In my opinion, good use of technology would encourage and motivate students to explore questions that they may have and use technology to enhance their understanding of those questions and answers. A good use of technology would also allow for collaboration with other learners and personalize learning; it would provide a means of differentiated instruction for students. For example, if Student A was ahead in math and Student B was having difficulties, the use of technology could help Student B to understand those math complexities that were not being understood before. There are many fantastic math apps and games that allow learners to go at their own pace and really breaks down the math problem into parts allowing learners to have a more thorough understanding.
This learning experience would give confidence to those students who may be lacking it and the learning environment would be a very comfortable one where students can ask questions without feeling like they are being judged by other students and in some cases, the teacher. When I was in college, I took a math course where we used a program called ALEKS (Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces); this was a web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system that used adaptive questions to determine what a student knows and what they do not know. ALEKS then instructs the student on the topics he/she is ready to learn. This type of program really helped me to take the time to understand the question and the best part was that I could go at my own pace. I was confident and really enjoyed math (for the first time!) and that is how the learning environment would look and feel like in the above situation.
This is a good use of digital technology because it is putting the learner first. I do not think this is a vision as many teachers have already started to implement different kinds of digital technologies into their classrooms to enhance student learning. However, with that being said, one of the challenges that I can see is the hesitation of some of the older generation of teachers. I have come across this in my own school. There seems to be a fear of using technology for some teachers because they do not understand how to use it; there needs to be training involved if we want to see everyone get on the same page and really use technology for all of its uses.
Hi Sabrina,
Thank you for sharing about ALEKS (Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces). I have not heard or used this program yet and will definitely look into it! I agree that effective use of technology requires personalized learning and time for collaboration so students can learn and grow with one another. I have also come across many teachers hesitant to use and integrate technology as they feel that don’t have adequate training and professional development opportunities. I think there should be more opportunities for teachers to explore so they feel comfortable to use technology and not feel pressured into using it.
Hi Sabrina,
Thanks for sharing ALEKS as a resource! I’m impressed with all of the information on their site, and your testimonial certainly gives me confidence to do some more digging.
I noticed that it has resources from 3-12 for the assessments, but I’m not sure if they have anything available for the younger years… considering that students can develop misconceptions and should be able to “ask questions without feeling like they are being judged by other students and in some cases, the teacher”, I’m would be curious to look at what this program would look like for K-2. It’s of particular interest, because those years are a critical time for developing the base for their number sense, and clarifying misconceptions is imperative.
Thanks again!
Hi Sabrina,
Thank you for your thoughtful post. I wholeheartedly agree with your thoughts and approach to using technology in the classroom. It should be student-centered and used to create learning that otherwise might not be accessible. In addition to personalizing learning and motivating students.
Like you, I have experience working with teachers who were resistant to incorporating tech into their classroom for different reasons. Some didn’t see the need, others, because they didn’t think they were tech savvy enough, and some didn’t think the way that they were teaching was ‘broken’ so, didn’t see a need for a change. To overcome this hurdle administration recognized this fixed-mindset and instead of offering teaching training that thought how to integrate the technology itself, we started by training teachers on having a growth-mindset across the school for all parts of teaching and learning. Once we established a growth-mindset and embedded it in our school culture, we then worked with those teachers who were resistant to tech. In most cases it was successful.
Thanks again!
Sarah