It is with that in mind that I'd like to detail out something that I have noticed and what I find to be a clear and important distinction before diving into any fun tools. Recently, I’ve been noticing that a lot of instructors are under the erroneous impression that they are successfully integrating technology into their classrooms. However in reality these instructors are merely using technology. The distinction seems like semantics; I promise it is not.
I would like to take a second and detail out the distinction in my mind. It is so important to being able to understand where you are and where you want to be with speaking this important language as well as preparing our students for the future.
Using Technology
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Integrating Technology
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Use of tech is not consistent and often arbitrary
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Technology use is consistent, planned and has meaning
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Technology use is the focus
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Technology is used help create new learning avenues
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Technology use is used to convey information
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Technology use is used provide avenues to encounter
information
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Technology is used sparingly or sporadically
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Technology is used routinely
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Technology is teacher centric/used
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Technology is student centric/used
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Technology is limited to individual use
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Technology is used in collaboration
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Technology is used explicitly to introduce content
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Technology is used to excite and engage students into
learning the content
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Technology is used as part of activities that would be
better off without it.
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Technology is used to improve the student’s ability to do
something that otherwise may have been difficult or even impossible.
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Technology is ancillary to the learning process
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Technology is an essential part of the process
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To better emphasize some of my point, I would like to look at two particular items:
1. Powerpoint
Often we as instructors think that using a powerpoint and showing it on our overhead projector is integrating technology. If we look at this definition, we are not truly integrating technology as we are using it. Think about it, a powerpoint conveys information, is teacher centric, it is used as part of an activity that can easily be done with out it, it is even individually driven.
2. Microsoft Office for Wordprocessing
I am a huge proponent of using Office for word-processing purposes, however it is important to understand that this is not an example of integration of technology. Again, it is individually driven by the students, it is not necessary and it is also often sporadic in use as these word processor programs, from what I have noticed, are only used for final drafts of writing.
Now, while I understand completely that some teachers do not have technology at their disposal. Believe me, I have been where you are. I have taught in places where it is not readily available. And while some activities require using technology, hopefully in the next few weeks we will give you some ideas and tools to better integrate technology in your classrooms, rather than simply using it.
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