I think instructional technology is using online resources in students’ daily learning activities to spark interest and for retention. It might be teaching students how to navigate and use Microsoft Office programs. For example, students learning how to use Power Point to create presentations of a specific content area. But I also think that instructional technology is when college students learn the ways that they can become an effective teacher with technology. For example, we learn how to use different activating strategies for our lessons that involve technology. Or we learn about technology such as websites that have math games; these different types of technology will provide an extra learning opportunity for students. College students who are future educators can also learn about technology that assists students with disabilities.
Technology integration is very important for the success of an educator’s students. Students who have learning disabilities depend on the creativity of their teacher to integrate learning aids without drawing attention to the student’s disability. There is a trust that builds in the teacher-student relationship that allows a learning climate to be created in the classroom. This trust entails the students knowing that their teacher is going to successfully guide them towards higher academic achievement.
I believe that the second perspective- educational technology as instructional systems and instructional design- best fits my individual view on technology integration. The second perspective describes a classroom where the teacher and his/her technology work together. It states, “… the belief that both human (teachers) and non-human (media) resources could be part of an efficient system for addressing any instructional need.” Media should be used as a tool and not a crutch for instruction. Technology and a student’s education needs to be portrayed as an opportunity to find one’s uniqueness during the exploration of learning. The best way to accomplish this is to partner with technology.
The era in the Digital Technologies in Education timeline that helped shape my view is the mobile technologies era. This is the era that I started academic career and the rapid development of technology played a major role in my development. Since technology was advancing every year it meant that the education world was trying to play catch-up. Me and my peers were within this moving front and we benefited from it. I remember using COWS-computers on wheels- during research projects and realizing how it was easier (and faster) to search online for information for book reports. But me and my classmates still had the capability to search through an encyclopedia. We were not limited to the access the internet gave us but it just empowered our need to further our learning.
Content and pedagogical knowledge and Technology are two standards in the D.I.R.E.C.T. model that reflect my view on instructional technology in education. Teachers must be confident about the content they are teaching because they want to students to have the same confidence. Having creative activating strategies will catch the interest of many students, for content that can seem difficult. Technology will play a major role in those activating strategies because there are multiple intelligences that can be addressed in various ways. But technology cannot be limited by handheld tablets, computers, or smartphones; it can also be graduated cylinders, new science equipment or new math materials. Technology can be any academic tool that promotes learning.
As a college student, I can form this opinion with full ignorance but once I become a teacher I may need to adjust my personal view based off my students’ needs. I am excited to learn all of the possible flaws my planning may show because it will allow my creative side to come forth with new ideas.