Thoughts on Incorporating Educational Technology/Media into Lessons

1.       Identify a subject area and describe how educational technology and/or media might be incorporated to enrich a specific lesson in that area.

One of my favorite subjects is Social Studies and I think that incorporating educational technology and/or media can certainly enrich a social studies lesson. I think that the possibilities are numerous when it comes to ways to integrate educational technology within this subject area. For this example however, I would like to discuss the idea of implementing technology into a lesson involving World Geography. I think that the use of the program ePals with students in a social studies classroom would be a great resource to help them to gain a better understanding of world geography by researching different world countries. If the students were assigned different countries to research, they could use other online resources as well, such as websites, videos, maps, etc. to increase their knowledge base. National Geographic and other sites offer great resources to help students learn about various aspects of countries around the globe. The ePals program allows teachers to connect their students with other students/classrooms from around the world. Teachers could connect students with students from their assigned country and they could correspond using the available resources within ePals. This interaction would give the students that are researching countries greater insight into their assigned country from a student currently residing there. Not only does the use of this technology enhance the learning process, but it helps the students to improve their communication skills as well.  The incorporation of various technologies and media makes the learning process more interesting for the learner than simply reading material from a book. Once the students have completed their research, they can use other tools like PowerPoint, Jing, Biteslide, etc., to create visual presentations about their countries that can be shared with their classmates or uploaded to the internet and shared with a larger audience. Allowing students to use these tools to share their findings offers them different opportunities to not only share what they have learned, but to also express their creativity.

2.       What, if any, pitfalls exist in utilizing educational technology in instruction? Describe.

As with anything, there can be “pitfalls” or disadvantages to utilizing educational technology in instruction. One of the issues that I can imagine would be the fact that if a teacher asks his/her students to use certain technologies that they are unfamiliar with, a certain amount of class time must be dedicated to teaching the students the proper way to utilize the tools they will be using. While some educators see this as simply part of the process, others might feel as though this could be a disadvantage because it takes up valuable classroom time. Another pitfall that I can see relates to lack of resources. If a teacher selects to have his/her students use certain educational programs or tools, but there are not enough computers or devices available for use, this could lessen the ability of the tools to enhance the learning process and instead, make the assigned task more difficult. Also, it is important to consider whether or not students will be able to use the selected tools outside of the classroom or if they will only be able to work during the specified class period.  Potential problems could arise if the students are tasked with a time sensitive project and lack the ability to access the technology at home and can only use it at school. Technology can be a great resource within the classroom if utilized properly. If used in the wrong way, I feel that it can hinder the learning process instead of enhance it. I feel that it is important for teachers who wish to implement technology into their lessons, to always have an alternate plan, should the use of the technology not work as anticipated. Sometimes, the best lessons can be sidetracked when a slide show, video, or computer program does not work as intended. This is perhaps one of the biggest pitfalls that I can imagine because if a tool does not work correctly and a teacher is unprepared to continue without the lesson without the use of that technology, the learning process is greatly interrupted. The use of technology in education should be to enhance the learning process, not to interfere with it.