RUNNIG HEAD: EDUCATIONAL TEACHNOLOGY PHILOSOPHY 1

Educational Technology Philosophy

Irad W. Lee IV

Carson Newman University

November 2, 2017
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Abstract

Over the year technology has become an important part of our everyday lives, but how

can it be used in a classroom setting? I believe that it not only can help in certain aspects of

teaching, but that it can be used in every aspect to allow for more in depth learning and teaching

on everyones part. With the way that technology is evolving day to day there is no excuse for

teachers to not use technology in todays classroom, in addition, with all the news applications

and other new technologies there should be no excuse to have students who are uninterested in

learning.
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Looking back one can see that technology has come from something ancient to

something innovative and always pushing the boundaries, but what about technology in the

classroom? How far has it come, is it better than it used to be? It is my belief that it is, if not

better in some cases than other technology throughout our life. Personally, my views line up with

the same views of our class book (Maloy). I define educational technology as technology that is

used for educating, improving, and helping students learn more easier and faster. But I do not

think that it is simply just using a PowerPoint or showing a video, instead it should be integrating

websites or applications like Kahoot. So that in the process of students learning they are enjoying

the work instead of hating it. On the professional side of things educational technology is viewed

as technology that involves the disciplined application of knowledge for the purpose of

improving learning, instruction and/or performance (Spector, 2015, as retrieved from

Educational Technology website, 2017).

In todays world we can see that technology is growing and constantly playing a bigger

and bigger role in everyday life and in education. Today, massive amounts of information

(books, audio, images, videos) are available at ones fingertips through the Internet, and

opportunities for formal learning are available online worldwide through the Khan Academy,

MOOCs, podcasts, traditional online degree programs, and more (retrieved from Purdue Online

University website, 2017). As for how technology is affecting the teaching of history, for starters

history teachers no longer have to use old outdated maps, they can use new interactive maps to

ensure students get a full grasp of what something looks like. In addition, virtual reality has also

enhanced how students learn. They no longer have to view boring old pictures instead they can

use VR to immerse themselves into the history of a specific event so they can relive it for

themselves ( retrieved from We are Teachers.com).

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As an up and coming teacher I have often though about how I will use technology in my

classroom. For starters one idea that has come to my mind is to use google drive, to ensure that

students have access to every piece of an assignment that I give them. I also plan to use

interactive website that allow me to test students throughout the school year. One of these

websites would be Kahoot. This website allows me to write my own questions and put them in

the order I want. It also facilitates a sense of competitiveness in the students, so that they

themselves have a drive to do better by beating their fellow students. Another useful technology

is Snapchat, I would like to use this to have my students in one big group chat. Doing this would

allow all my students to have access to each other. In addition I would have them send in various

pictures of interesting historical sites or anything they find while not at school, so that when they

come back we can have an in class discussion about what they found/learned ( iste standard 6,

retrieved from iste.org, 2017).

I would assume that my future students would enjoy my use of technology in my

classroom. When I went through school all my history teachers were great teachers, but they

never really used much of technology while teaching. This often made for a boring classroom, it

is my hope to change that. It is my hope that my students want to be in my classroom, that

throughout the day that look forward to coming to learn history. This is my hope a dream, and I

pray that I can make this happen with the use of technology.

By using technology while teaching it is my hope that my students will become more

intuitive about the world, and by doing so become better at understanding how it world. I

envision them becoming a global collaborator (retrieved from iste.org, 2017) in hopes that they

will seek out the best world possible, while also enlisting the help of other like-minded people.

The world we live in is always changing and thus we the people need to always be changing with
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it, this requires a constant state of understanding and learning of people and their culture, how

they think, and to be willing to work with them to make the world a better place.

Ever since becoming a future educator I have always wondered how will I ensure that all

my students have access to technology. This is because not everyone in the world can afford to

buy a home computer or have a smart phone or tablet. So, an idea of mine would be to have

students check out tablets like they check out books from a library. This is just an idea of course

since some students would most likely not take care of them or keep them/ sell them. However,

if this was to happen then some sort of system would need to be in place to get them back or to

have a fee to pay/ community service hours to do. Then the student would only be allowed to use

said tablet during school hours until they prove they can take it home again.
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Reference Page

Forest, E. (2017, February 21). Definitions of Educational Technology. Retrieved

November 05, 2017, from https://educationaltechnology.net/definitions-educational-technology/

How Has Technology Changed Education? Purdue University Online, 25 Apr. 2017,

online.purdue.edu/ldt/learning-design-technology/resources/how-has-technology-changed-education.

ISTE Standards FORSTUDENTS. ISTE | Standards For Students, www.iste.org/standards/for-

students.

Elizabeth Mulvahill on February 22, 2017 .contest-social .share-links svg, .share-links svg { top: 50%;

left: 0px; } #atftbx p:first-of-type { display: none; } .entry-content .addthis_toolbox, .entr. How One Teacher

Got Started With Virtual Reality in the Classroom. WeAreTeachers, 14 July 2017,

www.weareteachers.com/virtual-reality-classroom/.

Maloy, Robert W. Transforming Learning with New Technologies. Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2011.