Increasing the use of technology in the classroom
When students are using technology as a tool or a support for communicating with others, they are in an active role rather than the passive role of recipient of information transmitted by a teacher, textbook, or broadcast. The student is actively making choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate, or display information. Technology use allows many more students to be actively thinking about information, making choices, and executing skills than is typical in teacher-led lessons. Moreover, when technology is used as a tool to support students in performing authentic tasks, the students are in the position of defining their goals, making design decisions, and evaluating their progress. (www2.ed.gov)
The research...
For maximum effectiveness, the use of digital technology in the classroom needs to be implemented by a teacher with proper training and in a lesson that maintains relevance to student interests. While evidence strongly supports that the use of digital technology improves the making of new neural connections, and therefore, learning, evidence also exists that without proper implementation, “no-learning” can also result (Marshall, 2002). As Marshall (2002) reported:
Poorly designed programs that lack an instructional foundation;
casual, purposeless use of technology in the classroom; and lack of
alignment between desired learning outcomes and the application of
educational technology all threaten the success of any learning-by-
technology endeavor (p. 2).
casual, purposeless use of technology in the classroom; and lack of
alignment between desired learning outcomes and the application of
educational technology all threaten the success of any learning-by-
technology endeavor (p. 2).
Studies show that the most effective integration of digital technologies in the classroom exists when the technologies are properly chosen and the use is closely linked to classroom objectives and are regularly used in the classroom (Geer & Sweeney, 2012, p. 296). Robertson et al. (2004) reiterates that the learning activities need to maintain authenticity, which “situates the learning within the students’ everyday lives” (Robertson et al, 2004, as cited by Geer & Sweeney, 2012). Godzicki et al. (2013) also concluded that when students felt that their teacher was providing “activities related to their interests…[they] were more likely to engage in classroom activities when technology was used”(p. 3).
As well as maintaining authenticity, it is imperative that educators receive proper training for using digital technologies. Teachers report that lesson planning using digital technology takes longer and can be “especially difficult for teachers that lack the confidence and knowledge to use technology” (Godzicki et al., 2013). When training does not occur, teachers “experience difficulties and challenges when new technologies are implemented and there becomes a sense of over-burdening” (Manny-Ikan, Dagan, Tikochinski, & Zorman, 2011 as cited by Godzicki, 2013).
Additionally, Amy S. Ackerman and Melissa L. Krupp (2012) describe the need for a change in pedagogical design:
As well as maintaining authenticity, it is imperative that educators receive proper training for using digital technologies. Teachers report that lesson planning using digital technology takes longer and can be “especially difficult for teachers that lack the confidence and knowledge to use technology” (Godzicki et al., 2013). When training does not occur, teachers “experience difficulties and challenges when new technologies are implemented and there becomes a sense of over-burdening” (Manny-Ikan, Dagan, Tikochinski, & Zorman, 2011 as cited by Godzicki, 2013).
Additionally, Amy S. Ackerman and Melissa L. Krupp (2012) describe the need for a change in pedagogical design:
Since information is easily accessible, students no longer need a
teacher to pose questions that are available in Google, but rather
present higher-order thinking questions that promote critical
thinking, analysis, collaboration, transfer, application, and many
others (p. 38).
teacher to pose questions that are available in Google, but rather
present higher-order thinking questions that promote critical
thinking, analysis, collaboration, transfer, application, and many
others (p. 38).
James Stigler and James Hiebert (2009) also write about this need for shift in pedagogy in their book The Teaching Gap. In the book, they argue that teachers will need to re-learn to teach in order to “shift classroom practice from routine rehearsal of skills toward higher-order thinking, independent inquiry, and sustained work on challenging problems” (Stigler & Hiebert, 2009).