get

the information through on-line communication or networked interaction and tasks.

Technology is a universe by itself and its usage will never cease to stop or fascinate its

users. Therefore, educators, on the first hand, should encourage and implement its usage in

classrooms and parents should also allow students to make use of it when possible.

“Technology is interactive and lively and so should our teaching practices”. After coming

to this conclusion, I realized that the way I used technology was in fact the problem and now

don’t use it as time filler but in fact an effective use of time. In my classroom now, you won’t see

one constant use of technology but several and even when technological devices are not present

in class, work is technologically based. Students no longer sit in front of the flat screen watching

me go through my slides and falling asleep. Students now are involved in the learning process by

searching online, gathering information, communicating this information and designing the way
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of presenting it in the classroom. They enjoy working the LCD because they are the ones using

it. They have prepared the work and they are presenting it. They work cooperatively and discuss

finding and connect online to discuss issues. They are in control of their learning and

experiencing it in different domains and with interesting topics.

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References:

Edutopia. (2008, 3 16). (Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The Reasons Are many) .
Retrieved from Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction

Harbison, C. (2012, 8 28). (Benefits of Using Technology in the Classroom-and how to get started). VOXXI
News. Retrieved from VOXXI News: http://voxxi.com/2012/08/28/benefits-technology-in-the-
classroom/

Smart, M. P. (2008, 12 10). (The Word and the World: Technology Aids English-Language Learners).
Edutopia. Retrieved from Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/technology-software-english-
language-learners