Educational Technology Goals

1549 Words4 Pages

TL-I Technology Operations and Concepts

What is school? A place to teach students a million facts about a million subjects? A place for students to restate what the teacher has said? Are schools a place for students to show their knowledge by taking many tests? I do not feel these are my goals when it comes to teaching or to my own learning. I have moved away from simple recall to one of deeper understanding. I believe technology is something that is necessary in today's world in order to collaborate, manipulate, research, debate, explain, and present ideas. I believe it is my job as an educator to figure out a way to help students use technology more effectively.

I feel technology in some ways has always been part of my learning beginning in high school. I remember using word processing to write term papers. Next in college I used technology to express my own ideas, but do not remember professors using it to teach me. I remember using technology in order to recall information or to write my opinion, but not used as a collaboration tool. This way of thinking was not shifted until I started teaching in a district that hired new technology directors, replaced technology standards, poured money into technology resources, and built up the technology infostructure of the district. This push from the district on using technology effectively helped to shape my view of technology in the classroom.

In my first few years as a teacher, one of the fears I had with using technology is that I will use some application and later it will become outdated. I did not want to teach my students to use a certain piece of technology, but instead to I wanted to teach them to use technology as a means to collaborate, manipu...

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...chools viewed technology as a hindrance or just something was not needed. This being one the wrong end of the spectrum it showed me how I did not want to use technology. . I think this has helped me to be able to impact student learning, by know what not to do. The schools that have supported technology have showed me ways to use technology to increase student achievement and get students interested in learning. These schools have showed me I can provide students with tools so they can collaborate, manipulate, research, debate, explain, and present ideas. These are skills that students need today in order to full develop and participate in the greater world. I believe as a teacher using technology I give my students the tools to use and guide them to using the tools, but the tools are not what is important but the process they allow the students to participate in.

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