What it means to integrgate technology into the classroom

Teaching through technology is an ambitious, sometimes even daunting, enterprise.  Technological innovation is uncharted waters for many teachers and all too often this discourages educators from incorporating a wide range of new and innovative ways of engaging their students.  Often these educators will cite the many disadvantages and dangers of technology use for the purpose of defending their refusal to evolve their teaching strategies.

Because of the vast and consuming nature of the technological realm, there are bound to be issues arising from it, even with its innumerable advantages.  These issues include the dangers of information exchange- particularly in regard to children having access to web based social networks like twitter and facebook, an increase in technology related issues in spelling and grammar, and fostering an attention deficit disorder society in which the integral roles of parent-child and student-teacher relationships and learning environments have been replaced with the ever evolving realm of iPods, Nooks, PCs, and the World Wide Web.

These are real issues and they shouldn't be taken lightly.  However, citing the various issues related to the ever expanding technological realm does not discredit its innumerable advantages.  Like it or not, the globally central role technology is a reality, and refusing to integrate it into the classroom environment is doing a grave disservice to students whose lives depend upon it more and more each day.  Moreover, only by embracing the integration of technology into the classroom environment do we create the opportunity to educate our students on the appropriate ways to engage in the vast and immediate exchange of information via the world wide web.

Ultimately, technology's benefits far outweigh its disadvantages: research that use to take weeks and countless library visits can now be conducted in the span of a day, contact with experts within innumerable fields is available with a few key strokes and the click of a button, their is a wealth of free resources when it comes to educational videos, curriculum guides, and learning tools, and you can cater your findings to fit your unique requirements and needs.

Let's get with the times ladies and gentlemen.  Let's embrace the technological revolution and integrate it into our classroom lives.