The Importance Of Using Technology In The Classroom

Introduction

As a foreign language instructor for over eight years, I have always sought out professional development to continually seek pedagogical improvement and better meet the needs of all my students. Given the fact that I worked with students coming into my classroom with various levels of knowledge in Spanish, I always tried to be very innovative in my ways of delivering my lessons. My participation in numerous professional development conferences and workshops helped me learn new strategies to better meet the needs of my 21st century students. Via the incorporation of technology into my lesson delivery and assignments, I began to notice not only growth in student lesson engagement and motivation, but also a growth in their language

“The best way to help teachers learn about and adapt technology in their classrooms is be immersing them in hands-on work in the same way their students use social networks and other technology applications” (Hull, 2014, p. 55). Therefore, as a future administrator, one must keep in mind to provide technology trainings to staff that focuses on integrating it in the teaching and learning process, rather than emphasize on how to use the software. Mary Burns (2010) presents her training approach in her article titled, How to Help Teachers Use technology in the Classroom, which emphasizes on an approach that is grounded on two basic premises: “Technology is used as a teaching and learning tool, tied to curricular goals, and assessment and embedded within strong instructional techniques” and it must “promote quality technology integrations and learning by minimizing the importance of computers within professional development and concentrating instead on the core areas of teaching: content, curriculum, instruction, assessment, and classroom management” (p. 2). If professional development is founded on these two premises, there is a higher likelihood that educators will “just try” technology in their daily

Such dependency has created a culture that demands instant information availability. Baker, Lusk and Neuhauser (2012) present in their article titled, On the Use of Cell Phones and Other Electronic Devices in the Classroom: Evidence from a Survey of faculty and Students that “Laptop and netbook computers have made computer technology more portable and more affordable for today’s students… Smart phones function not only as cell phones but also offer many MP3, laptop, and PDA features in one device” (p. 275). A study done by Project Tomorrow (2013) indicated that a large percentage of K-12 students showed an interest to use the same mobile devices and social media tools in school, as they are accustomed to use outside of the classroom. The integration of cell phone/tablet use within the classroom has allowed for some teachers to gauge student progress via web-based sites such as Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com), Google forms (www.google.com/forms), or applications such as Plickers (www.plickers.com), which provides teachers with real-time formative assessment data. Students must access a variety of technology tools to produce their work. The concept of digital storytelling allows students with the opportunity to convey their thoughts and ideas, in a manner that engages the presenter and its