Integrating Technology in the Classroom: Takes More Than Just Having Computers

1.     This article discusses the importance and even the necessity of incorporating technology into the classrooms. It also points out that technology should actually be incorporated into core subjects and not separated into a once in a while “technology” project. The key is to find projects that blend into the everyday learning of the school.

2.     Many teachers want to incorporate technology into their classes, but feel that they don’t have the expertise. The teachers need to be able to find the time to learn how to use the tools, which will allow them to incorporate technology into their existing curriculum.

3.     There are many websites that are quite easy to use and intuitive for teachers to introduce to their students. Using existing websites for teaching is a good way to begin to incorporate technology into their lessons without undergoing any training.

In the library, a good way to easily introduce technology would be to use an e-blast that all the students receive to their student email account each day or each week. In addition to  having any pertinent library news such as new books or activities occurring at the library, a librarian could easily hyperlink one or two interesting websites to the emails just in the body of the email.

It would be good to include websites that would be appealing to both students with an interest in math and also those who are interested in history or reading. One good site is called Math Forum, which can be found at http://mathforum.org/pows/. Once on the site, students could go to whichever math topic interests them, such as Algebra, Geometry or Calculus and do some fun problems and quickly check the solutions.  USA today manages a site called Today in History at the address: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/lhistory.html . Students could click on the link and be directed to the site that explains what was going on in the U.S. and also the world that day. What is nice about using hyperlinks to websites, is that there is little no no upkeep that the librarians have to do other than including the hyperlink the first time. Since the links connect to actively managed websites, the same link will take the students to a new website on a daily or weekly basis. Hyperlinks can easily be included in an email by highlighting a key word or phrase, such as click here and then right clicking on a Mac or Control clicking on a PC, which will open up a window where the librarian can simply paste the copied URL of the website.

Starr, Linda. (2011, June 12). Integrating Technology in the Classroom: Takes More Than Just Having Computers. EducationWorld. Retrieved July 7 2013, from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech146.shtml.