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SHORTWOOD TEACHERS' COLLEGE

77 Shortwood Road, Kingston 8

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE ARTS

BACHELOR OF EDUCATION

Technology in Education

COURSE ASSIGNMENT
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Lecturer:

Mrs. R. Smith

Students:

Khadine Robinson [SW1487/13]

Cassandra Petgrave-Williams [SW1888/02]

Date:

December 2014

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2
Our Philosophy on using technology in education

Technology has begun to touch the lives of people worldwide in one way or the other.
Children who are born in this era are considered digital natives, thus they are interested in
lessons that are technologically based. Therefore, it is our philosophy that technology be
integrated in the curriculum. Technology integration is the use of modern devices or
programmes to make life easier. Technology integration will reap numerous benefits in the
classroom. These include: a deepened and enhanced learning process, technology-enabled
project learning and availability of resources.
Technology integration for us means an enhanced and deepened learning process.
Because of technology, the roles of the teacher have been lessoned and students have become
more engaged in the learning process. According to the Behaviourists principles, a teachers role
is to motivate and facilitate learning. Teachers provide stimulus and reinforcements for learning.
Similarly, we believe that when teachers integrate technology in the classroom, it fosters active
engagement and participation in learning. No longer are teachers restricted to dictating notes,
they can simply provide students with online resources that they can watch, listen to or read from
in order to construct their own meanings. Technology appeals to a diverse classroom, thus
maintaining a balance in Howard Gardeners Multiple Intelligence classroom. Students can
interact with students from different schools and countries. We believe that it is important for
technology to be coupled with education as it allows for cultural integration; it fosters creativity
and interest and creates more rounded students.
We also believe that technology should be one of the major modes of instruction since
our students are digital natives. When given assignments the first source students access is the
internet. This medium provides them with a wealth of information that they can analyse and

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synthesise in order to produce their own work. Because they are bombarded with information,
they will be forced to develop information literacy. Researching on the internet helps students to
develop problem-solving skills. They will realise that the need will arise for them to sort through
information to determine the relevance and usability. For those who are lackadaisical in
developing such skills the teacher will have to guide them as to the proper use of information or
many will be in breach of plagiarism laws which is unethical.
Additionally, we believe that technology also makes the role of a teacher a little less
burdensome in that it is not difficult to find up-to-date information. The internet has a wide array
of information that can be had at the click of a button. Due to technology information can be
accessed anywhere once there is the availability of internet. With devices such as cellular phones
and palm tops, information can be transported everywhere and students will have access to
reliable information anywhere. Technology-integration also revolutionises the teaching learning
process. It changes the way teachers teach and offer various ways for students to engage in the
learning process, thus teachers can reach more students in the multiple intelligence classrooms.
The teachers roles are redefined into coach, adviser and content expert. No longer will students
In concluding, technology has become a major part of modern man. Most of our activities
rely on technology. Our students were born in a technological era where technology, whether in
the form of their musical gadgets, games or cellular phones are like umbilical cord. When
teachers use technology in the classroom they are directly piquing the interest of their students.
In addition, the use of technology will reduce the monotony of classroom instructions making
learning more exciting and transforming a teacher-centered classroom into one of independent
learning. Also, Technology will facilitate differentiated learning instructions in a diverse
classroom and will motivate exceptional and at-risk students.

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Reference
Culatta, R. 2015. Innovative Thinking: Behaviorist Learning Theory. Retrieve from
http://www.innovativelearning.com/teaching/behaviorism.html
Gardner, H. 1995. Reflections on multiple intelligences: Myths and messages. Phi Delta Kappan,
200-209.

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Reflection
As we reflect on this course, we can truly say that the course, Educational Technology, is
not only an instrumental necessity for all teachers and prospective teachers, but it has also proven
to be an insightful, an interesting and an innovative way of reaching the needs of all learners in
the 21st century classrooms.
We can unreservedly say that we have become more technologically savvy through our
interactions with the varied technological tools. Though we were able to manipulate the
computer, among other technological gadgets, there are many things that we have learnt, that we
did not know about before. Our new knowledge has opened windows to many opportunities and
have therefore facilitated personal growth. Likewise, we are now motivated to use these tools in
our classes. In fact, we have already began using various tools with our students and we are
positive that this integration will lead to their growth as well. As supported by Bain (2007), we
now agree that computer assisted teaching and learning can act as a positive reinforcement
strategy; it may even be an outside stimuli in accordance to Pavlovs theory. We have realized
that students are particularly fond of using podcasts, and interacting with the class through wiki.
Roblyer (2006) supports this finding as he reiterates that computer assisted teaching and learning
provide consistent, reliable stimuli and reinforcement since it attracts students attention and
provides repetitive application and practice on an individual basis
We firmly agree that all the tools that were explored and designated to use were highly
appropriate and we laud our lectures for selecting these tools to be used for the course. On this
note, we concur that all the tools have their own merit and value. However, we are particularly
selective of some tools since we believe that these tools will be more appealing and beneficial to
students. The podcast, Microsoft movie maker, webquest and the interactive PowerPoint are

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among our favourites. Prior to doing this course, we were accustomed to creating PowerPoint
presentations that were drab and boring. We can also confess to just coping and pasting a wealth
of information on one slide; too much to the point that students were demotivated to read and
participate in the class because all they had to do was just sit and listen to the presenters read and
briefly expound on what was read. However, after doing this course, we have realized that the
interactive PowerPoint presentation lends itself to higher levels of achievement (both
academically and aesthetically) in the classroom. As a result, our students are now able to learn
the required content, while having fun playing the selected games and interacting with the
PowerPoint. Many hands have gone up in our classes as everyone becomes motivated to
participate in an interactive classroom, as facilitated by the interactive PowerPoint. We are also
proud to admit that we are now able to make our own websites and we can honestly say that we
will integrate this tools in our own teaching and learning experiences wherever we go in life.
Unfortunately, while we would like to take advantage of technology integration in all our classes,
many of our students do not have access to the internet. Consequently, we have not yet been able
to introduce everyone to any of the web- based tools, but we do intend to find ways to meet their
needs while incorporating them in our classes.
We can also admit that as educators, the exposure to the ISTE standard for teachers and
students has opened our eyes to technology. Many teachers, including ourselves, have attested to
the fact that they believe that technology integration is just an addition in the classrooms and that
it is not a necessity to teach and to learn. However, now that we have been made aware of the
way that it should actually be utilized and have seen the benefits for ourselves, we have learnt
that it can be used in various ways that can enhance the learning experiences for our students. We
also now understand the true meaning of technology integrating in education and most

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importantly, we now know how to do this efficiently and effectively. We will make concerted
efforts to share our new knowledge and expertise with our colleagues. We both agree that the
tools that we were exposed to were most appropriate, therefore we would not suggest any
changes at all to the content of the course.
Though this course was rewarding, some aspects were very challenging. Honestly, it was
difficult for us as part time students and full time teachers to complete the assigned tasks in such
a short period of time as the tasks were too heavy. We were lost and confused quite often and our
weekends, free sessions and nights were spent double tasking. Also, I believe that this course
expects all students to have constant access to the internet. However, this was not so for
everyone. We relied on using the internet at school; but this was not very effective as the internet
was not very reliable. Nonetheless, we appreciate the assistance of lecturer and her intuition and
initiative in facilitating us as we tried to complete this assignment. She was also very motivating,
always providing feedback and giving commendations where they were due.
Conclusively, we highly endorse the proposition that all educators should be exposed to
the ISTE standard for teachers and students. As educators, it is integral to know that our students
are digital natives who thrive in a technological rich classroom. It is therefore our mandate to
ensure that all students learn; that we incorporate the way that hey learn with what they must
learn and that adherence to the ISTE standard is one way that ensures that as educators we learn
how to do this. On this notion, we applaud Educational Technology for helping us to realize the
numerous technological tools and just how rewarding their integration can be in the 21st century
classrooms.

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Reference
Bain, K. (2007). Supporting PossitiveBehaviour: 6 Poitive reinforcement. Alberta: Alberta
Education. http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/inspb1/html/6_positivereinforcement.html
Roblyer, M. (2004). Educational Technology in Action. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall

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E-profile links
Wiki: https://poetry-in-the-classroom.wikispaces.com/
Podcast: http://kendel-hyppolyte-snow.podomatic.com/entry/2015-12-16T11_44_01-08_00
Webquest: http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=306413