Week 10: Final Review. Part 2.

Part 2:

Answer the following question:  Why is it important for all teachers to integrate technology into the lessons they teach, regardless the age of the students?  Discuss what may be barriers to technology integration and how you as the teacher can overcome them.  Using what you have learned throughout the course, please provide examples and information to support your answer.  Within this blog entry, please discuss some web2.0 tools that would assist with technology integration.

There are many good reasons to integrate technology into any classroom, regardless of content, students' age, or their proficiency. First of all, technology allows to accommodate learners of different styles and multiple intelligences, levels, and needs (e.g. creating podcasts for students to review newly-acquired material outside of class, giving them a choice of what program to use (from verysophisticated to more simplified ones, for example) to present their research findings, having them choose whether to read, watch, or listen to the same information, etc. ) Second of all, it enhances student learning and makes content more vivid, comprehensible, and meaningful to them (e.g. geometric simulations, virtual field trips , videotutorials, etc.) Moreover, technology allows to develop those skills that our students' potential employers are most likely to look for. I agree with A Principle's Reflection that technology promotes independent-learning, creativity, problem-solving, critical thinking, technological proficiency, global awareness, media literacy, communication, and collaboration, all of which are so critical for professional success of our current students in the future.

Nevertheless, technology should be used thoughtfully and in moderation.Sharing Technology for the Classroom contains one idea which seems to me fallacious. "A middle school principal in Maine... proclaims that the debate over handwriting is finally over- all assignments must be keyboarded. You can mourn the passing of handwriting if you must; the kids certainly won't. If they are writing better and more detailed papers, yes, there has been progress." My students often state that writing by hand allows them to improve their spelling and memorize new words better, be good at proofreading, and some even claim that handwriting boosts creativity. Those who are good at touch typing, like me, might prefer typing over handwriting because they can type as fast as they think. Nevertheless, advantages of handwriting overweight its disadvantages. Thus, for example, Virginia Berninger, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, conducted a research that demonstrated the importance of handwriting: elementary and middle school students who participated in the study and who wrote essays by hand, produced longer, more creative, and in general more qualitative essays.  "Handwriting aids memory. If you write yourself a list or a note — then lose it — you're much more likely to remember what you wrote than if you just tried to memorize it," said occupational therapist Katya Feder, an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa School of Rehabilitation. There are other pros of staying faithful to handwriting but which in the interest of this review and space I will leave out. In brief, there are reasons why handwriting should not be completely replaced by typing.

Along with the harmful tendency to overuse typing, there is the sense of isolation that overreliance on technology may create. Thus, for example, this course allowed very little face-to-face communication among the students and I personally know only 3-4 people by name. Virtual communication has its benefits but in no way should it replace regular face-to-face interactions.

That being said, integrating technology in the classroom meets numerous obstacles in its way. First of all, school districts, adult education bureaus or other educational organizations often lack sufficient financial resources to afford required modern technology. In addition, due to certain administrative procedures, it might take a long time from the moment a teacher requests, say a laptop for each student, to the moment when every student gets it (Shaping Technology for the Classroom discusses this problem in detail). Last but not least, teachers and sometimes students might not be that technologically savvy and might experience some sort of anxiety towards using technology. But what can we, educators, do to overcome these barriers? We should stay persistent and unite in becoming "the agents of change". And the 12 Most Genius Questions in the World can help us to make better decisions and demonstrate more effective teaching.