Teaching with Interactive Technology Tools:
Shayla Criss
Embedded Files
Watch this video for a quick overview of the lesson:
Song credits: Aris Spryropoulos. Spring (Instrumental) [Song]
In education, there are many innovative and exciting methods of teaching that are emerging to help improve the learning and success of students. Of the many advancements and methods, interactive technology has become a major part of the classroom and student learning. In this lesson, not only will readers learn about interactive technology and its purpose in the classroom, but they will also get insight from a current teacher about the impact that interactive technology has made on their students.
What is Interactive Technology?
Interactive technology is the collaboration between multiple people who interact to create, present, and manage various materials and tools. This type of technology is often used in classroom settings, which allows students to work together to learn and explore digitally. Interactive technology has helped to transform the way that students learn inside and outside of the classroom and how teachers teach and support students.
In an article published by authors Bond and Bedenlier, they discussed the use of interactive technology and how it helps to promote student motivation and have "greater potential to engage students" (Bond and Bedenlier, 2019). In a blog post from MDR Education that talks about the use of interactive technology in the classroom, the author, Paul Bartrum, discussed how the implementation of technology can greatly impact students' learning and engagement. Bartrum described the use of technology as a way for teachers to be creative and "think outside the box", and for students to "take ownership of their learning" (Bartrum, 2018). Interactive technology also benefits students in other ways that can help them more responsibility and control of their learning and education. According to an article published by author Nadejda Alkhaldi, interactive technology allows education to be "student-led", which will help students to have self-awareness and learn to identify their strengths and weaknesses (Alkhaldi, 2020).
Get to Know the Interviewee:
The interviewee for this topic is Natalie Criss, my mother who is a Pre-K teacher, has been teaching her students online during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has recently returned to the classroom. Mrs. Criss had been a teacher for 20 years and has had many experiences with incorporating interactive technology in her classroom to support student learning. From learning about her thoughts and experiences with these tools, they will be helpful in understanding the pros and cons of using interactive technology. With the transitions that she has had to make in the classroom due to the pandemic, her experiences will be very relevant to this topic.
Interview Takeaway #1
Interactive technology is a useful and supportive tool for classroom instruction.
In my interview with Mrs. Criss, I started the interview process by asking about her past experiences with using interactive technology in the classroom and how it has benefited her students. Mrs. Criss expressed that she "uses interactive technology everyday, and it became a great way for the students to be more engaged and active in their learning" (N. Criss, personal communication, February 17, 2021). When asked what specific technology tool does she utilize the most, she said that the interactive whiteboard is the most useful, because it's "great for teaching math, reading, and displaying big books on the screen" (N. Criss, personal communication, February 17, 2021). Besides the interactive whiteboard, there were other tools and websites that are often used in her classroom, such as Starfall and PebbleGo. To further get an insight into how these resources work, she said they "allow students to explore learning on their own" (N. Criss, personal communication, February 17, 2021), which is a great tool for student engagement.
Interview Takeaway #2
Experiences with technology and the various ways to create material has grown tremendously.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mrs. Criss has had to teach her students virtually and has had many opportunities to become more experienced in navigating this new responsibility. When asked about her current experiences with using technology in a virtual school setting, she expressed that she's "much more familiar and dependable on interactive technology for teaching" (N. Criss, personal communication, February 17, 2021). To further her point, she said: "learning how to use Zoom, set up meetings, and using different technology platforms was sometimes difficult because I've never experienced anything like it before" (N. Criss, personal communication, February 17, 2021). After working with Zoom and other platforms for the last few months, she's become more adapted, but it can still be difficult.
Interview Takeaway #3
Learning how to create virtual lessons has become a challenge.
With the many changes that teachers have had to make due to the pandemic, it has become more challenging to work from home and teach virtually. In her experience, Mrs. Criss found that the most difficult part is creating virtual lessons that can be virtually accessed by students, while also creating lessons physically that will be shown to students on Zoom. She expressed that "it's easier to create lessons and deliver them to students face-to-face in the classroom" (N. Criss, personal communications, February 17, 2021). Although the process of creating and formatting class material is challenging, she has found different ways to make the experience more manageable and easier for her.
Conclusion:
From conducting research and gathering information from my interview, there was great insight into the use of interactive technology in the classroom. The information found from prior research gave great examples and points about the benefits of technology in educational settings and how these tools can influence a student's learning, motivation, and engagement. After my interview with Mrs. Criss, I believe I learned a lot about the uses of technology in the classroom and how its uses have changed due to the pandemic. As future educators, the information collected will influence the use of technology in our own classrooms. We will be able to decide the advantages and disadvantages of its use and how we would incorporate these tools in the classroom.
Multiple Choice Questions:
1) From the following, which is not an advantage of using interactive technology in the classroom as a teacher?
a. Allows for flexibility in the classroom
b. Differentiating instruction for students
c. Become better at assessing students
d. Opportunity to be more creative
2) From the interview, what can future educators learn about using interactive technology in the classroom?
a. It allows for students to be engaged in their learning
b. Technology is easier to use
c. Students will be less interested in learning
d, Interactive technology is not useful
References
Alkhaldi, Nadejda (2020, September 19). Evolution of education: How interactive technologies reshaped learning. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/evolution-of-education-how-interactive-technologies-reshaped-learning
Bartrum, P. (2018, May 22). The impact of interactive technology on the future of school education. MDR Education. https://mdreducation.com/2018/05/22/interactive-technology-education/
Bond, M. & Bedenlier, S. (2019). Facilitating student engagement through educational technology: Towards a conceptual framework. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2019(1). http://doi.org/10.5334/jime.528
Answers to Multiple Choice Questions:
1) c.
2) a.
Page updated
Report abuse