Technology Integration

I have a love/hate relationship with technology in the classroom. Over the course of my six year career the love side has grown, and the hate side has gotten smaller with the coming of each new year. From my experience, technology integration breaks down to two major ideas; the benefits and tools that technology in the classroom allow, and handling the classroom management issues that go along with having the technology available.

The reason why my hatred for technology integration has dwindled over my years of teaching is because my collection of strategies to manage classroom issues relating to technology has grown each year. Like all things in life, the more experience and practice you have at something, the better you get. The main issues with classroom management related technology that I have seen are cheating and plagiarism, technology distractions, and using an effective learning management system. I teach at a Google school. I think Google slides, sheets, and docs are amazing. However, they are very easy to share and copy and resubmit. This used to drive me absolutely insane. I thought there was no way to stop kids from copying each others work. It took a long time for me to take the time to understand that if a student wants to cheat on an assignment, they’re going to find a way to do it. After coming to that realization I started to use the technology to my advantage. On Google docs I can look at revision history or owners to see if a student actually did the work or not. The other thing I have found that is helpful as a teacher is copy and paste. Students use it to copy answers from the internet. I use it to search up segments of text that I don’t think student’s wrote themselves. Distractions are certainly a bigger issue for students on technology, but I have found that if you set an expectation to begin the year and stick to it, it quickly becomes just another routine classroom management procedure. My rule is that if I catch you on a video game, you’re going to come in before school at 7:50 for a shortened detention. Once students understand the expectation, it becomes a very minor problem. The last issue that has gotten better over the years is finding a way to use a learning management system. This one has gotten better as Google Classroom has evolved. When I first started using the system it was awkward and ineffective. Google has since done an excellent job of updating the program and now I love using it. The grading, quiz making, discussions, and posting options are all much better now and it is a big part of my classroom.

What I have loved about technology in the classroom has simply been the access to information and tools that are not available in a book or handout. Students can quickly find facts, images and videos to be able to participate in class discussions or work independently on an assignment. This video by the Heineman Blog shows a great example of blending traditional tools with technology tools in the classroom. It is an elementary example, but the integration method can be used at any level. This is the kind of classroom I strive for. Some students enjoy using technology, and some prefer pencil and paper. This provides opportunities for both and makes kids practice using a variety of skills. Alfie Kohn wrote an article critiquing the use and high cost of school technology. In the article he overlooks the value of moderated use of technology as a means of preparing for today’s widely tech integrated work force. The other large area that feels overlooked to me in the article is that today’s students and have been using technology since their toddler years. They are accustomed to using technology, it is not as burdensome to them as it is to many of the people teaching them to use it. This TeachHub article by Janelle Cox reinforces the idea of using technology in the classroom to bolster “21st century skills” and provide a platform for collaborative work online.

Technology integration in the classroom isn’t without problems, but the benefits it offers students and the preparation it gives them for a career in the 21st century make it essential for all classrooms that have access.