A look into my educational philosophy about technology in the classroom.

1. TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM
H O W M Y P H I L O S O P H Y O N
E D U C AT I O N A L T E C H N O L O G Y H A S
G R O W N

2. OVERVIEW
I think if you asked any new teacher or education
student about technology in the classroom,
you’d be hard-pressed to find one who didn’t
think it had a place today. The problem seems
to always be about how to effectively implement
technology into the classroom to enhance both
the learning and the engagement of students.

3. WHERE I STARTED
At the beginning of the year, I had a very
superficial understanding of how to incorporate
technology into studies, mostly from some, not
so good, teacher modeling. I believed that
putting something on a computer was better
than a book, a SMART board better than a white
board, and an iPad better than a board game.
Things were better purely because of new
technology.

4. KEY CONCEPTS FROM OUR CLASS
• SAMR Model
• Technology and UDL

5. SAMR
Learning about the SAMR model made me really
think about how technology should be used. It
is a great tool for evaluating what a technology
is being used for in your classroom. There are
times when simple substitution may be effective
for increasing student engagement, and other
times when a modification or redefinition will
completely change the way we learn. Whatever
the outcome is, this knowledge of SAMR has
given me a greater understanding of when
technology should be used, and for what
purpose.

6. UDL
Universal Design for Learning has been a key
concept since I started university. Almost every
class talked about how to design lessons to
meet the various needs of students. Learning
about technology and how it relates to UDL
finally gave me concrete tools to help
implement the UDL principals into my
classroom. An example of this is Blendspace. It
is an extremely easy-to-use interface that helps
with multiple means of representation.
Incorporation this tool into the classroom will
help bring audio, visual and written sources
together, helping to meet many students in their
comfort level.

7. CONCLUSION
As my knowledge of technology in education has
grown, I have been able to understand the
integration of this technology better. The two
examples I gave were only a snapshot of what
technology can and should be used for. The
greatest thing technology gives us is the
access to our students; whether it be for UDL
purposes, mlearning environments, or student
engagement, it allows us to connect with them
and provide a situation for their learning to
flourish.