How to Integrate TechnologyFinding the right tools to implement in the classroom.
This guide is organized into six sections:
- Introduction
- Why Integrate Tech?
- What Is Tech Integration?
- How to Integrate Tech Tools
- Workshop Activities
- Resources for Tech Integration
Students often become engaged learners when technology is a seamless part of their curriculum. Technology integration changes classroom dynamics, encouraging project-based learning and constructivist thought.
Think about what you are doing in the classroom with your students: What projects are they working on? What resources are they using? What tools are being used? Is technology use transparent and varied?
If your answer is 'No,' then how does technology integration begin? It begins when teachers and students use technology because it is the right tool to use. It is students using the Internet to do research. It is students creating Web sites to teach others about earthquakes and disaster readiness. It is students creating multimedia presentations and presenting them to their classmates, parents, and community.
Handhelds Go to Class:
Teacher Josh Barron and one of his students often go through the strange-looking rite of "beaming" information to each other.
Technology integration begins when a teacher has her students illustrate a Kindergarten alphabet book using a paint program. The students publish their work. They print out their pages and create a class book that is sent home for parents to view. Technology integration is students making slideshows using their alphabet drawings. It is the students recording their voices and saying the letters of the alphabet and the names of objects they drew.
Technology integration happens when third grade students at Joe Nightingale Elementary School select a wild animal to write about and create a clay animation of that animal. Partnering up to do Internet research promotes collaboration among students. Older children can break into groups to animate scenes from a novel. Visit Clay Animation Made Easy for examples on how to get started, from having students prepare storyboards and scripts, to creating clay figures, and finally filming and editing their animation project.
Technology integration is fourth-grade students creating slideshow presentations about the latest books they have read. In their presentations they include hyperlinks to Internet sites reviewing the books. Technology integration is fifth-grade students making movies about the Oregon Trail and westward expansion. It is the Mars Millennium Project, a national science, arts, and technology initiative for thousands of kids in community groups and K-12 classrooms imagining a community on Mars in the year 2030. See one lesson plan that shows how technology facilitates that exploration. Technology integration is using digital cameras to make movies explaining scientific principles, such as the Flight of the Painted Ladies (subscription required).
Rural Washington Students Connect with the World:
Pupils in Kristi Rennebohm Franz's classes have used the Internet for a variety of international exchanges and collaborative projects.
Credit: Kristi Rennebohm Franz
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has established national technology standards for teachers. These standards have two competency skill areas: operational and integration. The standards encourage teachers to use technology for their professional and personal uses. The standards recommend that teachers access and exchange information using the Internet. Teachers who embrace technology and recognize its use can integrate it into their teaching practices. However, recognizing when and where technology fits into a lesson, project, or curriculum is really the first step. Too often, a teacher shies away from using technology because he/she doesn't know how to use certain applications or devices. When this is the case, turn to the 'expert': the student. In "Turning the Tables -- Students Teach Teachers," elementary, middle, and high school students help veteran and prospective teachers integrate technology into their lessons to enhance student learning. Technology allows for the student/teacher roles to be interchangeable. Students love to teach teachers how to use technology!
Comments (26)
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Applying tech methods early
Applying tech methods early will help the students in the long run. The only problem is not teaching the students proper skill building techniques.
I am lucky to have 4-5 pretty
I am lucky to have 4-5 pretty reliable computers in my classroom which allows me to integrate technology seamlessly. While I wish that I had access to mobile labs I certainly have more working machines than some teachers in my building. We have a computer lab which I think flies in the face of technology integration. The fact that teachers need to move their students to a room to use computers breaks down integration. My hope is that all the buildings in my district can move to mobile labs versus a "computer lab."
Integration and time
I did a technology project with my 1-2 class similar to the one described here for K. We wrote stories, illustrated them, scanned the pictures in, and then voiced over using Photostory. A link was created on our class website so that parents could all view it. It was a GREAT success, but...
it took an entire semester to do it and the help of 2 parents working with students individually on computers. I was the only teacher even able to consider such a project because I had a very tech savvy parent to help (she even trained the other parent who helped). Our school does not have a tech person/integration specialist this was the only avenue available to me. I was lucky.
Keyboarding
I feel that having students learn keyboarding before "integrating" technology is akin to the old philosophy that children should not use books before they can read words. I also agree that in the next few years, keyboards will probably be obsolete...
That scenario sounds all too
That scenario sounds all too familiar to me, Kathy! I always have a backup lesson, too, but it has to be a really good one because the kids are so disappointed when technology fails them.
I completely agree that
I completely agree that technology integration is essential in our digital world. It can be difficult to implement aspects of technology in our curriculum in a "seamless" way though. It can be so frustrating when you have a group of seven year olds anxiously awaiting a powerpoint presentation to begin but the system is down or the connection speed is slow that day. Even if you have the skills and training necessary for your tech lesson, something else might happen that is beyond your control (or the control of the integration specialist). I always have a back up plan because the last thing I want is to waste critical teaching time. Technology is wonderful but not always reliable.
1-2 Teacher
Integrating technology in the
Integrating technology in the classroom is a real challenge. Acquiring the appropriate hardware for the entire class and then having the time to develop the skills I need to use the technology properly.
"Seamless"
I like the word "seamless" that is used in the first sentence. The hurdle for me is preparing the lessons so that technology is used seamlessly - that technology as a tool is used effectively.
Technology in Curriculum and Daily Instruction
I teach social studies in a rural high school and struggle with the challenges of student access and acceptance of new technologies. Technology integration is a goal of our administrators, but many teachers struggle because of lack of knowledge and adherence to old curricula. Teachers tend to start to incorporate technology that they feel comfortable with in the classroom, but we ask students to push themselves beyond their comfort level and we need to be willing to do the same. As technology continues to expand and advance we will be doing a disservice to our students if we do not take a holistic look at the curriculum we teach and determine its relevance to the futures of our students. Technology needs to be a part of daily instruction and infused in the curriculum in meaningful and purposeful approach, not just an additive. This is an overwhelming task given everything that is already asked of public schools, but technology is not one more thing, it is how students learn, connect, and apply their understandings.
Integrating Technology for History Class
I currently integrate a bit of technology into my high school psychology class, but there are limited resources and many are geared to college students. This coming school year I am teaching a western civilization course and I have already found a number of web-sites with interactive activities for my students to use. I try to integrate technology as much as possible, but struggle with having limited access to computers for all students at school. I would love to have a lap top for every student- how great would that be?