Integrating Technology in Instruction

These days, teaching inside a classroom is viewed as more effective when appropriate educational technologies are applied properly. A classroom setting where the teacher stands in front of the classroom while discussing the lectures, asking questions to students, and doing pencil-and-paper quizzes is commonly called as the traditional classroom instruction. It is an undeniable fact that many schools, such as those that we have here in the Philippines, still apply this kind of instruction. It is not bad at all. The traditional setting is actually the fundamental technique on how we learn as students; however, the introduction of new teaching strategies and helpful instructional materials in classrooms would make the education in our country so much better.

In LESSON 4 – BASIC CONCEPTS ON INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY IN INSTRUCTION, we could learn many things about the meaning, use, and manifestations of technology in classrooms. One vital definition of this technological integration is given by Pisapia (1994):

“Integrating technology with teaching means the use of learning technologies to introduce, reinforce, supplement, and extend skills... The difference between the classrooms of exemplary users of technology and technology users is the way their classes are conducted. In the exemplary classrooms, student use of computers is woven integrally into the patterns of teaching; software is a natural extension of student tools.”

Nevertheless, technological gadgets such as the computer should not just be physically INSIDE the classroom but be of great help in the teaching-learning process. There should be INTRODUCTION, REINFORCEMENT, SUPPLEMENTATION, and EXTENSION of students’ skills not just in operating the computer, but of the more essential and higher order thinking abilities such as analytical thinking and problem-solving capacity.

I just remembered a story told to me by my friend, who was an English teacher in a foreign school in Quezon City. There was a time when a class of Korean students would not want to listen to her co-teacher, so what that teacher did was to make her students play with their Portable Play Station (PSP) all day long! That was bad! Clearly, this kind of situation is NOT an integration of technology in classrooms for it definitely does not give any benefit to the students’ academic performance.

In relation to this, we could fully recognize the integration of technology into instruction through the following manifestations among others:

·         Changes in the way classes are traditionally conducted

·         Improvement in the quality of instruction achieved with the use of educational technology

·         Planning of the teaching objectives and strategies to address specific instructional issues/problems


Here's a video that demonstrates how technology becomes an effective tool in the classroom.

Teachers can integrate technology into instruction in so many ways that can be categorized into different levels:

SIMPLE/BASIC INTEGRATION

• Using LCD or OHP projectors to show pictures in class
• Allowing students to do projects in Microsoft Office tools such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel to achieve more presentable outputs

MIDDLE LEVEL INTEGRATION

• Introducing simulation games and computer-based materials to introduce a topic
• Presenting the subject using a software
• Allowing students to search for information from the Internet
• Producing leaflets, flyers, and simple printed materials using various computer software

CENTRAL INSTRUCTIONAL TOOL

• Production of newsletter by the students
• Holding video conferences among students from different schools 

Zöe Handley discusses the question of technology

in the classroom makes students more engaged or serves as a distraction.
Zöe is an OUP Research Fellow in Applied Linguistics

at the Department of Education, Oxford University, 

which has recently conducted a systematic review of the research

on the use of new technologies in EFL, 

particularly at primary and secondary level.

A teacher can always make the classroom instruction level up through the use of technology more than just for the presentation of lectures but for the further honing of the skills of her students.

Happy teaching!