'How can teachers use technology effectively in the classroom?

Areas of Learning and Experience Blog - Digital Competency

‘How can teachers use technology in the classroom effectively?’

Technology has had an everlasting influence on education and has had a massive impact on decisions which have been made towards designing a new curriculum.  Technology has provided teachers with endless education platforms as it has given them a new dynamic way to teach which allows them to fluctuate their teaching dynamic to fit the needs of every pupil. Although technology has provided education with a digital platform and helped educate children there is speculation regarding its positivity and how much it actually supports children in the classroom. Does technology stand more as a distraction rather than a digital learning platform for children? In a primary classroom it can be hard to monitor every child when using technology and there are many precautions teachers must take before providing children with technology. For example ensuring children are safe with the software which they are using (e-safety), ensuring that there are certain websites and tabs blocked so they can’t access anything that puts them at risk.

There are generally more positives to teachers using technology in the classroom than there is negative. The only negatives really include;

1. children can become more easily distracted
2. too much screen time for children
3. Can foster / encourage cheating
4. Lack of human connection / communication
5. Technology can promote inequality in the classroom

All the points provided are very solid points which are all common and have been done using technology. (Fedena, 2018)

For professors in universities and colleges providing technology in the classroom is easier as although the risks are there when providing this platform it’s a lot less compared to primary education.

One of the most common pros to allowing technology in the classroom is that it provides teachers the ‘opportunity to experiment with new pedagogy and provide active learning’ (Himmelback, V. 2019). Using technology in the classroom also has positive effect on all students as it’s a way for teachers to engage all students, even those who may lack the confidence to speak during class, it provides a new way to participate for students who are shy. Another pro may be that technology in the classroom provides more resources to pupils that another other resource available. Although, there are books and files available some may be outdated and that’s where technology can provide new information and resources. (Himmelback, V 2019).  Meanwhile (Cox, J) has her own ideas of pros and cons of using technology in the classroom and one pro being that by using technology teachers can ‘customise learning to enable it to meet the needs of all students’.

There are many ways in which teachers  can use technology in the classroom;

1. To communicate with parents
2. To keep records
3. To assess students
4. Providing new resources
5. Communicating with other teachers and schools
6. Communicate with other schools and teachers on an international scale etc.

Technology has many benefits outside of the classroom also which then benefits pupils in the classroom, teachers can use technology to communicate with parents through email and social media, they can gain weekly feedback and also use this to their advantage to ask parents about how the feel their children are progressing in school. They can also use apps which they can set work and extra activities for pupils to complete at home and they can then track their progression and analyze what they may be struggling with and need extra cover in class. Technology has brought further collaborative work in schools all over, for example it provides students to communicate with other international schools for projects.

Although technology is a modern dynamic in the education system with provides countless opportunities to students, we must remember that it’s there as a tool and not a replacement. Technology serves as a support resource rather than a replacement for teachers or the quality of teaching. The two most important resources that come with providing technology in the classroom is money and time as technology is expensive and requires a lot of maintenance.

Technology is something that will have a huge impact on students in the future, it’ll pretty much be involved in their everyday routines and many jobs in the modern day involves some form of technology so it is important for teachers to introduce and include technology in the classroom. ‘It is important to acknowledge that students are already interested and engaged in using technology, this creates many amazing opportunities for schools and teachers to benefit from integrating some forms of technology in the classroom’ (Webanywhere, 2019) They encourage the use of technology in the classroom and describes the use of technology as making ‘learning more effective’ (Webanywhere, 2019).

‘Technology in education is the biggest change in teaching we will ever see’ (Himmelback, V. 2019). There are many ways in which teachers can include technology in education and it can have many positive effects on students and there are many ways to do this. Technology will be one of the biggest changes to the education system and there are many ways in which teachers can promote this positively in the classroom and use technology to its full potential. According to (Education Based Teachers Network) ‘Technology can enhance our teaching and support our students’ learning, but it has to be used properly for it to be effective.’

References -

• Himmelback, V (2019) Top Hat Blog. ‘6 Pros and cons of education in the classroom 2019.’ Available at: https://tophat.com/blog/6-pros-cons-technology-classroom/ (Accessed 9/4/19)
• Cox, J (no date). TeachHub.com. ‘Pros, Cons of technology in the classroom’. Available at: https://www.teachhub.com/pros-cons-technology-classroom (Accessed 9/4/19)
• Webanywhere (2019). ‘Top 6 benefits of using technology in the classroom.’ Available at: https://www.webanywhere.co.uk/blog/2016/02/top-6-benefits-technology-classroom/ (Accessed 9/4/19)
• Fedena (2018) ‘Decoding the pros and cons of technology in the classroom’ Available at: https://fedena.com/blog/2018/06/technology-in-the-classroom-decoding-the-pros-and-cons.html (Accessed 10/4/19)
• Evidence based teachers network (no date) ‘Using technology effectively’. Available at: https://ebtn.org.uk/resources/using-technology-effectively/ (Accessed 10/4/19)

The Image displayed is from, Cox, J. Available at; https://www.teachhub.com/10-necessary-technology-classroom-skills