Technology has become the center of the modern world. When we wake up in the morning, the first thing many of us grab is our cellphone. We scroll endlessly throughout the day, often keeping up with relatives, or the latest news. For our students, this is no different. The truth is, that the COVID-19 Pandemic showed educators how important technology is to our daily lives. We had to find ways to integrate technology to connect with our students, to keep them engaged through a computer screen, and ensure that they were still learning. The tools we learned during the pandemic, that allowed for our students to learn, must continue to be used in our classrooms.
Students learn in different ways. Each student sitting in our classroom has diverse social and academic needs. As educators, we have the responsibility of ensuring that we help each student meet their goals and meet them where they are. Technology gives us the opportunity to meet the needs of each of our students in engaging and exciting ways.
The use of technology in our classroom allows us to provide explicit instruction and use video clips, visuals, audios, the use of a document camera. In addition, technology allows students to show what they have learned. Students can create projects, conduct research, engage with interactive websites, and create videos about what they have learned. This allows students to not only demonstrate what they have learned, but to practice social and team building skills as well. Technology motivates even the least engage student and allow students to actively participate in the learning process.
The use of technology in the classroom also allows us to cater to student across diverse sensory preferences and academic needs. Visual learners learn best when working with pictures, drawings, sketches, or maps. Aural learners learn best when listening to instruction, podcasts, or videos. They may also prefer to listen to other students. Kinesthetic learnings prefer hands-on experiences, the use of manipulatives and movement in the classroom. Other students may also prefer to read and write visual texts and what they have learned. Teachers should provide experiences that allow for all students, despite their sensory learning styles, to succeed in the classroom.
The use of computers or tablets gives us access to thousands of websites where we can find visuals to engage our visual learners. We can provide visual representations of teaching models, diverse strategies, or scenes in a book. Videos can cater to both visual and aural learners. Listening to podcasts about a certain topic and integrating it into an activity allows students to use various senses and provides opportunities to engage with technology.
One of the challenges teachers may face in implementing technology in their classroom may be that not all of us are ‘tech-savvy.’ However, the internet gives us access to endless resources where we can learn how to implement various technological tools into our practice. The use of technology in our classroom may also require support on an organizational level. Some software, programs, or learning management systems require licenses for us to have access to all features. When organizations invest in educational technology, they must also provide professional development opportunities to allow teachers to thrive and make efficient use of the technological tools available. They may also have to provide training to students and families to learn how to use the resources the organization or school has made available to them. Technology gives us the opportunity to cater to the whole child. While we do not have to be totally dependent on it, there are benefits to using resources that can help us motivate, engage, and teach our students in fun and exciting ways.
References
Hamilton, B. (2018). Integrating technology in the classroom : Tools to meet the needs of every student. International Society for Technology in Education.