Enhance Learning

Growing up, technology was easily accessible to me. My family always had a computer, I have had a phone from a young age, and my parents always led me to new experiences involving technology. When I was going into my freshman year of high school, we were provided one-to-one technology by our school district, and this technology at the time was an iPad. Because I worked at the school as a technology assistant, I knew what types of apps were being loaded onto these iPads and what uses they each had. Going into the school year, I was excited, only to later be extremely disappointed. Each of the four years this was a repetition for me. The only thing technology was enhancing was my ability to become distracted with apps that were being allowed.

As well a becoming easily distracted, students also tend to find ways around the rules. In particular I think to one of my classes, “Novels”. During this class we did exactly how it sounds, read books. At the beginning of the hour we were given a relatively easy quiz, and then for the remaining time we were instructed to read. Because each one of us had iPads, we had the ability to download books onto the devices instead of getting a hard copy. This led to students to playing games on their iPad instead of doing the reading. To me, this is an issue because the students who did this were most likely not going to spend time out of class reading and deciphering what the chapter was about. Here, technology became a distraction and hurt learning experiences.

This same instance happened in a lot of classes. Soon enough, I was a senior and my iPad sat in my locker all year, dead. I did not use this to my advantage because my teachers did not capitalize on this source anymore. The teachers were feeling the force of integration and were starting to realize that this luxury was starting to become a problem. Instead of fixing the problem, they ignored it all together, and in essence this technology was wasted.

I realize this post has been pretty negative about technology, but that is why I am excited for the things I will learn in Technology for STEM Educators (MATH 371). I want to learn how to use this in a positive manner and enlighten students in their learning. I want to make learning more fun, instead of forcing/not using technology readily available.

Technology implements new learning opportunities, and assignments can be tailored to specific students. The instant feedback of technology and full participation that can be enforced in a classroom is extremely beneficial as a teacher. Technology is a life skill that will always be prevalent. The benefits seem to outweigh the drawbacks, but finding effective uses can be time-consuming and hindering.

I think as future teachers/teachers, we all need to make sure we are using technology in the right manner. That we are using technology to enhance learning and not distract learning. Teachers need to use technology in an advantageous way, rather than just using it because it is accessible. We need to be mindful of using technology to help students understand subject matter from a different perspective. I challenge us to integrate technology in a way that is beneficial for everyone, and not just have it be a waste of student and teacher time. Technology is a fantastic tool we have in our metaphorical toolbox, so let’s use it to engage and not distract. Jayni Anderson