I See the Light of Technology in the Lives of Students

This week I learned about the nature of technology. I learned about how it serves human purposes and what it means to use technology in classrooms. I’ve also learned about some of the current technologies that can be used to serve students’ needs.



Until I began this course I was weary of using technology in my future classroom. I believed that the push towards greater implementation of technology in classrooms would alienate children and cause a strengthening of the disconnect between what children experience in their lives (and is meaningful to them) and what is offered in school curriculums. I believed this because I thought technology wasn’t authentic in the sense that it is not concrete. In some senses technology can seem abstract and ethereal and therefore less meaningful to children. I imagine an example of a teacher using a computer to show students a video about how a butterfly emerges from a series of developmental stages instead of bringing in actual caterpillars to the classroom so that students can experience the metamorphosis themselves. The later seems more meaningful to students because it allows them to experience the reality of concepts and events first-hand. In this way it seems that student-centered and constructivist based instruction would demand a balance in the use of technology so that it does not alienate children from experiences that would enrich and teach them.


Then I watched the video “Learning to Change and Changing to Learn" and my perspective shifted. I realized that technology is part of a paradigm change in the design of education that is aimed towards making classrooms more meaningfully connected to students’ lives. What a realization! In the video the commentators state that

“Technology has emerged a new environment.”

Included in this new student-centered educational landscape are connectivity, access, relationships, and community. Now those are things I can get excited about. Another commentator in the video also states that the following abilities are supported within a technological based educational system (i.e. community based v. classroom based): multicultural, multilingual, multidisciplinary, understanding context, working on teams, artistic abilities, and abilities to use synthesis. Reflecting upon these abilities makes me realize that a technology-based, and hence community-based, educational system feeds into a broader global shift towards interconnectivity, inter-relatedness, and unity.



Our recent class discussion contributed further to my understanding of how technology is helping to cause a paradigm shift. Dr. Ludmila Smirnova talked to our class about today’s literacy and how it differs from traditional literacy. One thought I found particularly profound is when Dr. Smirnova said:

“New literacy is about expressing yourself in different ways."

In other words, new literacy of today goes beyond reading and writing as a focus. Instead, in Dr. Smirnova's words, it focuses on “how to access, use and reflect on information.” One further thought that helped to shift my perspective on using technology in classrooms is when Dr. Smirnova said:

“Schools need to use the tools that exist in students’ worlds.”

That is a statement about authentic teaching.



Once I opened my eyes to the greater good that technology can serve in education, I become more open and interested in learning about the various technological tools and frameworks that can be used in elementary school classrooms.



The tools and frameworks I explored this week are: Twitter, Blogging, Web 2.0, LoTi, and the website Why Do You Do What You Do? In what way does each of these tools support the spirit of authentic teaching and this paradigm shift towards greater global connectivity and community?



I’ve learned that when you talk about using technology for fostering community and interaction you should think Web 2.0. The author of the Cheeky Lit Teacher blog, Kimberly Wagner, describes Web 2.0 applications as

“...characterized by interactivity, collaboration, and information sharing…the main characteristic of a Web 2.0 application is the emphasis on human collaboration. It’s not such the particular applications but the actual behavior of the people using the Internet.”

She writes further that,

“It is the interactivity and the further encouragement of social interaction and human collaboration that makes the application Web 2.0.”

Please visit the blog for more in-depth information and discussion about Web 2.0 tools. Blogs, Twitter and the WDYDWYD website are all types of Web 2.0 tools since they are interactive and foster collaboration between people. By nature, it seems, these tools support global connectivity and community, as well as, authentic teaching.


I’ve learned that blogs are a means for sharing personal reflections and ideas. They are also a means for accessing the reflections and ideas that others share. How could this be used in a classroom within the new educational paradigm? I think teachers can use blogs to help students explore their world and their lives by becoming proficient with using blogs to research other people’s ideas, reflections and expressions. They can use them for this same aim by using blogs as a platform for personal expression and reflection that causes students to practice being evaluative and creative. Basically, blogs are a tool for fostering that sense of community and authenticity that are at the heart of the new paradigm.


For my reflections on Twitter please see my prior posting.


The Why Do You Do What You Do website is a perfect example of the self-expression that is inherent in today’s new literacy. When I created my entry for this site, I was impressed by the outcome. It helped me to get clear about why it is that I do what I do. I always have a sense of what it is but it’s been a while since I’ve stopped to focus on bringing my attention to my deepest drivers. What resulted from this reflection was a feeling of being refreshed and better connected to my personal mission for my role as a teacher. This is certainly an exercise that I would encourage my students to partake in to better connect with their deepest drivers in their own lives.


The LoTi framework is quite impressive for detailing the ways that technology in the classroom creates an authentic learning environment. The higher you advance in the levels of technology implementation the more instruction and learning contexts are aligned with real-world events and applications. You will also find the greatest amounts of student engagement in their learning and applying what they learn to solve real-world problems. Can this be integrated in an elementary classroom? Absolutely. See a posting by Dr.Smirnova to assess the components of LoTi that can be implemented in an elementary school classroom.



This first week of the Literacy and Technology course has been both eye-opening and inspiring. I now understand a new and useful perspective on using technology in classrooms and have been introduced to the paradigm shift in the educational system that technology is a vital component of.



That’s all for now! I welcome any input/feedback you have on what I have shared!



Take Care.



Tara