What Technology Means to an Educator like me?

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Day by day, I observed technology being more recognized and used as an instructional tool in classrooms. Still, I, as an educator, was certainly less comfortable using the technology than the majority of my students. I did use technology in my classes, but was mostly just using PowerPoint. I would like to be able to seamlessly integrate more technology tools into my everyday classroom. That was my main goal to take ED 508-OL, Technology as Pedagogy.

This course has not only affirmed my goal to seamlessly integrate more technology tools into my everyday classroom, it also given me principles, guidelines and many practical tools to do that.

I would very much agree with what Sharp wrote in 2009 on p. 337 that because of the increased access to computers, teachers were concerned about the effects the computer has on instructions. Her brief rundown of some of the important research studies on computer-assisted instruction took away my doubts and affirmed my goal.

From my own teaching experience, I can certainly say that to motivate students is one of my most important tasks. Once a teacher motivated the students, half of the teaching is done. I am always out there to look for ways to motivate students. I observed that students seem to get motivated by computers, whether is to watch something on the computer or to use the computer. Sharp stated that one generalization from all the research studies we can make is that the computer does motivate students. This generalization did motivate me to work hard in this course so that I could seamlessly integrate more technology tools in my classes.

Technology will definitely play an increasingly important role in my future classroom. It will be part of my everyday class. Another general...

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...echnology into my every day class. I will be ready to and willing to learn any new technology tools in the future.

As I start to integrate more and more technology into my every day class, I am sure it will be more joyful and rewarding for me to see the differences that I have made in my teaching by using technologies.

Works Cited

• American Council on The Teaching of Foreign Language (1993), Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century, Apr. 26th, 2011 retrieved from http://www.actfl.org/files/public/StandardsforFLLexecsumm_rev.pdf

• Chickering, Arthur W., and Stephen C. Ehrmann, Implementing the Seven Principles, The TLT Group. Web. 26 Apr. 2011. http://www.tltgroup.org/programs/seven.html

• Sharp, V.F. (2009). Computer education for teachers: Integrating Technology into classroom teaching. Danvers: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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