In my last post, I discussed successful uses of technology in the classroom. In this post I will be talking about all of the positive effects of using technology in the classroom. Not only do students enjoy using technology in the classroom, but it has been proven to have positive effects.
Not only is technology use in the classroom the new trend in education, but there are many positive effects for both students and educators if technology is used properly in the classroom. Technology use in the classroom changes students and teachers roles, increases motivation and self-esteem, increased technical skills, increases the ability to accomplish more complex tasks quicker, allows for more collaboration with peers, allows more outside resources to be used, and improves design skills. Throughout this post I will go into detail as to why each of these characteristics are beneficial to the educational setting.
I will start off by talking about the role of students and teachers within a classroom that uses technology. When technology is used students often have to generate information rather than just read it from a textbook. The learner is then actively making choices that affect what they are learning. This hopefully will increase the students ability to understand the information, because it is something that they are choosing therefore should be something that they are hopefully interested in learning. The teachers role in a classroom that technology is used in is much different than a typical lecture based classroom. The teacher is a facilitator rather than a lecturer. The teacher provides support and helps students by suggesting resources that can guide there learning.
Motivation is a huge benefit of using technology in the classroom. There are many different aspects of using technology in the classroom that can be benefitical. Immediate feedback from the use of technology is a major motivational factor. Students can instantly see if they are right or wrong. Another motivating factor is that sometimes students get to choose the direction of a project that they are working on, which will hopefully increase their motivation because they can take ownership for that project.
Another benefit of using technology in the classroom is that students can increase their computer and technological skills. Classes that use technology in the classroom will increase students ability to complete tasks using technology better. Computer skills, internet skills and all around technology skills will improve. Along with technological skill improving, technology allows for more complex tasks to be accomplished at a faster rate. I compare this to using online software for completing graphing problems in algebra. Online software allows to go through multiple problems in a short amount of time. Students can compare and contrast graphs and functions very quick by changing numbers instantly. This helps students instantly see the effects of changing variables in a graph, rather than working a long time on just graphing and not being able to make connections as easily.
Another benefit of using technology in the classroom is that students have access to more resources. These resources are a benefit to all students. Lastly students have improved design skills because of the use of technology in the classroom. Students can create more professional projects with the use of technology. Students have the ability to share final projects with other students and can then compare and contrast their ideas with each other. This collaboration helps students to better understand concepts and the use of technology.
Overall, there are many benefits of using technology in the classroom. Teachers, administrators and all educators need to incorporate technology whenever possibly. Students benefit from using technology. Technology is our future, it is not going away. We need to embrace it and use it to increase student achievement.
Look for my next post, where I provide a prezi on Teaching with Technology!
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