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The 21st Century is a time of unprecedented digital and technological advancements.

Human beings no longer exist in purely physical forms: they have online lives that can be rich,

complex, and expansive. Students and young people are hugely active online and the current

generation of K-12 students has never lived in a world without an omnipresent internet. This

technology explosion can, and indeed must, be harnessed by educators. This wiki document was

collaboratively created by me and four other master’s students: Teresa Worthy, Amy Settles,

Amanda Swanson, and Karen Deaton. It demonstrates our shared understandings of a wide

variety of ways to effectively use technology in the classroom.

Students spend an enormous amount of time (about 23 hours per week on average)

playing video games (Dawley, 2006). While this number is staggering, teachers should take

heart: games can have a variety of benefits for students. Games can improve collaborative,

communication, problem solving, and number related skills (Gee, n.d.). This document discusses

ways to incorporate those benefits with other non-game technologies such as GoogleApps, which

also provide opportunities for students to collaborate in new ways.

The lives of students today are completely integrated with the internet and its use (Green

& Hannon, 2007). If teachers do not embrace the uses of technology in their classrooms, they

will find themselves fighting their students’ desire to use technology at every turn. There are a

multitude of reasons to use technology in the classroom. For one thing, the use of multimedia

platforms improves students’ comprehension and interest in the material (Brady, 2004). This

may partly be due to the fact that technology lends itself seamlessly to a diversity of delivery

models. As this document explains, students can access visual, auditory, and hands-on (or

kinesthetic) activities easily through technology.

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Students are also heavily involved in social media and there is an ever growing need to

educate students about their safety and their responsibilities on the internet. While social media

may not be the first thing one thinks of when considering the benefits of using technology in

school, it can actually be a very important tool for students. According to the National School

Board Association (2007) more than half of students report using social media sites to discuss

school or academics. As this document suggests, students have a need to collaborate and an

understanding of how academic collaboration works through technology. From Cloud

Applications to sites like Voicethread, students can access and contribute to each other’s work

through technology in an organic and semi-independent way.

Students are motivated to use technology and technology, when used wisely, can benefit

them academically. Therefore, it is crucial that teachers develop ways to incorporate technology

into their classrooms.

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References

Brady, J. (2004). More than just fun and games? Applied Clinical Trials. Retrieved from

http://www.actmagazine.com/appliedclinicaltrials/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=131503

Dawley, H. (2006). Time-wise, internet is now tv’s equal. Media Life. Retrieved from

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/cgi-

bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=170&num=2581

Gee, J. (unpublished manuscript). Why are video games good for learning? Academic Co-Lab.

Retrieved from http://www.academiccolab.org/resources/documents/MacArthur.pdf

Green, H. & Hannon, C. (2007). Their space: education for a digital generation. Retrieved from

http://www.demos.co.uk/files/Their%20space%20-%20web.pdf

National School Board Association (2007). Creating & connecting: Research and guidelines on

online social — and educational — networking. Alexandria, VA.