Technology in the Classroom

Technology has played an invaluable and unprecedented role in education during my student teaching thus far. For the majority of teachers, students, and schools virtual learning became a new skill that took time and effort to refine. I have had the unique experience of sharing my first role as a co-educator with the onset of complete virtual learning. Over the past few months, I have come to find that, although there are a plethora of valid complaints to be made of remote learning and its instruments, technology has granted students and teachers new ways of thinking, interacting, and learning that most likely never would have been utilized in a physical classroom. Teachers have been able to introduce students to useful services such as word processors and online editors that were already essential to nearly every career before the pandemic. Students are able to participate in class in new ways; namely, students can comment and ask questions in the Zoom chat while others speak aloud. This feature has been the most valuable in the classes of which I have been a part this semester. The chat gives students who cannot or do not feel comfortable sharing verbally an equal opportunity to have their thoughts heard. As shown in the screenshots below, students have taken to using the chat feature as a space to share and support one another. Additionally, when doing readings or listening to presentations, I can join the chat to prompt live discussions with students. Students have found spaces in a virtual world to build their confidence and engagement in the classroom that would not be as easily done in a physical classroom of 30 students.

I have always been an advocate for technology in the classroom, namely because of the benefits it offers to accessibility and accommodations for neurodiverse and disabled students. Assistive reading technology, communication/ translation technology, and interactive tools such as SmartBoards have transformed classrooms and allowed for greater levels of differentiation and accommodation than before (November 2009). Technology is a valuable tool, but it cannot be the guiding force in a class. Pedagogy is that guiding force, and technology is a tool meant to support and strengthen pedagogical practices.

In my ideal classroom, technology is used mostly in student work. Tablets and laptops are available for students to read/ listen to eBooks or take notes and complete assignments. Communication technologies such as translation tools, text-to-speech or speech-to-text tools, and braille adapted machines are available and offered to any student who needs them. SmartBoards are used as interactive spaces on which students can write and share. Unfortunately, despite its potential value, technology is expensive and limited due to the systemic underfunding of schools and education. In an ideal educational world, accessibility through technology is not a privilege but a right to every student.