Technology in Schools

This reading impacts my thinking about technology’s role in teaching and learning in many ways. First of all, it makes me contemplate what the most effective way to teach children is and the content that we are teaching them. Since we are in the Knowledge Revolution, part of me feels that we should completely change our way of teaching. I feel that technology is changing so fast that by the time we would teach students how to use any form of technology, it would already be outdated and they would have to learn to use a different version. In order to help students adjust to so many changes, I think that as educators, we should spend more time helping kids learn problem solving skills, creativity, and more general area concepts. In doing so, students can think their way through any challenges about future technologies or jobs that we don’t even know about yet. I also feel that we should deviate from making students memorize facts when they can just look information up online. We should integrate technology into the classroom and begin to teach students more about how to find reliable information, repair computer problems, and various ways of communication. The book also mentions how homeschooling and earning degrees online is becoming more popular. I don’t agree with this and feel that we should keep the traditional classroom setting for young students. There are so many advantages to schools that children need to have, such as learning socialization skills and other values like leadership. Another reason I feel that it is important to maintain the traditional school structure is because what if students or families can’t afford the technology to educate themselves. Schools, however, have this same dilemma and many would have a hard time purchasing and updating all the technology.

In the future, I think it will be essential to integrate technology with the basic subjects. Schools can’t ignore teaching technology to students because it is involved in almost every aspect of life. To teach students such skills, I will teach the basic subjects and work in mini lessons to make sure they learn as much as they can. Not only will their homework involve using computers, but during my lessons I can also work in the Smart board or other online sources. I feel this is how I will incorporate technology because I feel that there simply isn’t enough time to teach kids everything that is being stressed these days, such as healthy lifestyle habits, social skills, emotional well being and many more. By working technology into the lessons, the students will be able to learn more on a continual basis throughout the whole year. As a teacher, this will also require some extra work on my behalf. To keep up-to-date with modern technology, I will most likely attend workshops or look up additional information to keep up with the latest improvements.