My overall thought about technology use in the classroom

Students can use technology as a tool in communicating thoughts, ideas, and questions with their teachers and others.  When using technology as a tool to support communication with others they are playing an important role in the interchange of knowledge. Students actively make choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate and display information.  Technology allows them to be actively thinking about information, therefore increasing their knowledge on any given topic.  In addition, when technology is used as a tool to support students in putting their increased knowledge to use by performing authentic tasks, the students are in the position of defining their goals, making decisions, and evaluating their progress.  In other words, the student becomes fully responsible for their own success and how far they take that success.

Using technology as a teaching tool allows the focus of attention to shift from the teacher, as the main source of information, to more of a trainer in assisting students with setting goals and providing guidelines, always directing students to search for answers and new ideas themselves.  The teacher’s role is to guide the student in using this new tool to obtain information and share with their peers.  Of course, the teacher still plays an important role in the classroom, as an organizer, evaluator and facilitator for students as they generate and manipulate knowledge, applying it to their goals and beyond.  The teacher is responsible for learning alongside the student how to use technology as a resourceful tool in their own learning, as well as the training of others.

I believe that being a technology-proficient trainer or leader, does not necessarily mean teacher must know everything there is to know about technology.  Learning is dynamic, always changing, always improving.  Being a technology-proficient leader means being an example in using technology as a resource for learning, the same way the teacher would like the student to use it. Students are able to gain a better understanding of how useful technology can be in their learning, when they witness the teacher advancing their learning alongside.  This creates a team environment, all striving for a common goal—to make learning unstoppable.