Blending the Classroom:
The Inclusion of New Media Tools in Education
As the Common Core State Standards are implemented into curriculum in elementary, middle, and high schools across the country, teaching practices must be adjusted to meet new requirements and expectations. Technology use is now a central focus of the standards, which concerns many teachers for a wide variety of reasons including lack of teacher training, a decline in face-to-face communication skills, the lack of student control, the decline in test scores and essential skills, and even the role of the teacher becoming obsolete (Wilson, 2013). As new media becomes more readily available, educators must carefully examine technology tools available and consider how to best implement them into the classroom environment. In order to effective implement and resolve any issues that arise with technology, educators must gain knowledge on how to use new media tools to gain information, enhance the student experience, and allow students to be producers of content themselves. Despite the fears and uncertainly of a drastically changing educational landscape, educators must learn to teach in a blended classroom that uses both traditional teaching methods and practices with technology to purposeful enhance the student experience and cultivate key 21st century literacy skills.
An emphasis on including technology and new media in the classroom is derived from the need for young people to be active digital citizens in a tech-savvy world. The new Common Core State Standards were initially adopted by individual states by choice in 2010 as a means of ensuring that all students leave their educational careers prepared for post-secondary endeavors (Common Core State Standards...
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...eachers, districts must create cohesive and clear plans to use technology in meaningful ways that will benefit both student learning and teaching practices. These changes are great and are happening quickly; in order to prepare teachers for such a philosophical shift in teaching practices, clear communication must occur (Vance, Carlson, Lively, & Mastracchio Jr., 2013).
To help communicate expectations, teachers must be given sufficient professional development to enhance their skills with new media that is being incorporated into the classroom. Successful technology integration is important and is what makes moving toward a blended classroom more effective. “Integrating technology is not easy, it is a three step process that involves the teacher learning the technology…” before students even have access to it (Sabzian, Gilakjani, Pourhosein, & Sodouri, 2013).
“Technology has provided the opportunity to create an entirely new learning environment; it has significantly increased the range and sophistication of possible classroom activities” (Hawkins 1997). The vast majority of youths today, grow up with computers and encounter some form of digital learning (Kolikant, 2009). The idea that has had the most impact is that the technology today will be outpaced by the next generation. Most of the technology seen today will never be used by an infant when he reaches school age.
Mullen, R., & Wedwick, L. (2008). Avoiding the digital abyss: Getting started in the classroom
I have been working actively to integrate 21st century skills and themes in both my classroom and school for the last several years. My own interest in technology set me out on a path of personal discovery developing expertise across a wide range of platforms and devices. When I began incorporating technology in my teaching, I quickly realized that student engagement in...
In our schools today, the technology gap between the new teachers that just graduated from college to the thirty year veteran presents a broad spectrum of experience with the use of computers and digital media. The younger generation has been raised on technological advancement of having a computer within reach on the first day of school to the educator who learned to integrate the digital age into their lesson plan (Dodds, 2013). Statistically, in 1984, 1 in 125 students had access to a computer at school compared to today virtually every learner has one in a class room, home, or local library (Russell, 2000). In regards to the most popular social media websites l...
As I reflect on EDUC 6715: New and Emerging Technologies, I have learned effective and efficient ways of incorporating technology in the classroom. This course has helped broaden my knowledge on how to use the various technological devices to facilitate learning. As I look back on this course, I realized that technology is constantly evolving and transforming into newer technologies. It has been a delightful learning experience that provided me support on obtaining, adopting, and applying technology that will help to transform my classroom, school and community. This course has been instrumental in helping me to view technology as a tool, which will revolutionize education. Throughout this course, I have discovered ways to become more aware of technology on the horizon, make informed decisions, and reflect on ways I might implement it in my own classrooms in order to better prepare my students for
Throughout the 21st century, technology has impacted many occupations that you don’t even know. One of those, is Education. In the 20th century, students only have textbooks, notebooks, and pens. Instead, students now use eBooks, interactive online textbooks, and online notebooks. Teachers are able to use projectors, computers, iPad’s, and more! Because of this new technology, high school teachers able are to teach their students in a new, positive way in which students actually excited to learn. Technological developments have had an impact on high school teachers and people’s lives.
Teachers should be aware of how much work goes into integrating technology. It must meet a long list of criteria and be intentional in its presentation to students. If technology was not working as an effective teaching tool then why would it be used? However, that is not the case because it works and it does make a difference. So current and future teachers, please understand that integrating technology is a lot of work, but the outcomes are positive and effective. Educational Technology is on the rise, and will continue to be a positive teaching tool and will continue to make advances in the current and near
With the widespread use of digital technology, the classroom teaching approaches and practices went through remarkable changes. When compared to the past ten years, today the classrooms look entirely different in terms of programs and technical tools used to enhance the learning skills of students.
Within technology comes the gateway to almost everything that is out in the internet, it opens a whole new world to the students and the teachers that use them. The outcome of the uses, if they happen to be good or bad, come from the restrictions and the management of usage of said technology inside a classroom. Educators see firsthand how the used in their daily lives influence how a student learns. Thanks to technology not only has students and teachers changed the ways they learn and teach, learning itself has changed as well. It is not only crucial to have the technological tools needed in a classroom, but also an educator that can mend and mold the technology to their rightful use. The use of technology in a classroom not only expands the tools and gadgets, not to mention adds much needed knowledge that will help students later on in life, but also brings a whole new and better way to teach and learn.
An interview with Karen Cator, director of the Office of Educational Technology, part of the U.S. Department of Education, is presented. When asked about a good example of the use of technology in education, Cator discusses Mooresville Graded School District in Mooresville, North Carolina, which use laptops and interactive whiteboards in education. Cator also addresses the importance of student engagement in education, online courses, and the use of digital media devices in classrooms.
Technology is a crucial part of modern life. From advancements in medicine, infrastructure, transport, and communication; we as a collective society can attribute the comfort of our lives to technology. Technology ( and its various implementations in both develop and developing nations) allow us to connect like never before, creating a ripple effect wherein it is an assumed part of everyday life. As a result of technology and its various uses being an essential element in our daily life, the modern day classroom has had to evolve with the times. The curriculum demands that schools should be integrating technology, especially digital technologies, into their lessons in as seamless a fashion as possible. However, does the prevalence of digital
The education world has been greatly influenced by rapidly changing technology and the increasing availability of information. Schools have advanced by leaps and bounds when it comes to incorporating technology into the learning environment, however, many more advances need to be made. In all areas of the country, educators are trying to help students keep up with technology, but there are more changes that are essential for preparing the next generation for the future.
Educating students with 21st century skills is valuable because they live in an ever-changing world. For instance, teaching students not only how to operate technology, but how to use it appropriately should be a focus in classrooms. Students engage with a world where technology consumes daily life; where Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter are the center of their social lives. Technology advances every day, and the students adapt along
The use of computers in school classrooms has evolved throughout the years, and has become revolutionary in changing the way we teach and learn. Our classrooms should no longer be confined to four walls and a few teachers who are considered to be experts in knowledge. Our classrooms need to keep up with a changing society and a new world that is dependent on technology. As students graduate, they need the technological skills needed to thrive in a world in which technology sets the pace. Society expects the school system to produce functional citizens who have the skills to gain profitable employment, and not be a drain on the system.
As facilitators of learning, our classrooms are filled with students who are comprised of generation X’ers and Millenial’s. We must be conscious to structure our lessons and approaches so that we can present content in the most effective manner. Technology, in regards to principles of teaching, challenges the teacher to not only learn what the technology is all about, but to learn to integrate it effectively within the context of their individual classrooms. Teachers in classrooms across the nation struggle with computer technology, the many features, and the never-ending cycle of new devices that are bought into their classrooms daily. Because of the lack of training and severe levels of discomfort, teachers have developed a negative disposition towards the use of technology when it applying it to principle. Recognizing the noted factors, it can be resolved that we do live in an interactive world. Our job is to effectively integrate the technology in such a way that it supports, guides, and enhances learning for all parties involved.