Why use technology in the classroom?

Today’s students are immersed in technology within their daily lives. They will go home from school and play some computer games, watch TV, listen to some music and finally play on their Nintendo DS before they go to sleep. When children are capable of doing so much with technology, how beneficial are traditional pen and paper, chalk on the blackboard methods of teaching?

Teaching used to once be rote learning and memorisation, but unfortunately in today’s society, people are expected to possess higher order thinking skills in their professional lives. It’s one thing to memorise a chunk of information and regurgitate it, but this has no purpose. Students need to be asked to analyse, compare and contrast to be able to demonstrate their understanding of the information.

Technology can be used to engage the interest of students. It is so much more interesting to watch a video or presentation as opposed to listening to a slab of information.

Information is also easily accessible through the use of technology. Sure, books do have their benefits, but why waste time flicking through pages when you can just type a search term to bring up the exact information that you need? Though there is an arguement that you may also be presented with information that you do not need, the fact that you can simply do this within the classroom or at home without a trip to the library and carrying around books makes life so much easier.

Students develop skills in searching for information online and being able to decide whether or not a website is appropriate for information (for example, if it isn’t .gov or .edu or has no author then it may not be true). They can apply these skills throughout their life in a variety of situations.

There is also a move from the teacher as the giver of information to a facilitator/scaffolder in student centred learning experiences. Technology in the classroom allows children to discover information for themselves and the teacher assist with determining whether or not it is appropriate or how to synthesise it.

It is important that the teacher does take on the role as a facilitator during technology based learning, as technology cannot to all the teaching. It’s simply a resource that must be used with guidance, just like any other.

Technology can be used appropriately as a tool to allow the students to become lifelong learners in the 21st century.

Bibliography

Carter, H. (2001) Why should we use technology in the classroom? [Online] http://coe.west.asu.edu/students/hcarter/techrationale.htm Retrieved 29th of September 2008.

Honey, M. (Year Unknown) Critical Issue: Using Technology to Improve Student Achievement. [Online] http://www.ceo.wa.edu.au/home/carey.peter/criticalissues1.html Retrieved 29th of September 2008