Educational Technology Philosophy 1

Educational Technology Philosophy

Grace Erwin
Carson Newman University

Abstract
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Technology is a vital part of teaching and learning in our fast paced, 21st century world.

Unfortunately, since I will be teaching in low income, urban schools, I will be faced with a lack

of appropriate resources, a large participation gap, and digital divide. This puts pressure on me

as the educator to follow through with the ISTE standards for technology in my classroom. I

want my students to grow as empowered learners, digital citizens, innovative designers, creative

communicators, and global collaborators. I want to advocate positive change of technology

resources in urban schools, especially in English as a Second Language classrooms. But, I can

still be a positive force in the classroom with limited classroom technology.

Technology and Urban Based ESL Programs

As productive global citizens, students must be accustomed to modern technology.

When entering college or the workforce, they will be expected to possess a basic understanding
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of various software programs. In this sense, technology has an essential place in our education

system, but it is also a vital part of instruction and practice for digital age learning environments.

Students must be proficient in Microsoft office, Windows, IOS, and other softwares to be

successful college cut dents and valuable members of the workforce. However, technology lends

itself more to wealthier schools, and specific subject areas. As a future ESL teacher in low-

income, inner-city schools, I will have limited resources for technology use and instruction in my

classroom. I will be working in schools with little to no access to computers and many of my

students will not have access to computers or Internet. This raises a few serious questions for me

as an 21st century educator: How will a significant lack in resources affect my students as they

grow and learn? How can I use limited technology to improve the quality of my classroom? How

will a lack of technology affect my students views of necessary technology in their world? How

can I effectively use technology to help students become well rounded global and digital

citizens? How can I maintain consistency with technology, despite a growing participation gap

and digital divide?

The ISTE standards for students clearly lay out how technology can affect the

development of students as well rounded learners. Some of the skills listed are vital with

technology. I want to evaluate how each can be taught using limited technology, without

compromising the class atmosphere, or productivity level. Students become empowered learners

when they can search and explore for themselves. When they realize the power that comes from

gaining unlimited knowledge from the Internet, they will become truly empowered learners.

Using a projector and my personal computer, we could do class-wide internet searches to learn

about reliable sources and how to filter through sources. Each student can find an article to print

and work with the whole class to test the credibility of the source. Students can also learn about

digital citizenship while working together with the projector and computer. We can have a class

Twitter page, on which we put our daily learning objectives, and we can put homework
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assignments on there. This will create a positive example of digital citizenship, when we are

productive users of social media, and can follow other helpful social media pages. To train

students as knowledge constructors, digital field trips are a powerful tool to learn about other

cultures and other times. In an ESL classroom, we could visit each other's hometowns and

discuss the difficulties that come with culture shock. This will inspire discussions that connect

the students to each other, and to their home. As a part of service learning, the class could make

posters on Canva, a free advertising software, to make posters promoting a local program they

are a part of, or telling about themselves, to share with the class. When students play online

computer games on websites like gamestolearnenglish.com, they develop computational

thinking, and problem solving skills. Other free programs such as Talkabroad allow students to

talk to classes in other countries in real time, teaching them about other cultures and developing

their skills as creative communicators and as global collaborators.

The ISTE standards for me as an educator are a little simpler. They require me to learn

from other teachers through online forums, pursue leadership roles within the school to promote

student voice, be a safe and professional digital citizen, collaborate with other teachers to design

and build lessons, and facilitate, promote, and analyze the effectiveness of technology in my

classroom.

I would love to teach at a one-to-one school, with children who had as much of an

opportunity as I did, but they are not the ones in need, and I want to go where there is the most

need. Immigrant English language learners in low income schools are a growing group, and are

in need of a valuable, beneficial learning experience. They will go on to become a vital part of

Americas workforce, and economy. Bilingual learners can have many advantages as they grow

up and join society, especially in the job market, as Spanish, Arabic, and Mandarin speaking

minorities rise in number. They will change the world, if only give the opportunity; however,

they need access to educational technology in order to become successful members of society.
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Information technology is the future of our fast paced, digital world, and I want them to go

confidently, and find their fit. Unfortunately, there are barely any online resources for students

who are learning English for the first time. There are a few online gaming websites for English

language learners ages five to fourteen, but I could not find any sites that teach English in a

positive and effective manner. The only online educational resource I could find was through the

British Council, which teaches many languages for free, and finds face-to-face classes in your

area, but only if you live in Western Europe. So as our technology in education and society

continue to change, more resources must be created for our immigrant students. As I collaborate

with other teachers in the digital world, I hope to promote positive change in my field, to further

help the students I serve.

References

International Society for Technology in Education. (2017). ISTE Standards for Educators.
Retrieved November 2, 2017, from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-educators

International Society for Technology in Education. (2017). ISTE Standards for Students.
Retrieved November 2, 2017, from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students

Mouza, Chrystalla. (2008). Learning with Laptops: Implementation and outcomes in an Urban,
Under-privileged School, 40, 447-472, doi: 10.1080/15391523.2008.10782516

Padron, Yolanda N., et al. "Classroom observations of teaching and learning with technology in
urban elementary school mathematics classrooms serving English Language
Learners." International Journal of Instructional Media, vol. 39, no. 1, 2012, p.
45+. Student Resources in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/ doc/A282067845/SUIC?
u=tel_k_bearhigh&xid=df0194ef.
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