Technology+in+the+Classroom

Teaching with Technology. The 21st Century learners see technology as part of their lives. We need to understand that they learn and interact with knowledge in a different way. They edit, change, and adapt knowledge to fit their needs. Teachers need to change and adapt to this new way of learning, which requires a new way of teaching. With the introduction of Web 2.0 technologies teachers have new tools at their hands, new tools that will help them adapt and meet the needs of the 21st Century learner. Old and new learning theories are been applied to teaching models to help us reach these new learners. From Vigostky to Simmens, educators are changing the way the plan and deliver lessons, they are changing the way the let students interact. Teachers have new challenges that they need to meet, from learning new applications like wikis or blogs, to teaching online courses; education is becoming dependent on technology. Technology is driving educational changes, teachers need to step up to the plate and take on the challenge to deliver 21st Century education.

The Role of Technology in Education. Technology has become the backbone of many different industries. But, education has failed to find a role for technology, at least the way the 21st Century learners expected. We use technology in our schools, but we are not taking advantage of it as we should. We know that, as stated in the article __The Impact of Education Technology on Student Achievement,__ that students can learn a lot more in less time when they use computer-based instruction. This is a reality that we need to expand in education. Not only that computers help improve student achievement; they also can play a great role in improving student selfsteem. We, teachers, do use technology, but I feel that we are behind on what the students expect. For instance, we do use computers for planning, finding resources, and collaborating with other colleagues. Even though, this covers one of the STaR Chart domains, we are still missing the most important way to use technology in education. When we deliver lessons using technology, and let the students explore and master objectives using technology, we are using technology to its fullest potential, only then; we will see students improve their academic performance. The 21st Century learners are a diverse mix of learning styles, and their expectations of education can be as diverse as well. So, what can educators do to face this challenge? The answer is increase the use of technology. However, the single use of technology does not always help all the learners; we need to redesign our curricula and instructional practices. By now, all educators should be familiar with UDL (universal Design for Learning), UDL provides a framework to design and use technology to maximize student achievement, the website [|www.cast.org] provides more information. The role of the teacher in the classroom has to change, teacher do not hold all the knowledge, teachers have become facilitators, learning guides; we provide learning opportunities for students to construct their knowledge, to progress academically. It is time for educators to accept the role of technology in our schools; we need to promote the idea that education can drive technology changes, instead of just letting technology drive changes in education. I think UDL is the best place to satrt the educational technology revolution.

The new teachers. Technology brings a lot of new possibilities to education. I feel that we can accomplish so many more things in the classroom when we use technology. But one thing has remained the same, and that is that we guide our planning using the basic questions that we should always keep in mind. The first and most important thing is to ask: what are the students going to learn? How will technology help them accomplish that goal? How will the students demonstrate what they have learned? These Guiding questions are the key to integrating technology in our classrooms. We need to make education guide the changes in technology; our educational needs should guide technology changes and improvements. Teachers need to be trained on how technology can help them reach multiple intelligences, and varied learner’s needs. The 21st Century teacher needs to adapt technology to their plans. Technology has to be used with a purpose in the classroom; teachers need to realize that technology can provide tools for planning, delivering, and assessing objectives. Where and when technology is used will depend on the learners, resources, and teachers. What is important is that teachers learn about the resources they have and how those resources can be implemented in any part of their plans. Staff training is a key component of preparing the 21st Century teachers. School district need to provide learner-centered staff development to address the needs of the new trends in education. Technology ready teachers are the ones that will lead education in the years to come.

Lesson Plans with UDL Lesson Builder.

Planning lessons that target the three learning networks can be a challenging task. It is important that we follow UDL framework of providing different resources and opportunitites to explore and assess students. The biggest challenmge could be finding resources, not for lack of them, but for the many choices that could be available. Teacherts also need to create some of the materials, when they do they need to followo fair use guide lines if they are using pictures, graphics, or any multimedia elements in their created materials. While creating the lesson in UDL Lesson Builder I kept in mind what the objectives were, what the students were to learn and how can I assess their learning while giving the flexibility to express their ideas. I have already used similar lesson, but I got a greater insight to assessment, I think that it is very important that we provide choices for students to express what they have learned. This design I created provides several ways to assess the objectives that were taught. Implementing the choices for assessments can be a bit difficult, the teacher will need to make sure there are enogh computers available and that students have time to complete, but the only way to make it work is by trying.

Using UDL BookBuilder.

UDL is the way of the future in education. I am really amazed at the framework tha [|www.cast.org] provides, but what is even better it the free tools the have for educators to create UDL content for their lesson. I just finished using BookBuilder, a free book creator app. Itr allows users to create books from scratch, the author or creator can set font size, add audio clips for visual impared students. The book also can contain pictures, maps, and any other (static)elements the creator wants to add (.gif or .jpeg files). There are two features that I really like, one is the possibility to use academic coaches that guide the reader, the creator types in what the coache say. And the other one is the chance to add comprehension questions add the end of each page, then the student can print the answers. It is a great tool for UDL lessons and instruction.

Technology and assessments. School reforms is underway, new technologies are changing the way we deliver instructions. We have learned about a new kind of learner, the 21st century learners. We are implementing new frameworks, UDL for instance, new ideas, and new studies. But, we have not changed the way we are assessing our students, standarized test are the norm for measuring student academic growth, multiple choice test evaluate the education system to see if the school are providing appropriate education. I think that times are changing, and we need to star looking at new way to assess our students, formally and informally, technology provides several tools that we can use to monitor student progress while given opportunities for assessing student in their particular learning styles. With technology we can deliver instruction to many different learning styles, so, we need to provide assignmnet and assessments that take into considerations the individual learning differences. Technology allows for a two way interactive assessments, we also see that technology provides: 1-Collaboration 2-Structure 3-Communication Instructions has toi be backwards designed, think about the possible ways to assess your students, and based your instruction and resources in your assessment model.

New Tools, New Schools, and New Assessments.

Technology has brought new ideas that are leading school reform. The new schools should be places where technology and learning merge to prepare students for the lives they will live in this technology driven world. As we embrace school reform, we have to keep in mind all the changes that are required for education to meet the needs of the 21st Century Learners. We have to change how we deliver instruction, we have to replan curriculum, we have to change how we interact with students, and most important of all, we have to rethink how we assess learning. It seems that technological changes are happening to fast, and we are not adapting all of the components we used in education accordingly. Educators need to collaborate now more that ever to accomplish all the challenges we are facing today.

With new technologies we have gained new ways to assess, and provide feedback to our students. We have been very diligent about integrating technology to deliver our lessons, but have we used technology to collaborate, and assess our students? I think that we have a lot of room for improving in these areas. Students demand instant feedback, they want to take ownership of their learning process, we can accomplish all this by preparing our techers with staff development that meet these needs, we also have to get teachers to collaborate through wikis, blogs, and online training. We need to look at applications like SecondLife, Sims, and other virtual reality apps, we have to think out of the box for assessing learners. The first step to take is toi implement and try these new tools. Our education system depend on us, are we ready for the challenge?