Technology in the Classroom
One Person’s Point of View:
By Robert Holl
I have seen many
changes impacting how instruction is delivered, and nothing has impacted change
more than technology and the internet. As with most change, there have been
both positive and negative outcomes. Whether a given change is positive or
negative will often depend on one’s own perspective.
My name is Robert
Holland my career, upon graduating from college, began as a classroom teacher
and then transitioned into various facets of educational publishing. These
varied experiences have affected my point of view and influenced my current
thinking. However, the last 15 years, during which I founded and grew the
Learning A-Z Publishing Company and developed hundreds of classroom resources,
have led me to appreciate more fully how technology can assist teachers and
improve learning for students.
As a publisher of
learning resources and as a former classroom teacher, I have always believed
that it is vital to never lose sight of the teacher’s significance in and out
of the classroom. I have carefully weighed every product development decision
to ensure that it strengthens a teacher’s instructional efficiency and
effectiveness.
CLASSROOM TECH: TWO FACES
It seems to me
that there are two faces of technology in the classroom. On the one side, I
have come to believe that overuse of technology can have a dehumanizing effect.
But on the other hand, I also have come to believe that technology can help
personalize learning, promote interaction and engagement, and help improve
motivation. From my point of view, we should not park students in front of a
computer or other device and deliver technology-driven curriculum solutions
that place limitations on human connections. This, I believe, would be
detrimental to the development of the whole child. But there are countless
benefits that support the use of technology in classrooms.
One of the most
compelling benefits technology offers is its ability to save teachers time and
deliver resources economically. Take, for example, books and other resources
needed to build reading skills, grow knowledge, and motivate readers. Today’s
teachers can have a library of electronic books delivered directly to their
classroom as PDF documents that can be printed and made into low-cost books for
their students to read in the classroom or at home.
These same books
can be assigned as eBooks to read on any type of device. Teachers can also project
these books within whole-class and small-group instructional settings. Never
have so many books and other reading resources, in multiple formats, been so
readily accessible to teachers and their students – developmentally appropriate
books aligned with students’ interest.
Technology-enhanced
text resources can have many embedded tools to support and guide the reader.
For example, an audio track for listening to the entire text with words and
phrases highlighted so the student can follow along can be especially helpful
to struggling readers and English language learners. In addition, words that
are unknown and difficult to pronounce can be selected for a pronunciation and
a definition. EBooks can also have recording features for students to record
their reading of text and then play it back to self-monitor fluency. They can
also send a recorded reading to their teacher who can then listen and monitor
student progress.
Student engagement
and interactivity with text can be facilitated by highlighting and other
mark-up tools, notetaking and journaling features, as well as embedded prompts
for students to respond to as they read. These tools and features can enhance
comprehension and free up the teacher to interact more personally with students
who need extra help.
Enjoy,
Ms. Nora Sierra
EC Assistant
Principal
