Unit VI Reflection - Technology Integration

Before taking this course, I had little to no knowledge of technology integration. I have always known that I planned to use technology in my classroom, but in the past I had no real ideas of how I would integrate this technology. I reviewed several websites for ideas for technology integration, and this website was my favorite. It includes several fun ideas for using technology in the day-to-day classroom routine, such as viewing the weather forecast online each day, using online news sources, and using the internet in the classroom to further research history.

I found this article published on the New York Times website weighing the pros and cons of technology integration in the classroom. Although technology integration does have many, many advantages, there is evidence that test scores have remained stagnant in many areas after integrating technology into the classroom. Technology may not be moving us toward higher test scores, but are standardized tests the most important measure of the effectiveness of technology integration? As is discussed in many of my education courses, teaching to the test is not always effective. If teaching to the test is ineffective, then the test is also not an appropriate measure of the effectiveness of technology.

The use of technology in the classroom is likely to continue to increase in the next several years, and perhaps only time will tell of the effectiveness of technology integration. I can only imagine that as technology becomes more effective in and of itself, the use of technology in the classroom will also become more effective.