Creating a Technology Infused Learning Environment

Today we use technology for just about everything for finding the perfect recipe for creating that new dish for dinner or like I do every year to find a new cake idea to create for my children’s birthday.  I can spend hours sometimes without notice searching the Internet for recipes. If I run into problems I search blogs, videos or even chat rooms for ideas.  Technology is completely embedded in our lives and the world around us.  We now use technology as a life line system to personalize learning in education.  In today’s classrooms I use technology to teach and provide my students with the best current tech-infused resources to support my curriculum.

A technology infused classroom will create avenues of learning that engages students to actively participate in their own learning.  Student will have the ability to work independently at a pace that is supportive to their way of learning.  They have the ability to collaborate with peers to become engaged and interact with the content enriched by technology.  No longer are the days where students want to learn through teacher-directed instruction. Technology affords student to play an active role in their learning.  A technology infused classroom encourages student-centered learning.  The students guide the direction of instruction through their need for growth and change.  Today the teacher is no longer the focal point in the classroom. The mindset of how we teach is changing, therefore this changes the role of the instructor and instruction. 

“For these students, simply watching videos or images during class, playing an Internet multiplication game, or even taking turns at an interactive whiteboard is no longer enough” (Blair, 2012).  My instructional framework must provide ways to feed growth in my students utilizing techniques that foster higher-level thinking.  A technology infused classroom will be diverse with students using Web 2.0 tools to showcase creative ways to support their learning.  Students should have customized options when completing an assessment such as using a blog to journal a reflection or using a real-time student response applications to complete a quiz.  The possibilities are endless with technology. My students should have endless access to an array of technological tools that demand-problem-solving, decision-making, teamwork and innovation (Blair, 2012).

As teachers we must realize that our students are digital natives as stated in the video above.  The use of technology is naturally embedded in their being.  They have grown in the age of using the Internet to feed their need for knowledge and providing them with an new outlook on the world than we've ever experienced. In the classroom we must expand their world that moves beyond the walls of the classroom and meet them where they are as innovative learners. 

Via Francis Anderson http://bit.ly/abdtWH

References:

Blackboard Inc. (2012).The voice of the active learner-Education from a digital native’s perspective. Retrieved April, 25, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ5Vy9BgSeY&index=2&list=PL44MJlNAJ7OMitmzk1QguW0Q9QDx2OvnQ 

Blair, N. (2012, February). National Association of Elementary School Principals: Serving all elementary and middle-level principals. Retrieved from, http://www.naesp.org/principal-januaryfebruary-2012-technology/technology-integration-new-21st-century-learner