Why integrating technology is a necessity!

Why Integrating Technology in the Classroom is a Necessity

By: Kristin Hassig

            I believe that integrating technology in the classroom is vital in today’s society.  We live in a society that uses technology in every facet of our lives, from communication, transportation to school and work.  Children today spend more time on electronic devices than ever before. The question is why wouldn’t you integrate technology into the classroom?  I believe technology should be integrated into our classrooms because it gives every type of learner a fair opportunity to learn.  Technology today allows deaf people to hear, blind people to read and students with disabilities the ability to connect with the information in a different way.  I have seen firsthand how open minded students are to using Chromebooks, Smart Boards i-Pads in their classrooms.  It opens a whole new world of knowledge and information for them, and helps solidify the information already learned during the face to face time with the teacher.  Integrating technology in lessons is necessary because it allows children to really use their creativity and show themselves as individuals.  When students have the ability to create something whether it be a research paper or an in-depth WebQuest, students have endless possibilities on how to create and develop these projects.  Technology is the way of the world now, and it is our duty as educators to prepare our students for the real world. We must build a foundation for using technology so when they get their jobs after they graduate they will be ready for the workforce that awaits them. 

                I recently did an observation in a classroom on technology integration and I was impressed on how comfortable and confident the students were when using the Chromebooks as part of their grammar lesson.  When I walked into the classroom the first thing I saw was the students sitting at their tables which they shared with three other people, retrieving their Chromebooks and setting up for the lesson. Mrs. D had the students go to the Brain Pop Jr website for a lesson on Adjectives. She began the lesson by calling on students to give examples of what an adjective is, then they had to watch a two minute clip on adjectives and how they are used. I started listening to two boys who watched the clip and were playing adjectives games.  They were talking about “how cool it was to do their lessons on the computer, “and how they “didn’t feel as though they were learning because the games were so fun”.  They used Brain Pop Jr. for a total of thirty minutes and her students were excited, engaged and discussing adjectives the entire time. It was interesting to witness so many students on task and engaged because the Brain Pop Jr. website was teaching them in a manner in which the teacher could not.  It was a moment of realization for me that technology can be integrated into lessons as long as it is used properly. 

                As great as integrating technology in the classroom is, there are some barriers when using technology in the classroom. One of the barriers include the fact that not every school has the money to provide enough technology to every student in every class.  The fact of the matter is technology is not cheap, and it is hard for schools to justify certain types of technology when the money could be spent elsewhere.  However, just because every student doesn’t have access to their own individual computer doesn’t mean they can’t use them at all. Students can share, and work in small groups, to build collaboration among the students.  Taking turns and borrowing from other classrooms is always an option.  

                I believe that integrating technology into the classroom is a necessity in the twenty-first century.  Being computer proficient is a normal part of life, and it is unacceptable to send children in the real world without firsthand experience with technology.   Using technology in the classroom not only helps keep the students engaged in the learning materials, it opens up a whole new way to learn that teachers just can’t provide.  As a future educator I can make say that I will make sure I design my lessons to include technology into my lessons.