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Using technology to facilitate K-12 instruction

Technology in the k 12 classroom from tnhoang3

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As a brand new fourth grade teacher, stepping inside a classroom and seeing technology available to implement into lessons is breath taking. There are five student computers, a Smart board, and an Elmo ready to be used.
Technology offers an outstanding opportunity for students to guide their own learning.  When students are using technology as
a tool for communicating with others, they are in an active role rather than the passive role of recipient of information transmitted by a teacher, textbook, or broadcast (Effects of Technology on K-12 Instruction).

Bahena (2012) states that technology is giving students the opportunity to learn things that weren’t always teachable from just a simple textbook. Bahena (2012) expresses the beneficial of using digital simulations and models, which can help teachers explain concepts that are too big or too small, or processes that happen too quickly or too slowly to demonstrate in a physical classroom. By incorporating technology into instructions, the teacher can take the students anywhere they wished to, such as studying microscopic bacteria to galaxy in the universe.

Research by Hobgood and Ormsby supports that “Technology can be used to support how each student works to integrate new information, either alone or in flexible groups. A student with a learning disability like dysgraphia may feel frustrated that she cannot easily take notes or render responses to assigned questions because of her difficulty with writing. Using a laptop or portable word processor can alleviate that frustration, freeing the student to render notes or answers by keyboarding”. The process of providing students with access to write on a keyboard not only promotes the convenience for them to write, but it also helps them to learn at their own pace.  According to the California Research Bureau, one of the main benefits of computer programs is that the student may work at his or her own speed, review sections as needed, and progress quickly when material can be mastered quickly.

Pardue (2010) emphasizes the importance of using technology in schools. She argues that not only do students benefit from using computers, teachers and administrators also utilize the technology to help them get their job done more effectively and efficiently. The author illustrates the important role of computers play in the schools. Pardue stresses that “the software in computers today is new and improved to better serve us in our personal life and work life. Even in schools we have a computer lab and two to four computers in our classroom. Computers are being used by teachers and administrators in meetings, classroom, and even special events at the school. Using PowerPoint, videos, and computers games in the classroom is very popular among students in today's classrooms”.

In conclusion, when technology is used appropriately inside the classroom, the result is the increasing of teacher/student interaction, and encourages cooperative learning, collaboration, problem-solving, and student inquires all of which students will need in order to become successful and educated individuals (Effects of Technology on K-12 Instruction). Bahena (2012) concludes that “Technology often helps students enjoy and get motivated to learn. With the continued advancement of our technology students will be able to grow along with it and use it to succeed in their education”.

  

References

Bahena, Erika. (2012, July).  Using Technology to Facilitate K-12 Instruction. Retrieved from

http://technologyink-12.blogspot.com/2012/07/technology-in-k-12-classrooms-is-useful.html

Effects of Technology on K-12 Instruction. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://technologyandk-12instruction.blogspot.com/

Hobgood, Bobby & Ormsby, Lauren. (n.d.). Inclusion in the 21st-century classroom:

Differentiating with technology. Retrieved from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/every-learner/6776

Pardue, Jen. (2010, July). Using Technology to facilitate K-12 Instruction, or Distance

Education. Retrieved from http://jenparduetechnologyintheclassroom.blogspot.com/2010/07/using-technology-to-facilitate-k-12.html

Umbach, Kenneth (1998, July). Learning-Related Outcomes of Computer Technology in K-12

Education. Retrieved from http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/98/10/98010.pdf