Entry #4

There is absolutely a benefit to using technology to support content learning. As stated by Kayla Delzer in her TedTalk, “technology is the language today’s students speak”. If technology is never used to support content learning, students will not have a full understanding of how the discipline can used and applied in the modern world. From a social studies perspective, students would not be able to get the latest information about historical subjects or current events if they did not use technology. When incorporated organically, the use of technology to support content learning also allows students to learn the knowledge, skills, and attitudes put forth by the NETS standards. When the knowledge from the lessons related to the NETS standards are included in content-based lessons, they do not feel forced or separate from student’s natural technology use. The use of technology in content learning also enables greater differentiation. As discussed by Grace Rubenstein, the inclusion of technology in the classroom means that students can have more options in how they show their learning, advanced students can have increased options for learning when they have finished required tasks, and struggling students can work on their skills independently. Not only can teachers bring this differentiation to the classroom by themselves, but they can also use technology to collaborate with other teachers to create a differentiated lesson that they all can use.

When differentiation is incorporated into the classroom, it leads to student success. The inclusion of contemporary technology tools and resources in authentic learning experiences and assessments makes for an environment in which students are treating and using technology as they would outside of the classroom. While their learning with technology in the classroom is more directed than it would be outside of the classroom, students with access to technology in schools are able to “drive” their learning in the classroom (Rubenstein, 2010). By designing, developing, and evaluating authentic learning, educators are helping students develop skills that they will use for the rest of their lives, instead of solely focusing on the content that is learned, which has a small chance of being used by the student outside of school. Authentic learning experiences and assessments and the skills they instill in students lead to students being more successful critical thinkers and learners throughout the rest of their lives.

As always, there are challenges when bringing something new into the classroom. When technology is brought into the classroom, there is a chance that the focus of the class could switch from the content of the class or other skills that the students are learning, to technology and how it can be incorporated into every single lesson and project that is done. In her TedTalk, Kayla Delzer also discussed how technology in the classroom should be transformative and do something for student’s learning that would be extremely hard or impossible to achieve in a non-digital classroom. Educators need to ensure that along with setting their students up for success technologically, they are setting them up for success in their offline lives.