A Pragmatic Approach to Technology Integration: A Tech Director's View

Introduction

Educational technology is changing the classroom environment and the role of teachers. It is both a revolutionary and evolutionary force. We see examples of revolutionary change in the form of one-to-one computing, online schools, and flipped classrooms. Evolutionary change is making its way into the classroom in the form of learning management software and instructional software that supports state and federal reform initiatives. However, there is still plenty of room for teachers to create their own technology integration initiatives.

Technology can offer reliable and consistent instruction that may meet the demands of state and national reforms. It is a force multiplier that can increase the amount of instruction provided within the conventional school year. Systems reliability has improved with the introduction of cloud-based computing and solid reliable broadband access to many schools. Instructional needs are coupled with a necessity for gathering student academic and demographic data for state and national reporting. This mission-critical task has emphasized reliable computing hardware and software that is daily accessible to teachers and students. Low-priced limited-function laptops have facilitated the expansion of one-to-one computing to many schools that ordinarily would never have been able to afford it.

Web 2.0 is another factor in the expansion of educational technology into the classroom. Since its implementation, many people are able to produce computer-based content. Blogs, social media, and websites are all examples. Coupled with this has been the expansion of high-level authoring tools to create web and smartphone applications.

The task at hand for all teachers is to effectively integrate and utilize technologies that are present in the classroom. This changes the perspective on integrating advanced technologies. In the past, there was considerable room for the adoption of advanced technologies. Classrooms were devoid of advanced technologies. Any adoption or integration of technology was moving forward and often greeted with applause. Today some may believe that we have reached the plateau of technology integration and from now on teachers should let it take its natural course and let technology integration continue as it evolves. This is not the way forward and is not in the best interest of students or the profession in general. Teachers need to seize the reins of integration and move forward. They should be proactive and not reactive. A reactive approach only sustains the status quo. A proactive effort moves forward and improves instruction. Being proactive may seem overwhelming, but things are not as radically different as they may appear.

Advances in technology have led to the elimination of jobs in many fields while at the same time creating new employment opportunities. For example, the introduction of robots in the production of automobiles has eliminated some assembly-line jobs while at the same time creating jobs to program, assemble, and maintain the robots. Certainly, there has been a net loss of jobs; but those willing to adapt have remained employed as the quality and consistency of the product have improved. We can see similar changes for office workers as technology has infused that work environment. Office workers today utilize many different technologies and perform more complex operations than they did in the past. Again, there has been a net loss of jobs while the demands of the job have increased.

Examples from other industries are only a general guide to what may happen in the education field. Of course, there are significant differences; the largest of these is that students are not products that are manufactured or processed. They are individual human beings with many individual variables that exceed the capacity of today’s educational technologies. Nevertheless, technology is being integrated into the classroom. Teachers’ responsibilities remain the same while the processes are evolving.

One could argue that little real change has occurred. For example, a teacher’s role in the pre-microcomputing age was to use existing state/locally required curriculum materials, and to seek out adapt, adopt, and create new materials needed to meet the needs of students and to push the boundaries of instruction. This has not changed with the introduction of advanced technology. Educational technology still provides the delivery of curriculum and instruction just as paper-based materials have done in the past. Technologies are now being imposed on the classroom teacher just as materials were in the past. The potential instructional improvement of these technologies is magnitudes larger than simple mediums used in the past.