Instructional Technology and Media

                 Instructional technology and media are part of the “wave of the future” and for good reasons. All I hear in seminars is that students are wired differently today. This belief is based on the fact that many have technology all around them on a daily basis. They have access to the World Wide Web at home, while gaming, or even watching their favorite movies streamed via Netflix. They are bombarded with technology in many hand held devices such as iPods, iPads, tablets, and even smart phones. There are very few students who don’t have one of the devices that I mentioned. Many of them are getting these devices while they are very young. Now compare that type of world to their educational settings. Sometimes technology ends when they walk into a classroom. Many school districts can’t afford, or will not allow their students to use technology in school. That is why many believe students are not doing well in school.

          The instructional technology and media that is available to school districts and teachers seems to be endless. It is often difficult to try and look through all the options that are available to find something that will work for your classroom while also adhering to state guidelines. In our district, Mesa Public Schools, we are lucky as some of this research is done for us. We have instructional specialists who search for technology and instructional material that will meet state standards. Many teachers also supplement that by continuing to search on their own. The reason all this research is necessary is our students. Students have many different learning styles. Some can listen to a lecture and understand the information. Some can follow along while watching a video and that helps them understand. Others need a hands on approach to make the material stick. With all these different learning styles, various approaches to the lesson need to be discovered. The wonderful thing about technology is that it is right there at our fingertips. If a teacher has a lesson planned and all the students understood the material, she may want to look up some additional information to further supplement the lesson. That can be done on the fly without taking up too much class time. A teacher never knows for sure how much time the students will need to fully comprehend the material. If she thought it would take longer and had multiple ways to present the material she may want to hold off on presenting it all and move on to something that would enrich the lesson. On the other hand, if the students didn’t understand the material, having this back up of other methods would help the students even if it took several days. As a teacher, one has to have several modes of instruction planned for each lesson. Gone are the days when a teacher lectured, the students took notes, and the material was absorbed without any other method of delivery.

           Another method that could use technology would be to have students use an interactive board for a writing class. Students could use the board when editing a paragraph so they could physically move the sentences around. They would be able to change the location of sentences within the paragraph and see that the paragraph flows more smoothly. The same type of approach could be used when having the students identify parts of speech. A student may have to physically move a word into the correct category on the interactive board to show their understanding. Having the students listen to a speech by the original speaker would add to the lesson. When we were discussing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. what he stood for, why he had a holiday named for him; we discussed his famous speech. We read through the words and tried to understand what it meant to the people during that time. The students had a discussion and came up with some good ideas. Then we listened and watched the speech and it opened up a whole new discussion. Many students had never seen Dr. King in anything but a still photo and most had never heard his voice. The students noted his booming voice, the clothing worn, and the police presence-things that were not brought up in the original discussion. The impact on the class intense and the discussion went on for several days. With all the new technology and media available, students should be able to find something that works for them. The teacher is going to have to be more of a facilitator in making sure that many different modes or styles of teaching become part of all lessons.