Isaiah Tranch

Paula Dagnon

IT442

February 28, 2017

Philosophy of Technology

As teachers, one of our goals is to create an environment that gives our students the best

possible chance to succeed and thrive. This is not an easy task, as every student is unique in

personality as well as learning style, and may not respond to certain teaching methods. When this

happens, you have to adapt, you have to pull from your arsenal of teaching techniques and find

one that best fits that particular student. The more you have in your arsenal, the more likely it is

you find a technique or method that will work for that student, and give them a chance to

succeed. In todays world, the amount of instructional technology available seems to be endless

and its not slowing down. However, not all of this technology is good and it takes time to weed

through them to find the right one, but its worth it when you do.

In order to weed through all of this technology, you need to know what specifically you

are looking for. According to the online dictionary technology means the application of

scientific knowledge for practical purposes. Although this is true, we want to take it a step

further using the SAMR model. SAMR stands for substitution, augmentation, modification, and

redefinition this model is a guideline for implementing instructional technology into a classroom

and can help you find what you are looking for. Substitution is the first step, in this step the
technology acts as a direct substitute, with functional improvement. An example of this step

would be taking an essay and instead of writing it you type it directly substituting paper for a

laptop. You dont want to stop here, this is a good first step to get your feet wet, but if you stop

here a class full of iPad or laptops turns into a class full of very expensive worksheets. The next

step up is augmentation, just as in step one technology acts as a direct substitute the difference is

in this step it adds some sort of functional improvement. For example, taking the essay you were

working on and using google docs for the purpose of collaborating with fellow students, getting

quick feedback and editing assistance. Although these first two steps are good starters they are

not where you want to be, what we are looking for in good instructional technology is found in

the next two steps. Next is modification, the goal of modification is using technology in a way

that allows for significant task redesign. Going back to the essay example, using modification

you would take that essay and now post it on a blog, and get it published as an article making it

available to the public domain where you can receive comments and interact with readers from

all over the world. Lastly there is redefinition, ideally this is where we want to be with our use of

technology and how we should define it. Redefinition takes technology and uses it to create a

completely new task that wouldve been inconceivable beforehand. Using redefinition in our

example, you would now be taking that essay and using it in a multimedia package, creating a

podcast and/or video, as well as enabling the ability conference to speak directly with experts on

the subject, and access to communication with other classrooms around the world to discuss the

topic. With each step in the SAMR model, you are becoming more connected to the outside

world. Its like the analogy Kevin Honeycutt made in his video about implementing teaching

technology, Snow global vs global we dont want to trap our students inside their own little

community we want to connect them to the world and give them a chance to grow and progress
beyond their own community. Technology to us needs to be something that makes the greater

connection that allows the students to adventure and create rather than just learn. It needs to be

something that gives them a chance to progress, that is how we should define technology.

As a teacher, I want to be someone who provides a space where students can make that

greater connection and feel free to adventure. This is a part of my theoretical framework,

teaching to me is providing an environment that is able to implement technology into the

classroom. I also believe that part of being a teacher is always keeping an open mind and un-

biased perspective, this means being willing to try new and different strategies that might assist

students in ways that you may have not thought of before using newer technology. Another part

of my theoretical framework for teaching is that you should always meet the student where they

are at rather than making the student adjust to meet you. Technology can be used to bridge that

gap between the student and the group so they dont have to adjust. Its also important to

remember that every individual student is unique in personality and learning style. Not everyone

learns the same way and there is more than one way to learn, this includes learning through the

use of technology. Dont settle for whats readily available to you, do some research and find

what you think is the best possible way for that particular student and if it doesnt work regroup

and try again there are plenty of tools to choose from. I also believe that in teaching you have to

fight for what you are passionate for, when your students see your passion and excitement, they

can become excited, and if you are passionate about their learning and progression they can

become excited about their own learning as well. If you are going out of your way to find new

and different technologies that can engage them in learning, it will enhance the learning

experience all around. I think in teaching its important to be a leader, but there are different

types of leaders, I want to be someone who leads from the front, but not by force or entitlement, I
want to lead by example and by being available for students. A part of being a good example is

by being proactive in finding new and exciting ways to learn rather than just talking at them.

That is how technology fits into my theoretical framework, and its not a forced fit, its a part of

the puzzle and it has shown positive results.

As technology continues to grow and become a larger part of our daily lives we are

beginning to see it integrated into the classroom more and more. With this comes feedback, what

works and what doesnt, different types of studies, tests, surveys and they are all showing one

thing, technology if used correctly is beneficial on many different levels. The first numbers I

want to present are not those reflective of the classroom but the outside world. In an infographic

published by everyday family it shows that 54% of 21st century kids start using mobile devices

between the ages of 5-8. On top of this, the study also showed that 30% of the apps on parents

mobile devices are downloaded specially for their childrens usage. Not only are kids using

smart devices younger, but its also how they are engaging and spending their time to learn and

be creative. Why would we continue to keep technology out of the classroom when thats what

kids are using in their daily lives. There is no learning curve, they already use to the technology

why not integrate it into the classroom to make learning more engaging and fun. The

groundwork is already in place, in the same study done by everyday family they found that 77%

of the parents accept that usage of tablet increases childrens learning & creativity. The tools

are ready to go as well, 72% of iTunes top selling apps are designed for preschoolers and

elementary students. If the kids are already using the technology and understand how to use it,

the parents are supporting it and there are already countless number of class ready educational

apps out there then what is holding us back from integrating technology into your curriculum? If

thats not enough here are some statistics of educational apps/technology in action, in a study
done by Game-desk, Motion Math, has shown that the iPad can help with fundamental math

skills. Fifth graders who regularly played the game for 20 minutes per day over a five-day period

increased their test scores by 15 percent on average. Its the digital age we live in, I myself have

seen kids in the classroom go from heavy eyelids and heads on desks during a PowerPoint or

lecture to immediately being engaged listeners during lessons including interactive technology.

Its how todays kids prefer to learn and thats not just my opinion, its the story the numbers are

telling.

Technology has many pros and is a great tool that should be used in the classroom,

however that doesnt mean it should be used in every aspect of class. One area where you

shouldnt use technology is in take home work, although there are a lot of beneficial ways you

could implement technology into homework you need to be aware that not every student will

have access to the tools necessary, in fact research shown on andrewscampbell.com states that

38% of low-income families dont have internet access. These lower income students would be

unfairly set back due to lack of technological resources and experience. Another area where you

need to tread carefully when using technology is in any interface that deals with competition or

pinning your statistics vs somebody elses. A lot of educational apps revolve around the concept

of scores and progress, in a classroom setting you dont want to do anything that would make

certain students feel stupid of inferior. These apps do not have to be totally avoided however, to

use them in a one on one basis could be very affective in tracking a students individual progress

or assessing how they are doing during a lesson. In addition, if Technology is being used just so

you can say it is being used then it should not be used. As mentioned earlier in the SAMR model,

we should strive for modification and redefinition through technology not substitution. Lastly if

the technology is being used in a way that decreases student teacher interaction then it shouldnt
be used. Technology is good but its meant to be used as an assist not a sub, teachers should still

control the classroom, they need to use technology as a wingman of sorts in order to reach out to

students, not as their replacement.

Technology is great in the classroom as well as connecting back home to the parents.

Technology can be used to facilitate and be a catalyst for family engagement, where without

technology there would be none. An example of technology that can spur family engagement

would be with students who have parents who dont speak the same language as you. Without

technology, it would be very hard to reach out and communicate with these parents however with

programs like google translate you can reach out to them for support as well as them to you.

Another technology that is great for connecting with parents is remind. Remind allows you to

create temporary group chats with parents. Using remind once parents information is gathered,

the creator of the group can send out mass or individual messages about specific meetings or

events that parents might be interested in and can then quickly respond to. Technology can bring

teachers and parents closer together, they can use these tools to collaborate and share ideas after

all who knows the kids better than their parents. A big aspect of teaching is the relationship with

the parents, and anything you can do to strengthen that relationship will be beneficial to you, to

the student and to the parent.

If we want to be the best teachers we can be, why would we not be open towards

implementing technology in our classrooms? Even if you dont take the time to intensively learn

every new tool out there, if simply having more resources to draw from improves the odds of

student success by giving them new learning opportunities, then we should tap into the resource

gold mine that is modern instructional technology. If we were not to tap into it, we would be

doing our students a disservice by limiting the variety of ways they can learn and thus limiting
their chances of success. As teachers, it is our goal to give our students the best chance to

succeed, and if implementing instructional technology in the classroom gives them best odds,

then you better sit down and start doing your research because thats what we are going to start

doing.
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