Do you remember your 1st grade classroom? Even if you don't you recall the details, it surely contained desks, books, an American flag, a chalkboard and a place to store lunches and coats. Surprising as it seems, classrooms in the early 1800s had these exact same items except for one, the chalkboard. Although students had been using slate lap boards for quite some time, it wasn't until 1840 that chalkboards were first installed in one-room school houses across America. It's hard to believe that this familiar icon to generations of students was, at its debut, a revolutionary change in educational instruction.
This big piece of slate was new technology being put into the classrooms and the teachers needed to learn how to use it. Would the students be allowed to touch the board? How could the teacher write on the board during the school day without completely turning her back to the children? Did teachers find that writing with chalk while standing up was more difficult than while sitting? Where would the teacher stand when writing on the board so she would not be in the way? These were problems that had to be dealt with in order to begin integrating this new piece of technology into their teaching.
Now that schools have TVs, VCRs, DVD players, computers and overhead projectors, it is strange to think of the humble chalkboard as an innovative educational tool. Today, integrating computer technology into the curriculum should be as seamless and unobtrusive as watching someone write on a chalkboard.
When computers began showing up in our classrooms, innovative teachers created new methods for delivering instruction. This was a first step in integrating (computer) technology into the existing curriculum. There is a lot of talk about technology integration in the educational world but just what does it mean to integrate technology into the classroom curriculum and what does it look like? Microsoft PowerPoint is an excellent tool to present lesson ideas, concepts and information in creative and innovative ways but using the computer as a projection tool isn’t integrating the technology into the learning process. There is a big difference between using technology tools while teaching and integrating technology into a lesson.
True technology integration is centered on student learning rather than information dissemination. It takes the learner into the higher order thinking skills. The information is interactive and often is changing. The role of the teacher changes from an instructor to a facilitator. The use of technology is not the focus of the lesson but simply part of the process.
Next month: How will technology affect the roles of teachers and students in public education?