I found this weeks reading and videos interesting as they explored different areas of technology in the classroom and the reasoning behind why some technology is here and others aren’t.
As Margaret said in her journal article, technology in the classroom is most likely to be successful and remain used long term, once it has become part of the informal and commercial environments. This would explain why schools who are undertaking BYOD programs are generally asking for Mac or Windows devices over tablets, as tablets are still evolving and changing and have yet to fully immerse themselves in the commercial sector.
Whilst schools are integrating IT into their curriculum’s and lessons, with research showing us there is benefits to students learning to be made by doing so, many schools and teachers are only using IT for selected tasks and IT is yet to be fully integrated into the curriculum. This may be because teachers find the issue of classroom control more challenging with technology in the room, whilst some may not be convinced of the benefits to students learning in the classroom. Others may have seen technology lead to a decrease in student performance and therefore have made a conscious decisions to partially exclude technology from their learning environments.
In this 21st century world we live in, teachers who continue to deny ICT any part in their lessons are refusing to change with the times and are putting their students at a disadvantage. In the rapidly changing world, our students need to be able to quickly and easily adapt to any form of ICT they may encounter both at school and later on in life in the workplace. With technology rapidly changing and replacing many traditional jobs, being competent and confident with the use of ICT is helping our students in their future careers.
The role of the teacher in the 21st century classroom, is less of the traditional knowledge delivery and more of a guide and assistant, pointing students in the right direction to obtain the information they are after, helping students work out what are/aren’t good academic sources for information and training their students to be life long learners. Through continued PD teachers are able to improve their integration of ICT into their lessons, helping to engage with students and create 21st century learners.
The videos on the schools and parents choosing the no technology route were interesting, providing a juxtaposition to the above arguments for needing technology in the classroom. Whilst ICT in the classroom is great, there are some situations that are better taught first hand, rather than through technology. Being a effective teacher, will require us to develop the skills to determine when we should and shouldn’t use technology, as using technology in the classroom just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.