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As a Teacher Candidate and future educator, I have developed opinions of my own on the use of technology in the classroom.
On this page, I will present my views on this topic and sum up some of the pros, cons and precautions that teachers should
be aware of.
I feel that the Internet can be an extremely valuable tool for a teacher to use to enhance his/her practice. I use
the Internet all the time – in my lesson planning during practicum placements, to conduct research for my courses at
OISE, and for personal entertainment. I find myself turning to my computer to find resources and ideas that will make my lessons
and classroom activities stronger. I use online teacher resources, such as www.readwritethink.org to develop lesson plans and find ideas for graphic organizers and rubrics that may support my planned activities.
Once practicum has ended and I’m back at OISE, I communicate and share ideas with my peers and professors via
e-mail, I participate in online discussions about course readings, I work on my electronic portfolio (developed for one of
my courses), and I search for online journal articles that will support my academic writing.
It is hard for me to imagine a world without the Internet. Reflecting on my current situation and my reliance on the
Internet as a valuable educational resource, as well as a source of entertainment and a social networking tool, I can begin
to understand students’ fascination with it. The youth of today have grown up with technology that was only beginning
to develop when today’s teachers were young. I believe it’s fair to say that the students we teach have never
known a world without the Internet, text messaging, iPods, television, and DVDs.
Since our students have grown up in this fast-paced world, it seems reasonable to appeal to their interests by incorporating
the technology that they know and love into the classroom environment. Including this technology in the classroom may be a
good way to hook students and get them more interested in the unit of study.
Pros, Cons & Precautions
Based on the research I’ve conducted on this topic, I have created an at-a-glance list of some of the pros and cons
that should be taken into account when using the Internet and technology in the classroom.
Pros
- The Internet provides many resources to help teachers develop interesting lesson plans and activities for students.
- Through the Internet, students can receive more support with their homework and assignments, through class web pages,
blogs, and peer feedback.
- The use of technology in the classroom may enable teachers to engage students by allowing them to take an in-depth look
at the issue being studied - through video, sound, and images, for example.
- Some researchers suggest that students may actually be reading and writing more, but in non-traditional ways:
through email, online diaries/blogs, applications like MSN Messenger, and social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace
(Witte, 2007).
- Students’ engagement with technology will surely lead to the creation of an extremely media-literate generation.
- The use of technology in the classroom, and the examination of media with a critical eye, connects directly to the Media
Literacy strand of the Ontario Language Arts curriculum.
Cons
- Some suggest that reading and writing skills are on the decline among the youth of today – and that the Internet,
iPods, video games, and television are to blame for this.
- Students have much easier access to summarized versions of books, pre-written essays, and thus are able to plagiarize
assignments with ease.
- Some teachers fear, and some students even admit (PBS, 2008) that reading has decreased since the age of the Internet
and resources like sparknotes.com.
- Technology is beginning to dominate education and may now be taking the place of the development of important social skills
(Monke, 2004).
- Computers and technology have a very high cost associated with them, which means that not all schools may be able to afford
these resources. Is this fair?
Precautions to Take with Technology in the Classroom
→ While technology can help to reinforce concepts learned in a lesson or get students more engaged in a writing (Kara-Soteriou,
Zawilinski & Henry, 2007), it also has the potential to give students more access to sources that could help them to plagiarize
a writing assignment, or inhibit them from coming up with their own creative ideas (PBS, 2008).
→ Teachers need to be aware of the fact that websites such as sparknotes.com, offer students easy access to book summaries
and pre-written essays; resultantly, teachers must be wary of where the ideas in students’ essays or written assignments
are coming from. The solution to this problem may be to reduce take-home essays and research projects, and encourage students
to think critically about the books and issues being studied in class. This may mean having students do more in-class writing,
which may be a positive thing as it provides students with access to teachers and peers, who can help to support the development
of creative ideas.
→ If encouraging students to use blogs or social networking sites to supplement their learning in the language arts
classroom, to publish students’ work, or to seek peer feedback, teachers must be wary of the dangers of the Internet
(e.g. online predators, privacy issues, cyber-bullying) and must closely monitor these websites to ensure that the content
and discourse is appropriate.
→ When bringing any kind of media into the classroom, or asking students to visit an Internet site for educational purposes,
teachers must be ensure that the material is appropriate for the age and maturity level of students.
As previously discussed, there are many conflicting views regarding the effects of the Internet on writing and literacy. Whatever
side of this debate a teacher may favour, all teachers of language arts need to be aware of these issues. After looking closely
at the resources that are now at the fingertips of students and teachers, it is clear that technology and the Internet is
something that should be taken into consideration when planning lessons, activities, and assessments for use in the classroom.
When teaching in the classroom of the 21st century, the decision to actively include technology in lessons, or just to be
aware of the resources that are now available to students is up to the discretion of each language arts teacher, but it is
my opinion that at the very least, the latter must be kept in mind.
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