Relative Advantage of Using Technology to Enhance Content Area Learning

There is a major difference between integrating technology into the classroom and actually using technology to enhance what is being taught and learned in the classroom. By integrating technology into the classroom, a teacher can hit the part of the COMPASS rubric that measures student engagement in learning. Using technology to enhance student learning can lead to higher evaluations because the technology is hitting different aspects of the rubric at the same time. In my view of technology, integrating technology may look like a teacher sticking in pieces of technology where they happen to fit into the curriculum. Enhancing the curriculum by using technology may start with the technology and building the lessons around that piece of technology and the standards being addressed. 

If an activity about writing a biography centers are the completion of a Storybird, students will use all sources of technology to create their final project. An example of that can be seen in my Language Arts Learning Activity. I designed my activity to start with a model Storybird that explains the main components of building their own biographical Storybird about their influential person. The students have to use technology to gather their information from credible sources and incorporate images into their work. They can be assessed on their ability to use information gathered from a text (online encyclopedia), integration of images into their biography, proper features of a biography, and their final product.

The relative advantage of using technologies like the example above is that students learn 21st Century technological implementation skills needed for their future education and in the workforce. Sara Bernard, from Edutopia states, "If every class could use some type of blog or Web page, students could post their questions and the teacher would be able to respond for the whole class to see. This means the teacher wouldn't have to answer the same question multiple times, and students would understand homework better." Now this quote seems like an advantage purely for the students, but the students will gain understanding of blogging, asking deeper questions, and using the thoughts of other students to gain a better understanding of their own thinking. Having the students create a blog alone is an advantage when considering the trends of blogging and vlogging on the internet. 

Right now, for my Graduate degree, I am writing a blog. This is a blog. I never learned how to blog when I was in Elementary School, but am now being required to write this blog. How could introducing this type of technology in Elementary School not be an advantage? Students using how to positively use social networking and other forms of online resources will lead them to success.


References:

Bernard, S. (2009, May 27). How to Teach with Technology: Language Arts. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-language-arts-lessons