The Increased Use of Technology in the Classroom

The increased use of technology within classrooms is a part of teaching that should be embraced by newly trained teachers and all teachers alike whether they are, as Prensky (2001) describes them, Digital Natives or Digital Immigrants.  It is how these teachers use and harness the effectiveness of new and emerging technologies/multimedia with good pedagogical content that will define how positively the increased use of technology will be seen in the classroom.

 

From a teaching point-of-view it is important to know how the technology can be used in the classroom; as teachers do we want to use technology/multimedia to enhance teaching or to redefine teaching i.e. using technology to create and teach tasks which would have been seen as inconceivable only a short time ago. Using Dr. Ruben Puentedura’s SAMR Model (2006) we can see how teachers can use technology to engage children with the learning and how it affects teachers planning of tasks created for lessons.

This model may enable us to classify the technology used in schools and to allow us to question the value of technology in a particular area. By value I think we should mean whether learning is enhanced, made more accessible, more interesting or more motivating.

On my SE, when technology has been used in my lessons, children have always responded positively and have been engaged in the learning. However, I have often found it a challenge to create a well-balanced lesson when incorporating technology with good pedagogy and content. Mishra and Koehler’s Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) Model (2006) demonstrates the aspects of planning teachers need to consider to create an outstanding lesson using modern technology.

When looking at the three primary forms of knowledge: content, pedagogy and technology, it is easy to see why some teachers still resist using technology in the classroom as ‘effective technology integration for pedagogy around specific subject matter requires developing sensitivity to the dynamic, transactional relationship between all three components’ (Mishra and Koehler, 2006).  It is these challenges that some teachers fear and still resist using modern technology instead of the tried and tested methods they are comfortable with. Hopefully, with an increased awareness of new technologies and new teaching practices, all teachers will have more confidence to integrate new technologies into the classroom to create lessons that enhance children’s learning and engage them in ways that other teaching methods cannot.  Luckily on my previous SE's I have observed outstanding graded lessons by teachers using video clips in the classroom and I view these schools as having seen the value in our increasingly digital society and have taken it upon themselves to positively use a variety of multimedia to engage and motivate the children in a range of subjects.

The main challenges I can see for me during this module are critically responding to other posts from this blog and to engage in the readings set each week to help evolve my knowledge and thinking on using technologies in the classroom relating to all subjects including English.

 

References

 

Mishra, P and Koehler, M.J (2006) Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A new framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record. 108(6), 1017-1054

 

Prensky, M. (2001) ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part  II: Do They Really Think Differently?’ in On the Horizon 9 (6)

 

Puentedura, R (2006) Transformation, Technology, and Education