Technology in Education

This summer I took Technology in Education at my local community college.

We did a blog for this class, and although most of the posts were about the textbook, this last one was about our thoughts on technology in the classroom. I thought I would share this here so I could have it after class is over.

I have a lot of different beliefs about technology in the classroom.

Before I took this class I was a bit anti-technology. I have always believed that kids don't need any screen time before age 6, that school aged children are using to much technology, and that education is so focused on technology that they are forgetting other essentials.

To an extent, I still believe some of these things. However, after taking this class I have come to some other conclusions.

Firstly, I do believe it is important to use technology in schools, and to teach with it and about it. Using technology is a 21st century skill that students will need, so it's important they learn to use it. I still think that this learning should begin later in life, but I do think it's more important than I thought before. I think a lot of people are still under the idea that with academics it's "the earlier the better" and I don't believe that is true for typing or for reading, math, and other non-technological skills.

I also think that it is important for schools to teach internet safety, and to help children understand what is and isn't credible information online. Even if children aren't being exposed to technology at school, they may be at home and a lot of parents think their kids have online skills like safety and knowing the difference between what's factual and not, but often times they overestimate their child's ability.

Teaching about technology can also help reduce or help children with cyber bullying. Resources can be provided to students to prevent this newer form of bullying that often goes unreported or unpunished. As someone who once experienced this, I think it's really important to learn about and I think that schools should get involved.

In this class I also learned about ways that I as an educator can use technology, not only in the classroom but for myself as an educator. I think this will be the most beneficial information that I learned moving forward, because as a preschool teacher my students don't use a lot of classroom technology. As a new teacher I also follow a lot of blogs and can use some of the things I learned to help with curriculum and lesson planning.

I enjoyed learning about virtual field trips, and later doing one myself. I think this would be a great activity I could implement into my own curriculum.

While I am still on the non-technology side of education I now appreciate what technology has to offer in engaging our students, and can also say I can use it more effectively in both my teaching and planning.