Kevin W.

Coons
Technology Teaching Philosophy
Technology use has become prevalent in todays society. From
Smartphones to tablets, and from Twitter and Instagram to online banking to
accessing any information at any time and from anywhere, our society has
become dependent on using technology. Generations are growing up in this
technology saturated society with so many devices and the information that
is provided right at their fingertips. This access to technology impacts the
way in which students think, act, react to information, learn, understand and
process new information. The education of students today must evolve with
the technology use in all other facets of society.
Teachers have a responsibility to engage students by utilizing
technology resources that are made available in their schools. The
implementation of technology needs to be intentional, purpose driven, and
productive. Technology should be intentionally used in each classroom and
not reserved for a technology class or computer lab setting. In each
classroom setting the teacher needs to have carefully planned objectives
followed by the selection of appropriate software to meet these objectives
and then decide which type of platform and hardware will allow the teacher
to meet the objectives using technology (Thornburg, 2014). This process
allows for technology to not be randomly obtained which results in it being
randomly used or not used at all because there has been no design for its
implementation.

Technology is used to educate. The role of technology in a classroom is

to transform what can be done by the students. This includes using
technology resources to enhance student creativity, to challenge student
critical thinking and research, to provide opportunities for collaboration, and
to evaluate the legitimacy and accuracy of content and sources (Edutopia
Team, 2008). The full impact of technology in education will not be
understood until there has been consistent and widespread implementation
technology use beyond drills, repetitive practice, internet research and
online education games.
Current uses of technology in my classroom include maintaining a
website for resources on class information and content. In the future I want
this site to be used as a more interactive site to include screencasts and
work towards a flipped classroom setting. I currently make use of websites
including and similar to kahoot.it for student polls and content review. My
students use online resources such as padlet.com, docsteach.com and web
quests to analyze and synthesize content. In the future I want to teach in a
1:1 setting where students are equipped with either laptops or tablets.
Currently, my classroom is limited to a shared cart with netbooks that does
not include enough devices for every student in a class. This is frustrating as
I would like every student to have a device everyday so that electronic
versions of textbooks could be utilized, Google Docs and OneNote would be
used for lesson notes and collaborative projects, and students would be free

to explore web resources they were directed to and to collate resources on

sites such as Scoop.it.
Technology will be implemented to meet the needs of diverse learners
particularly in how information is taken in and how students make sense of
information (Duffie, 2008). In a future 1:1 setting I would implement a
system where students could easily highlight or annotate notes that were
being discussed in class, including to have students insert links to additional
information on a topic. Currently I use online graphic organizers such as
exploreateree.org.uk or readwritethink.org to assist students with making
sense of content and research. I have also used sites like padlet.com for
students to explain and display what has been learned about a topic.
I think that technology should be a part of education and not in
addition to education. When incorporated effectively technology can
improve student motivation, expand on content, and reach different learning
styles (Murray, 2013). The use of technology is not a trend that will come
and go. Technology use keeps the focus on the teacher, although it be as a
facilitator in a student-centered classroom. However, the teacher is
designing the course to meet the educational objectives but with the
assistance of the resources that technology places at the fingertips of those
in the classroom.

References
Duffie, J. (2008). Using Technology to Support Diverse Learners. Retrieved
from Slideshare
Online Web site:
http://www.wested.org/cs/tol/download/lib/2590/TechSupDL6-7-07.pp
Edutopia Team. (2008). Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The
Reasons Are
Many. Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/technologyintegrationintroduction
Murray, Corey. (2013). Survey: 74 Percent of Educators Support the Use of
Technology in

Schools. EdTech: Focus On K-12. Retrieved from

http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2013/02/survey-74percent-educators-support-use-technology-schools
Thornburg, David. (2014). The History of Ed Tech Shows It's Not About the
Device. THE Journal.
Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2014/07/24/The-History-of-

Ed-Tech.aspx?Page=1