Tech+Integration

Technology Integration is essential for today's learning environments. As we've learned through these various youtube.com videos, powerpoint and online articles the use of technology is a MUST. I remember my first experience in a with a computer in 1985 as they brought in Mac computers (pictured to the right) in my Kindergarten class to help us learn hot to spell such words as "Cat" through various interactive games. Now days technology and learning have been brought to a whole new level as they have multiple websites and games that teachers can use to incorporate interactive learning into the class room & we as teachers would be hugely remiss to not use such tools.

If anything the type of environment and culture that we teach dictates that we must use technology, was it a plus to have mac computers in 1985, yes, but now days it's not just a plus, it's an essential. As the "Social Media" clip and the "Did You Know" clip showed us kids are growing up in a world when technology is part of their everyday life. 217,541 texts (which by the way translates to 7,017 texts a day or 292 texts per hour or 4 text per second) sent by a kid in California I believe is just the beginning. We have kids nowadays who prefer their online social life compared to their real ones and even I would have to admit that there are times where I would prefer to check of my real life and just comment on my friends Facebook statuses. Many of my friends (myself included) wake up and then go to bed with Facebook, as if to say, "Goodnight Facebook, see you in the morning." Which just proves my point technology is now infused into our culture. My don't know what we'd do without our internet, our computers or our smartphones. Even the show South Park noted this when it made fun of the idea by doing a whole show devoted to the internet in which one person screamed "HELP! There's no internet to find out why there's no internet" If adults feel this way I guarantee kids do.

So as educators how do we incorporate this, we use clips from youtube, we use social media (if we can) to teach lessons. We use laptops and smartboards and smartphones. In short we use the media that our kids are already using to reach and educate those same kids. While it may be hard for some of them to pick up a pencil and write what they think, it's not difficult for them to log on and type what is "on their minds..." to steal a Facebook term.

I also believe we must fund our schools better to have technology available to students at all times, we can't have nothing available for students and then expect them to do wel in the 'real world' where real technology exist and where they will have to use it to be successful -- whether they have learned it or not.