What are some benefits and limitations of incorporating technology into a teachers' instructional day?
There are many benefits to using technology, but if used inappropriately or incorrectly, the limitations can outweigh the the benefits. For example, using a SmartBoard is a great way to incorporate technology. Students love to use it because it is interactive, and it gets them involved in the lessons. I have witnessed (more than once) teachers trying to use the SmartBoard and not knowing how. They took valuable class time trying to figure out how to use it and never really did. It wasted time and frustrated the students and the teacher. Some of them had no back-up plan and so the lesson was ruined. The middle school I went to had 2 SmartBoards. I never saw them being used as anything but a projection screen/ dry erase board. The teachers were given the boards and not given any training on how to use them, and so they were a pointless waste of money. It would be very beneficial to teachers to have training workshops on how to use the technology. Especially for older teachers who did not grow up with computers like we did, the task of just "figuring it out" is nearly impossible.
Another way to use technology would be for grading purposes. This is extremely useful because it can organize everything for you and give averages, etc. without ever having to use a calculator. However, teachers should always have a back-up grade book because computers are known for crashing and everything will get lost. In my high school there was an older teacher who had been teaching for many, many years. He absolutely refused to use the computers to do his grading. He would only use his gradebook and calculator to do grades. The administration would get frustrated with him, but he was not willing to change what had worked for him for years. In this situation, it really was easier to just let him use his gradebook than try to teach him to use the computer!
A good example of technology use was used by my Pre-calculus teacher in 11th grade. He had a system that allowed the notes on the board to be saved onto the computer. Then, if someone was absent or missed any of the notes, he could print them out instead of having to copy everything and re-teach it. He also had a type of clicker that we played games with kind of like the clickers here at WVU.
When used correctly technology is a great thing. Students need to know how to use it because it will be a big part of their lives. I do not think that we should be totally dependent on it, however, because technical malfunctions do occur. One of the most important things I have learned about technology is to always have a back up plan just in case!
My question to you is how much should we be reliant on technology and is there a point at which we are too reliant on it?
