Technology Integration in the Classroom

I believe that technology integration in the classroom is beneficial to students as well as teachers. For example, if students use spreadsheets on a computer to organize and represent their data, they will be able to analyze and make correlations easier on their own. This can help the teacher because now the students can figure out for themselves what the relationships are rather than the teacher pointing them out. This will increase the students’ capacity to understand the concepts at hand and learn better organizational skills. Internet is a great tool for getting students interested in learning. For instance, it allows them to compare data with other students worldwide. In the past this kind of communication was achieved via letters but that could take weeks to do. Now emails can be sent instantly and responses received back that day. This could motive many students to learn and in the future to remember these learning experiences.

Presently the downside to technology integration is that teachers who did not grow up with technology or are not aware of new technology might not know how to implement it into the classroom effectively. They may get their students to search the internet blindly for more information on a topic but this can lead to a waste of time. Instead the teacher should direct them to good websites to get relevant and reliable information. This is where an educational technologist is key to teaching teachers how to guide students in the right direction when using the internet to research as well as other technology integration tools such as PowerPoint and SMARTboards.

Money is one of the biggest barriers in my opinion to technology integration in the classroom. Schools need financial support to hire educational technologists, buy computers to accommodate all students and to bring in wonderful technology such as SMARTboards. I know that it will take time to get all schools on board with technology integration but once these hurdles are overcome the students will reap the benefits.