+Technology Infused

Lessons

Technology Boot Camp

DPS — 2012

By Kathleen Isberg

+Introduction

There is a need to create curriculum in which educational technology and technology literacy are integrated directly into the classroom teacher’s literacy unit and lesson plans.

With the integration of technology into daily instruction, it is possible to create an inclusive student-centered urban elementary classroom with differentiated content and instruction that compliments a student’s:

a. varied background experiences, b. cognitive abilities, and c. multiple learning styles.

1. Technology is an important tool used at all levels of human production and interaction.

2. Being literate no longer describes a student’s ability to read, write or do math.

3. Being literate describes the content, strategies and skills needed to understand and manipulate knowledge across a multitude of subject areas.

4. Literacy is being redefined to encompass all the

skills needed to communicate and transfer knowledge using language, print, and digital media.

Until recently, the focus of educational technology has been on how the integration of technology could facilitate instructional processes.

More recently, educational technology encompasses the uses of technology to: (a)deliver instruction and content with an emphasis in

authentic real-world tasks, (b)assess a learner’s knowledge and skill, (c) develop curricular instructional design based on desired

results, (d)evaluate the success of learning target, and (e)document learner knowledge and performance (Reiser,

2001).

We have long known that making connections between and among the disciplines provides the setting for increased understanding, retention, and application (Palmer, 1995, p. 55).

+An Integrative Discipline

Technology, by its very nature, touches all facets of society. It can be considered a universal that permeates culture.

Gagel (1997) supported this notion of “there is a dimension of technology, like literacy, that is culturally universal . . . the ubiquitous occurrence of technology (like language) in human cultures”.

The universal, society-permeating nature of technology makes it very difficult to focus and organize technology education curriculum.

In 1995, Wiens stated, “technology cannot be studied in isolation. Technology is a social process that occurs within a social, environmental, economic, and political milieu”.

Technology, being ubiquitous, offers a robust opportunity for connections with all areas of study in the schools.

Many have suggested that technology education is, by nature, interdisciplinary (Erekson & Johnson, 1989; Herschbach, 1995; Loepp, 1991; McHaney & Barnhardt, 1989; Welty, 1989).

In 1998, Liao stated that “[s]ince technology education includes the study of how technology works and is designed and how it interacts with other societal systems, only an interdisciplinary approach to its study is appropriate.” He further noted, “…one of the unique features of technology studies is that it is an integrative discipline”.

Has the time come for technology education to establish its position in the educational community by exploiting its integrative uniqueness?

Technology education has the potential to fully integrate interrelated fields of study.

This potential for the integration of technology literacy in all content promises overall improvement of education.

Integrating the subjects in schools to provide a sense of connectedness is grounded in “contemporary research on cognitive theory” and many educators “have come to realize the limitations of teaching in relative isolation” (LaPorte & Sanders, 1995, p. 195).

Curriculum integration can improve the effectiveness of education.

The Integration Of Educational Technology Has Been Impeded By Many Issues

Administrative and community support of technology integration

Technology resources available to the teacher

A teacher’s technological literacy knowledge

Acceptance of technology in the classroom as a tool of assessment and feedback and as a tool of differentiation and engagement

A teacher’s ability to determine what, when, and how to use technology in the classroom

The rapidly changing technology environment