Technology has created an interconnected educational system.
Technology provides schools with an unprecedented opportunity to expand the learning experiences of students. It also offers many other opportunities in other areas such as better organization and increased productivity. The most important technology to emerge in the public and private school systems over the last two decades is the personal computer and its eventual outgrowth, the Internet. These two technologies combined have created a situation where student access to information is almost instantaneous. As the technology evolves and becomes increasingly common and mobile, educators will have even more opportunity to take advantage of technology for educational purposes.
Instructions
1. Determine your technology budget. It is impossible to know improve your school system or courses through technology without first knowing how much available funding you have to purchase technologies to be used in the school. In 2005, Margaret Honey, Katherine McMillan Culp and Robert Spielvogel noted that in the previous decade American educators had spent over $66 billion investing in technology for the schools.
2. Choose the technologies you will use and the goals for improvement. If your goals for improvement are primarily improvement of academic achievement, that will impact how you spend your available budget on technology. Create a budget plan that accurately reflects how you will spend your money to accomplish your goals.
3. Integrate multiple technologies into various parts of the regular curriculum. It is nearly impossible to completely revamp the entire education system and implement technological changes all at one time. Instead, introduce gradual changes that will allow you to transition to the use of different technologies in the classroom. For instance, as computer technology becomes increasingly wireless, find ways that allow students to utilize smart phones and laptops in the classroom. Some teachers now rely on social networking applications like Twitter as a way to improve out of class communication with their students. Some even integrate Twitter and Facebook into classroom discussions with technologies like Smartboard. Students can all simultaneously "tweet" an answer to a discussion question which get posted to a class Facebook page.
4. Reinforce classroom learning with supplemental computer-based activities. Teachers can lead students on directed learning initiatives using the Internet or other computer software programs to enhance the learning experience and allow students to see what they have been taught in the classroom in a visual manner. Students can, for example, take virtual field trips in social studies classes or view the night sky during the day while in science class.
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