“Every child has the potential to attain greatness. The job of an educator is to harness a child’s abilities and set them free with the confidence and the necessary toolbox to succeed” (David Truss, 2007).
The goal of education is to enrich the lives of students while producing articulate, expressive thinkers and lifelong learners, who are socially responsible, resilient, and active citizens of the world. Education is about teaching students, not subjects. It is about engaging students in their learning, and maximizing the potential of each and every child. Education is about looking beyond the child’s intellect, and seeing the whole child. Education is about providing students with opportunities to be challenged and still succeed.
Education is currently going through some dramatic changes. Technology has altered the way teachers, and students, communicate with and amongst themselves, as well as with the greater community, and with the world. New ways of communicating and sharing learning are being developed and explored. There needs to be a transformation from using technology in schools to using technology for learning. Teachers have to adapt, and be adept at making a students’ learning experience both meaningful and engaging. Teachers also need to recognize that technology has created new needs and new definitions of what it means to be literate in today’s world. However, just being literate is not enough; students must develop their curiosity, creativity, communication skills and critical thinking
Teachers now have the opportunities to individualize instruction in ways that simply didn’t exist ten years ago. Schools have classrooms filled with ideas that are being shared around the globe. This growth in educational technology has had a profound effect on the success of today’s students and teachers.
My philosophy on the importance of using technology in education stems from my background in primary education and adaptive technology. For the past year, I have offered students the opportunity to use technology to access information, accommodate learning, and assess knowledge. When I began co-teaching in general education classrooms, I quickly realized the importance of using technology as a tool to individualize instruction for all students. Everyone learn in their own way and technology can assist teachers by tapping into students’ individual strengths. By giving students the tools they need to succeed, teachers are opening doors for students to enhance their own learning, to invest in their own future, and to demonstrate their knowledge in a way that is meaningful to them.
Today’s students require knowledge that is meaningful, social, and authentic. Educators can use technology as a tool to assist in this process. Individualization is crucial; what is meaningful to one student may not be meaningful to another. Knowledge thrives when students have opportunities to be social, to debate issues, to question others. Technology is giving students the opportunity to have individualized and differentiated instruction that lets them be truly authentic learners.
Technology opens opportunities to gather more information, practice a lesson, participate in something hands on, and so much more. Technology also gets students interested. A student will likely be more excited about a lesson if it is on a computer or another electronic device. There are numerous things you are able to do on a computer and can really utilize these opportunities into your lesson plan. Technology can be more like a side kick if you use it correctly. It does not have to become the main focus. According to Matt Richtel (2012), “students are left alone at computers to perform a task but end up messing around”. This is why we must keep them on task. To make learning meaningful if we are integrating technology in our lessons, we must monitor the use of whatever gadgets are been used.
Using technology in moderation must be taken into consideration as well because you cannot become dependable on technology. Todd Oppenheimer (2013) stated that,” teachers in low income schools are often under-trained and see computers as a savior”. As a teacher you need to still be able to teach your students skills by yourself and as a student you still need to have the skills to open a dictionary or an encyclopedia, you need to know how to do basic math without a calculator. It is vitally important to not rely on technology because sometimes it breaks down or does not work and you need to be able to do things on your own.
Technology can be a fantastic tool to use in the classroom. It can help you and your students achieve success in learning. You must use it in moderation though because hands on skills are incredibly important to have.
Thanks to technology, global learning is taking over classrooms. Students are using mobile learning devices and Web 2.0 tools to share their understanding about different topics with others around the world. Teachers are exposing students to tools like video conferencing, blogs, and wikis, where classrooms can collaborate on an unprecedented level. Classrooms are extending beyond the school day and students are taking learning to a whole new level by utilizing technology.
There is a clear paradigm shift happening in education. No longer is technology an activity, it is a tool. It is a tool to individualize. It is a tool to discover. It is a tool to create. It is a tool to publish. It is a tool to inspire. Technology is a tool that is changing education as we know it.