In today’s educational setting, teachers strive to become a proverbial Pied Piper, to reach students’ minds and hearts and to gift them with the power of learning.  However, different students have different learning styles and different needs, and the task of facilitating student learning can be a daunting one.  In the past several years of teaching, I have discovered the answer to this dilemma: technology! 

Therefore, I have been trying to create/use more and more tools/innovations to reach my students through and with technology. Today’s students are definitely of the MTV/X-Box generation.  They are accustomed to music and music videos, fast-paced and interactive graphics, and a constant changing venue of sights and sounds.  The “old” way of teaching just does not reach them as well as it once did; it is alien to their way of life and their experiences, and many find it just plain boring.   New and exciting technology captures their attention and creates an excitement about the learning process.  In addition, to partner with vastly different ways of presenting information, I am also requiring different output from my students.  Instead of creating simplistic, cartoon-like power points, they are creating more professional, analytical presentations that may include sound, music, and video.  

However, as I have moved through the Technology in Schools program, I have seen the need for more:  more advanced skills, more advanced projects, more knowledge on both my part and on their part.  Educators must meet students where they are at, and as students live in a multimedia world, this is the area in which educators must focus in order to impart the greatest knowledge.  Furthermore, as high school students graduate and enter college or the business world, their personal repertoire of skills needs to meet growing technology demands.  This is the future:  creating students who can meet the demands of an ever-increasing technological world. 

Diverse teaching strategies, which factor in different learning styles, can ensure success for all students. Teachers should act as facilitators and guide student learning along the paths that their individual mentalities and interests lead them.

One of the most prominent educational philosophies in the forefront today is Differentiation.  Differentiated instruction believes that learning should be active, authentic, meaningful, student-centered, and teacher facilitated.  One of the key concepts in the differentiation vocabulary is choice: students' choice in process, product, and/or content.  Technology is the greatest gift to the differentiated classroom. 

For example, in a "Heroes of Early Britain" thematic unit, I use Beowulf as my core text and give students a choice for the supplemental texts that they read with the core text.   (This was a unit that was actually planned during my Technology and Assessment class - Performance Task) Some of the supplemental material is in their textbook, but some of it is located online at sites such as Project Gutenberg.  Other sites, such as LibriVox, have audio selections that can be listened to for free or for a nominal charge. Once students have read their supplemental text, they are given a choice of projects, with most of the choices involving technology to varying degrees (Project Sheet). For instance, students can choose WebQuests such as the Beowulf and King Arthur WebQuest that I created for this unit after I took Learning with the Internet, or they can use MovieMaker, PowerPoint, or Audacity to create their own unique projects, similar to the audio project that I created in the Introduction to Digital Media Class.  They can also use Inspiration to create a contrast and compare outline of their two reading selections (Student Sample - initial stages) to help them organize their information. Many times this unit is the first time that students have been exposed to these technologies.  It is very gratifying to see them experience the same kind of excitement that I did when I first learned of all of the tools and innovations available in the field of technology.  Because technology is such a vast and varied resource, students have  many different avenues to create a meaningful project or reach a goal through a desired format. Audio learners can choose to listen to a text, or visual learners may choose to complete a project using Inspiration.  Technology supports all learning styles and all learners. 

Learning is both a social and individual task that asks both groups and individuals to construct knowledge through active participation in meaningful activities.  This belief is validated by the Constructivist Learning Theory.  According to Borich and Martin, "Constructivism is an approach to teaching and learning in which learners are provided the opportunity to construct their own sense of what is being learned by building internal connections or relationships among the ideas and facts being taught" (7), and oftentimes students are able to more thoroughly construct their own knowledge through the use of and partnership with technology.  Technology can be active, constructive, intentional, authentic, and cooperative (Jonassen 10), and with innovations being marketed at a higher rate than ever before, there is a technological tool that can meet every student at whatever educational level he or she happens to be. 

For example, for my Honors' students, a formal research paper is one of the benchmarks that must be met before they can move on to College English.  They must first pick a topic, and through step by step instruction, they complete the research process (procedural rubric).  As they learn how to use online research tools such as EBSCOHost, FirstSearch, and other online data-gathering methods like online surveys, they are constructing their own knowledge of that particular topic.  I, as their teacher, am not telling them how to think or what to think about that topic; they are forming their own opinion, and as such, their final product, the paper, will have more meaning for them because it is a  personal opinion on a topic of their choice.  In this case, learning with technology is an important part of the assignment. 

Another example would be an American Poetry WebQuest that I created to give students a chance to explore their own poetical preferences.  In this WebQuest, students, working in groups, are able to choose verse that speaks to them, that builds on a topic that they may already know something about.  For instance, students who are knowledgeable about the Civil War period or the life of Abraham Lincoln, may not realize that the poem by Walt Whitman "O Captain, My Captain" was written in response to the assassination of Lincoln.  They are able to take pre-existing knowledge (scaffolding) and go to the next level to make new information make sense.  In essence, technology helps them to make sense of their world (or of what we ask of them). 

Of course, learning from technology can also make for an interesting, meaningful lesson.  Again, using poetry as an example, there is a poem by Alfred Noyes that is really quite beautiful, but students often cannot get past the repetition in the poem to understand the poem itself.  So, using PowerPoint to create slides, and then transferring those slides to MovieMaker, I made the poem into a multimedia presentation that students remember, and in fact, "stop by" the next year during a study hall when they know I am showing "The Highwayman" presentation again.  This type of affective learning may be difficult to achieve, but when it is, it is so meaningful - both in an educational sense and a personal sense.

Real task assessments should be used to gage success in every content area. Rote memorization, drill and practice activities, and a narrowed subject-centered curriculum leave no room for personalization of content or student initiative. Emphasis should be on higher-order thinking skills and knowledge in order to assure the optimum learning experience. The higher category on the Bloom's scale that  students are expected to achieve at, the more appropriate and meaningful the task can be. 

Using technology also helps to motivate low-achieving students and enables them to be more successful.  For instance, using a simple game of PowerPoint Jeopardy or SMART Board technology and "clickers" can help engage students because it gives them immediate feedback.  They become engaged, educational stakeholders; being successful becomes more meaningful for them, and they even have fun at it.

One example of creation that I use as a formative assessment for my low and struggling readers is a product created from a radio play "Sleepy Hollow."  Completing this product lets them create their own version of the radio play while keeping the basic elements of a short story in their minds.  They create the slides, the music, and perform all of the voices and the sound effects and combine it all into a multimedia presentation.  Then, the final project for this unit is an original ghost story (performance assessment rubric) that they can incorporate their own beliefs and ideas, as well as knowledge gained from previous activities. Through these activities, students are constructing their own meaning of the story and end up with a product that inherently shows a deeper meaning than a simple pen and paper test would. They are able to relate Ichabod's life to their own because through this play, they immerse themselves into his life. Whether it is through a fear of the unknown, the desire for something unattainable, or through understanding the feeling of being bullied, they all end up empathizing with the main character. 

After going through this program, I realize that using technology has so many more meanings than what I originally thought. Technology is a teacher, a tool, a means to achieve desired results.  It allows for differentiation, for creativity, for self-discovery, for sharing, enhancing, and creating knowledge.  Additionally, as one who has been fortunate to go through a program such as this one, I believe that it has given me the tools to "spread the wealth" so to speak.  When I see my students responding to new techniques and tools, I also see the  need to help other teachers understand the opportunities for using technology and the implications for student achievement. 

During my coursework in Diffusion of Educational Innovations, I realized that I have been and am a change agent.  In examining my role in my building and reviewing my actions through the assigned Case Study, it is obvious that the role of a change agent comes somewhat naturally;  I get so excited when using technology that I have never stopped to consider the multitude of beneficial, long-reaching consequences of my actions.  According to Everett Rogers, " Diffusion is a kind of Social change, defined as the process by which alteration occurs in the structure and function of a social system.  When new ideas are invented, diffuses, and are adopted or rejected, leading to certain consequences, social change occurs" (6). Because of my efforts, innovations have been adopted by my department and even a large part of the faculty - change has occurred.  For instance, several departments, as well as the English Department, regularly run papers through a detection system. 

In addition to acting as a change agent for my department and school, I have also taken my knowledge of technology and learning, and combined it with a current hot topic in education - technology.  For example, a co-worker and I presented at the Illinois Association of Teachers of English this past fall.  The topic was how to combat plagiarism at the secondary level. The presentation consisted of a PowerPoint "Plagiarism: Caught Red-Handed" that was compiled and condensed from various online and text sources, and properly cited. Much of what provided the impetus for this presentation can be attributed to the Diffusion of Educational Innovations course. The knowledge stage of diffusion is so exciting, and during the presentation, we could see teachers getting excited about having a specific plagiarism policy and having the technology tools to support it. 

At this present time, I am currently working with a Dreamweaver created template and Drupal (an open source content management platform) in order to assist in facilitating a Webpage workshop at my building next week (February 29). This will be a new tool for me, but the curriculum director asked me to learn how to use Drupal because she knew I felt confident working with web design.  It appears to be a fairly easy web tool that will enable teachers with little to no knowledge of web design to create fairly simple Webpages.  Personally, though, I am looking forward to exploring the new Microsoft Expression series, Microsoft's advanced design line that is replacing FrontPage.  In technology...the future is fun and well as educational!

This graduate program has really changed how I view myself as an educator and a facilitator.  I, obviously, perform an active role, that of a facilitator for both students and peers. 

Teachers + Technology + Students = Success for All

Works Cited

Borich, Gary D., and Martin L. Tombari.  Educational Assessment for the Elementary and Middle School Classroom. New Jersey: Pearson, 2004.

Jonassen, David H., et al. Learning to Solve Problems with Technology. 2nd Ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2003.

Rogers, Everett M. Diffusion of Innovations.  4th Ed. New York: Free Press, 1995.

Schultz, Lynn. "Bloom's Taxonomy." 2007. Old Dominion University 10 February 2008. <http://www.odu.edu/educ/llschult/blooms_taxonomy.htm>.

Tomlinson, Carol Ann. "Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom: Strategies and Tools for Responsive Teaching." Baltimore: ASCD, 2003.

Technology Concept Map

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Inspiration File