Jacquelyn Anderson

IT 442

March 5, 2017

Philosophy of Technology

Nowadays, people cannot image their lives without technology. Individuals like to be

able to stay connected to other people, communicating, researching, and playing games.

Technology is all around us and avoiding it is becoming not an option. Technology not only

has changed the world but changed education. Technology to me means more than just a

tool used or a device; it means to use specific techniques to work more effectively and the

change of the human habitat.

Technology has improved dramatically throughout the years. Just since I was born,

technology has changed in households and how people function. In the article, 10 Most

Important Technology Changes We've Seen, it mentions how saving things has gone from

saving on a disc to saving on the iCloud. Use webmail? That's storage in the cloud. Share

your images over Facebook, Picasa or Flickr? Cloud. Perhaps in your working life you

share and edit documents using a service such as Google Docs or Huddle? That, my

friend, is cloud computing. And all that information is being stored remotely, whereas once

you'd have had a physical copy. This talk about the iCloud and the way of saving can play

a part in a teacher position by saving student work and working to becoming an effective

teacher. This essay is about comparing how using technology in the classroom can be

both efficient and inefficient, should or should not be used, and how it can be implemented

into my own theoretical framework of teaching.

 Even though I am not a certified teacher yet, I will become one soon and I feel that

my type of teaching that I will be implementing is inquiry-based teaching. Inquiry-based

teaching is about using resources, information, approaches, and tools to promote learning

and ability to enchant students. In the workshop about Inquiry-based learning I found, it

said, Through the process of inquiry, individuals construct much of their understanding of

the natural and human-designed worlds. Inquiry implies a "need or want to know" premise.

Inquiry is not so much seeking the right answer -- because often there is none -- but rather

seeking appropriate resolutions to questions and issues. Even though it mentions that

individuals construct much of their understandings of the natural world, technology plays

an important role in their lives. Technology cannot always give you the right answer, just

like the natural world cannot either. Technology is a huge need or wants to know tool that

takes a long amount of time to figure out. I think implementing technology into my inquiry-

based learning framework will be something I look forward to doing.

Another way of implementing technology into inquiry-based learning is by using

mobile phones. This type of learning would be hard for elementary school students since

most elementary students do now own a mobile phone but, this could be used in middle

school and high school. In an article by Saomya Saxena, she wrote about the use of

mobile technology being put in inquiry-based learning. Mobile learning environments

provide a plethora of possibilities for inquiry-based learning. The handheld, wireless mobile

devices extend the learning experience to outside the classroom and enhance the thinking

abilities of the learners. Using them, learners can record information, organize ideas,

assess, interact and collaborate with peers. With using a phone, students can take

pictures of what they are doing and even get more information about what they are

studying right from their phone. This is something that could be hard to watch over since
you cant look at every students phone at one time but if students use the technology in a

safe way, students can flourish their investigations. I see positive outcomes from

integrating technology in inquiry-based learning and technology is something that is

inevitable to see in the classrooms. Other examples of ways that technology can be

incorporated into the classroom in the following pages of this essay.

There has been a lot of talk about the effective and ineffective ways that technology

has been used in classrooms. Some ineffective ways that I think technology brings to the

classroom are if teachers start depending on technology. For example, if the schools or

districts Wi-Fi is cut out, now a teacher is stuck. This would not be good and I would hope

that if a teacher is relying on technology, they have a backup plan. Society depends on

technology so much and it is hard to have backup plans that do not involve technology/

Another way that technology can be an ineffective way of teaching in the classroom comes

from an article from Classroom. This article states, If the teacher and students are not

experienced with technology in the classroom, valuable time is often wasted on technical

troubles. In addition, the teacher faces the difficulty of having a class full of students who

are all at different skill levels. This is very true. If a teacher or the students are not

comfortable with technology, time can be wasted from learning and instead is spent on

figuring out the technology. If technology is used in the classroom, it should be something

that a teacher is comfortable using and makes time to show the students what they are

doing. If a teacher does not have time to make sure students can use technology on the

computer or another device, then it can be put on the parents at home to get their students

up to speed. This doesnt always work because some households do not have a home

computer or parents are not technology savvy. Meaning, they might not have the
knowledge to use or be able to effectively help their kids. Even though there are some

ineffective ways for using technology, there are effective ways.

Some effective ways of having technology in the classroom are being able to save

time and paper. Students can save their work on computers and do assignments on the

computers. Students could also use tools like digital worksheets that become very

effective. This can save time printing paper for students just for them to lose half of the

assignments you hand out. Students can work on a lesson on the computer, save their

work, and refer to it at any time. If a student is a type that forgets homework at school or at

home, the use of a computer can help that. Having the ability to access anything from any

computer will help students be able to bring their work anywhere. With having technology

in the classroom, it needs to be taught correctly and skills to use technology need to be

taught. According to Edutopia, When effectively integrated into the curriculum, technology

tools can extend learning in powerful ways. These tools can provide students and teachers

with access to up-to-date, primary source material, methods of collecting/recording data,

and ways to collaborate with students, teachers, and experts around the world. I follow

Edutopia on Facebook and love to read what they are saying and I think those points

about the effective ways the technology can be implemented are true. Another effective

way that technology could be used was talked about in Kevin Honeycutts Keynote speech.

During his speech, he wore a headband and the headband was tracking his engagement

and brain activity. Having students wear these headbands during class would let a teacher

know when students are engaged and when they are not. A teacher would even be able to

show the class all the data and each student can see their own results. With everything

involved with using technology in the classroom, it all comes down to how each teacher

implements technology and if how they are doing it is effective or ineffective. I enjoy
technology since I have grown up with it and it has become second nature to me to

navigate through things on the internet. Technology has only improved each day its time to

find those effective ways and put them to play in the classrooms.

Effective and ineffective ways that technology can be used can go together with

circumstances when technology should and should not be used. Technology should only

be used in the classroom if a teacher can notice positive outcomes from it. This means if

students are engaging with technology and learning from it. If students can teach

technology to other students or if they are staying focused while using technology rather

than a paper and pen, then it could be used effectively. I have also seen students

collaborate with other students more efficiently while using technology since they all have

school emails and can communicate while at home. Technology can also be used with

English Language learners in a way that using technology is faster than using a translation

book. IPads these days have multiple apps that help translate languages and have games

for helping students learn a new language. Technology can also be used with for Assistive

technology with helping students, for example, who dont like to talk as much as other

students. There are apps on an iPad where a teacher can combine their voice with a

command and the student can click on the option and is able to communicate. These are

just some examples of why technology should be used.

Technology also has reasons to why it should not be used in the classroom. I

believe that technology can sort of drain or put students in a funk. By this, I mean

students find technology a distraction sometimes and can pull them into funks where they

zone everything out and ignore that others are saying. Students could be using a website

for research and they see ads on the side or other distractions and the teacher needs to

make sure those are removed just in case something bad were to pop up. That within itself
is another scare for having technology in the classroom. Another idea about not having

technology in the classroom is if every student is on a computer, that would mean one

teacher for every 25-30 students. How could one teacher know what each student is doing

on them? I would hope that every student is responsible and respectful online, but a

teacher could turn their head for one second and suddenly something the teacher does not

approve of is being shown to many students. Even though students do act out and do

things behind the teachers back without technology, it can increase with the use of

technology in the classroom. Again, with what I said with effective and ineffective uses of

technology, how each teacher handles students and the use of technology will say if it

should or should not be used in the classroom.

With technology being so advanced these days, it would explain the differences of

knowledge of technology between student and parent. I have found myself teaching

multiple things to my parents since they did not grow up with technology like I was

fortunate to. If technology is something a teacher would like to incorporate into their

classroom, this would mean parents and families would need to become even more

involved. The more that families are engaged with the students at home, the better

students can improve on school work and assignments. This plays a role in technology.

If technology can facilitate family engagement in a positive way, that means

technology is doing a good thing. In an article I read, it mentions that An important part of

your family engagement strategy is finding ways to connect with parents, because

communication is a must for establishing and developing relationships with children's

families. Communication with parents used to consist of conferences, phone calls, and

printed newsletters, but your options of how and when you communicate with parents have

greatly increased thanks to the various types of technology now available. This is
important because technology acts as a huge communication tool and communication is

needed between teachers and parents for many different reasons. Like I mentioned earlier,

students can lose things very easily and that could mean field trip forms, newsletters, or

notes. If teachers communicate to parents through technology, this can ensure that

parents are getting the information they need. Types of tools that teachers can use to

communicate with parents using technology are Facebook, Classdojo, or creating eBooks.

Those are just a few tools that can create a great classroom climate while incorporating

technology. With that, I think technology is a great thing to have in the classroom and great

to incorporate into families. Parents, students, and teachers can learn so much from

technology that it creates a new type of engagements every day. I plan to include

technology into my classroom one day and find many positive ways of engaging students

along the way.

Even though technology can facilitate family engagement, it can also put a barrier

on families. I had mentioned earlier that technology can put kids into a funk and that can

be harmful to students when they are at home. Students become so engaged in their

technology that they stay online for hours and hours during the day. One thing I found from

the article The Four Negative Sides of Technology was, Overuse of technology can also

affect a childs own mood. A report from the United Kingdom revealed that kids who use

computer games and their home Internet for more than four hours do not have the same

sense of well-being as those who used that technology for less than an hour. One expert

explained that with less physical contact, children might have difficulty developing social

skills and emotional reactions. This can become a barrier for families as home because

students become less intrigued at home and can even start acting differently. As much as

teachers want to include technology in the classrooms, teachers must make sure they are
checking in with parents and seeing if the technology is impacting their students in

negative ways. If you have students that do not have access to a computer at home,

encourage the family to go to a local library and explore the computer there. You cant

assume that all families have access to technology.

In conclusion, technology is a sensitive subject and can have positive and negative

elements involved with it. How a teacher uses it in class and connects it to their learning,

will decide if it is the best choice for that certain teacher. I hope to include technology in my

classroom one day and I hope it goes efficiently.

 Sources

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Inquiry-based Learning: Explanation. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2017, from

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/

Klaus, J. (n.d.). Negative Effects of Using Technology in Today's Classroom. Retrieved

February 20, 2017, from http://classroom.synonym.com/negative-effects-using-

technology-todays-classroom-4130.html

DeLoatch, P. (2015, May 2). The Four Negative Sides of Technology. Retrieved February

21, 2017, from http://www.edudemic.com/the-4-negative-side-effects-of-technology/

NCCE 2016 Keynote Kevin Honeycutt speech.

https://edpuzzle.com/assignments/586d8063ec30463e16f3a23f/watch

Saxena, S. (2013, December 05). Use of Mobile Technology for Inquiry-Based Learning.

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from https://www.kaplanco.com/ii/using-technology-to-support-family-engagement?

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URL about study from The United Kingdom -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9636862/Overexposure-to-

technology-makes-children-miserable.html#disqus_thread

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