For technology to work in the classroom, you need to dedicate a lot of extra time to lessons that involve technology. Also, you as the teacher must believe in and value the importance of technology in our students’ learning. However, technology should not be seen as the be-all and end-all of the lessons but should act more as a support to the core lesson. Before a teacher plans to use technology, they must ask themselves what they are trying to accomplish in their lesson. What role (if any) could technology serve in effectively achieving the objectives of the lesson, and how can technology assess what students have learned?

Of course, the extent to which teachers integrate technology all depends on the level of support and resources at their schools. High quality technology programs and tools add additional incentives for teachers to use technology in their classrooms. Teachers must clearly know what their outcomes are before they choose to use technology and choose what technology to use. Technology should not determine what the outcomes are, rather the outcomes should determine if and what technology should be used. This way, teachers can clearly know upfront what technology might support their lesson/unit. If teachers get in the habit of having their unit outcomes drive the technology, they will quickly find out what tools work best in their classroom. Teachers will learn which technologies place certain challenges and demands on their students. Teachers should ask themselves how technology makes the student an active learner and responsible for their own learning. Not only should outcomes drive the technology used in the classroom but it should drive the technology used in schools, districts and at state level. The technology that is purchased for schools should depend on their curricular goals and outcomes

Technology enhances lessons that would otherwise be less engaging or impossible without technology. Technology can help students make the connection with the real world, or shall I say their world. Technology can support what the students already know but help make this knowledge come alive. It can support individual and group work. It can help students practice what they know, to review and to reflect upon it. It can aid students in research and represent it in new ways. It makes access to information and people much easier. Technology helps students to learn by doing. When you ask students to represent data with a technology tool, it makes students think more about the information, and how they are going to use the tool to represent it.

Teachers use technology to add to, extend, and change the way they teach their lessons. How students will be assessed is a key component when planning a lesson. Teachers should consider the methods of assessing progress through technology. Whether it’s having students produce products at the end of a unit to display what they know, or whether it’s an assessment of progress being made throughout the unit. By having students produce projects using technology, it will help prepare them for the future. It will stand by them when they are asked to do it in college or in the workplace.

The value that schools set on technology goes beyond individual teachers, but this value is set by the teachers and administration as a whole. Administrators need to be able to facilitate and support teachers’ desire to use technology. They must make it easily accessible and easy to use. Perhaps, training teachers on technology or the more tech savvy teachers can offer their expertise. They need to provide equipment that will work and have support for teachers when things go wrong. The last thing you want to do is make technology an unpleasant experience for teachers. Frustration should be alleviated with proper training, good equipment and ongoing support.  

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