Some teachers struggle to effectively use technology in the classroom. During a program I did in Columbus, OH, I met Amanda. She told me about how she uses Google Images to support vocabulary. Amanda was kind enough to outline her strategies so that I could share them here.
Education has changed dramatically over the years. Gone are the days of carrying a bookbag filled with loose leaf paper, pencils, and textbooks. Today, students are much more likely to walk into a classroom with a tablet under their arms and schedule Skype meetings with their professors instead of stopping by office hours.
As a special education teacher, I always struggled with having to read tests aloud to multiple students at the same time. I would run into some students who would be ahead of me, some behind, and sometimes we wouldn't even get the test done in a single class period.
Technology is not meant to be cumbersome, nor should it be treated as an add-on or a substitute for a regular lesson plan. Showing a movie on a day when no lesson is prepared is not what successful integration of technology in the classroom looks like. With a few easy to use tools, you can enhance your classroom instruction, be more inclusive of different learning styles and abilities, and engage students more immediately in course material.
Today’s students are digital learners. Often more comfortable on a computer than with a pen in hand, students spend hours on their electronic devices outside of school time. Objections to technology integration in the classroom are many, including cost, teacher training, and ensuring that all students have access to the necessary equipment both at school and at home. While many of these concerns are valid, they are not insurmountable. The question should no longer be whether to use technology as a teaching tool, but rather how can teachers integrate technology into the classroom in ways that are simple to implement, inexpensive, accessible, and that help students become engaged and more successful learners?