Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education and Society

Hello everyone,

This is my very first time posting a blog on my website, so please be patient with me. This is very exciting yet very intimidating for me as well. To be honest, blogging was something that I thought I would never participate in. While I enjoy reading some informative blogs, I have never had the urge to create my own. I must admit that I began this blog for an assignment given to me through graduate school at Walden University. In keepings things slightly simple for me, in efforts to ease any first day anxieties with blogging on my own site, I would like to share with you my thoughts on the impact of technology in our classrooms today. Please feel free to respond in agreement or disagreement with my idea of what has been one of the most innovative technological impacts in our classrooms today.

Technology's Impact in our Classrooms Today

I believe the use of the interactive SMART Board enables teachers and students to do something extremely valuable and different for learning. I have been fortunate enough to have a SMART Board in my classroom for the past two years and it has truly redefined my approach to teaching. The visual and interactive capabilities that the SMART Board provides are immeasurable and the engagement it extracts from students are priceless. I don’t think I could have ever received as much attention and engagement from my students as I have now without this huge, interactive white board being present in my room. As the fourth grade teacher, Kristy Zeller said, “technology provides many resources, holds students’ attention, and keeps them from misbehaving”. I have found this to be especially true with the SMART Board and I have valued its impact on the students ever since I received one. As Thornburg (2004) stated, “there was a time when computers in the classroom were rare and largely underpowered”. Now technology, especially the SMART Board, has a command of its own that seems to demand our attention on a daily basis within today’s classrooms.

The interactive board has truly redefined our expectations for learning and teaching. I have found that it has helped assist me in effectively communicating with my English language learners by providing them with an engaging, visual and auditory ways to enhance their learning and understanding of various content areas. As Thornburg (2004) says, technology “allows us to explore rich domains of study to levels of depth that was unimaginable a decade ago”. I’m not sure I could have said it any better. The SMART Board has helped to make learning more meaningful for both my struggling students as well as my above average students. It has become a “power tool for education” (Thornburg, 2004) and as Zeller said, “I wouldn’t go back”!
References

Associated Press. (2008, May 9). Technology rich classrooms render textbooks useless. Teacher Magazine.

Thornburg, D. (2004). Technology and education: Expectations, not options. (Executive Briefing No. 401). Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf