Technology and the Impact on Instruction
http://ezinearticles.com/?Technology-And-The-Impact-On-Instruction&id=1197738
This article is written to critique the benefits and the drawbacks to having technology in the classroom. The benefits that it lists are the ones that we most often hear when discussing the use of technology during instruction; allows students with disabilities the opportunity to learn in a different way, keeps students engaged while learning, and allowing teachers to provide different methods of teaching concepts.
However, this is one of the first texts that I have read that discussed the drawbacks to having technology in the classroom. Some of the reasons that they mentioned that technology could be bad are that teachers rely to heavily on the technology so that if it fails the lesson fails, that students with disabilities that rely on technology would not be able to complete assignments or have any type of learning if the technology failed, and that teachers who abused technology like videos were not using the valuable classroom time to teach properly. The conclusion of this article was warning educators to use technology properly and responsibly in order to gain the benefits that it has to offer to the students.
I completely agree with this article because I see so many teachers who use technology to replace face to face teaching with their students. Because technology is a stressed component in the classrooms at our school, some teachers find themselves trying to squeeze it in to lessons to merely say that they have included it. This is when I see technology failing as an enhancer to curriculum. The teachers are merely throwing technology into the lesson to say that they had it in there, but it isn't used to its greatest potential and ends up hurting the students in the long run. Hopefully there will come a time when technology is so commonplace in the classroom that teachers can use it without abusing it or without taking away from teaching.
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Jessica, I enjoyed this article. It is ironic that I chose an article that focuses on the advantages of incoporating technology in the classroom, and you chose one that warns of the disadvantages. I think the author has some valid points and concerns.
ReplyDeleteAs intructional technology leaders, we do need to be aware of the downsides and try to hit them head on. Because teachers are so overburdened these days I definitely can see how some may not be using technology effectively. In their defense, there is little time and sometimes little support for them to learn how to use these tools effectively.
I have witnessed this firsthand. My county requires the use of Classworks software at all schools. In my opinion, this software is not used correctly because the teachers truly do not have the time to use the software the way it was intended. They just go put in there 45 minutes in the computer lab each week without really using it as a learning tool. It seems to be something they mark off their "to do" list. Part of their frustration also lies in having poorly functioning labs.
I really wish my county would provide more technology support to help the teachers and students. Unfortunately, Houston county chose to cut most of those positions last year. I'm crossing my fingers that the jobs will return--not just because it is what I'd love to do, but because I think we are really cheating our students and teachers if we do not stay on the cutting edge.
I, too, enjoyed reading this article because I had never really looked at technology with a negative perspective. All teachers hear about technology is all of it’s benefits, benefits, benefits, and how it is required in classrooms a certain amount everyday, but teachers don’t usually hear the negative aspects of technology. I did notice as I was reading, that all of the negative aspects stem off of teachers who abuse the technology to replace their usually teaching or reduce the amount of teacher/student interaction. Teachers must remember to be actively involved in the student’s use of technology and also always have a back up plan if the technology were to fail. After all, the technology gizmos and gadgets are only meant to enhance the learning experience, not replace it!
ReplyDeleteKristen, I totally agree with you. The bottom line with fixing these “negatives” about technology, is to increase the amount of technological support for teachers and students throughout the schools. Hopefully, the school systems will realize the importance of teacher training, and quit cutting all the technology support. After all, they are just wasting their money to continue purchasing the equipment without an instruction on how to use it. Many teachers never take advantage of it and use it because they are unfamiliar with how to use it, then it truly becomes a waste of money…