Technology in the Classroom and What it Means

In-step with our promotion of technology in the classroom or specifically, the use of assistive and adaptive technology in special education, we discuss the imposition of that technology on the field.  I am fairly certain that any educator will second the notion that technology advances learning for motivation, experience, and know-how.  Technological improvements boast ability for individual enhancement in the areas of: literacy, arts, math, sciences – nearly any subject area and/or personal motivation with a knowledge-quest.  Where schools are faltering is in the area of keeping up with those technological advancements with funding limited to a rapid and ever-evolving technical landscape.  The issue that schools face is knowing what technological infrastructures to support based on what works best when best of strategies are not yet readily available.  

The rapid evolution that assistive/adaptive technology has does not allow any worthy longitudinal studies to generate results before the next best thing, or version is out.  So what do schools, who are already tightening their fiscal belts, invest in? There was subsidized funding (see the Enhancing Educational Through Technology, or EETT Program) which was specifically devoted to technology in the field of education, but that was defunded in the Spring of 2011 as part of a federal budget compromise (Education Week, April 29, 2011). The vast differences in schools’ technology infrastructures give way to an ever-widening gap of district ability for capability catching up with demand. 

Meta-analysis reports embrace online instruction for students, touting that online elements and face-to-face instruction offers the greatest gains in academia achievement, but those results were for students of higher education given the void of results for K-12 (U.S. Department of Education, 2010).  Where e-learning is seeing some of the greatest growth is in credit-recovery.  These online courses allow students to retake classes they haven’t passed, but in a new format which purportedly enables students to focus on concepts they do not have a commanding knowledge of.  Keep in mind however, that with any learning comes a state standard and schools need to be aware of the origin of their chosen supplemental e-learning program(s) in order they align. 

It appears that the biggest advances between education and technology are those that offer game-based learning as the strategies for teaching subjects can easily adopt a gaming influence in order to promote the subjects’ core components.  Adopting new learning in class (via game-based instruction) in theory, lends to student ability to simulate real-world ability, progress an interest in subject areas, and promote higher-order thinking skills…like problem-solving and communication.  Whatever the chosen method of e-learning or adaptive technology one thing remains the same – the prioritization of the student.  Funding, resources and/or district support may be limited yet the student remains.  In turn, this emphasizes the educators’ role in diversifying their curriculum to meet student needs and demand for encompassing advancing technology.  Not impossible – difficult, but not impossible.

RESOURCES:

Education Week, Ed-Tech Advocates Look to Life After Federal Budget Cut,” April 29, 2011.

U.S. Department of Education, “Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies,” 2010.