13 reasons to use educational technology in lessons

Sometimes you need to convince colleagues to think about using educational technology in their lessons, or to identify where in their scheme of work they could incorporate it.

This list is a starting point: you may find one or two points that would "resonate" with your co-worker, and grab his or her attention.

1. Where information and communications technology (ICT) is taught well, it has been shown to enhance pupils’ levels of understanding and attainment in other subjects. That’s because “real” ICT is more about thinking skills than about mastering particular software applications.
   
   
2. ICT can provide both the resources and the pedagogical framework for enabling pupils to become effective independent learners. For example, computer programs are available that adjust themselves to the pupils’ level and then set appropriate tasks and give feedback on performance. Used wisely, these can help pupils to move on.
   
   Also, newer technologies such as Web 2.0 applications enables pupils and others to collaborate in ways that reflect a broadly constructivist approach to education.
   
   
3. ICT places all learners on an equal footing. Given the right hardware, software and curriculum activities, even severely physically disadvantaged pupils can achieve the same degree of success as anyone else.
   
   
4. ICT has been shown to have benefits in terms of motivating pupils. That comes about partly through factors like being able to produce nice-looking work with no teacher’s red marks all over it, and partly because the computer is seen as being impartial and non-judgemental in its feedback to the pupil.
   
   
5. ICT enables pupils to gather data that would otherwise be difficult or even impossible to obtain. For example, data from inaccessible places (eg outer space), inaccessible times (eg overnight), from both overseas and nationally on demand (without having to physically go anywhere) or data at very precise time intervals.
   
   
6. ICT enables pupils to gather data that would otherwise be time-consuming or costly or both. For example, pupils can use the internet to get up-to-the-minute information on prices. They can use a DVD or the internet to watch movies of old dictators speaking, or the moon landings, or to listen to a piece of music by Mozart.
   
   
7. ICT enables pupils to experiment with changing aspects of a model, which may be difficult or even impossible for them to do otherwise. For example, pupils of Business Studies and Economics can see what might happen to the economy if interest rates were raised or lowered. Pupils can use webcams to capture the development of an egg or a plant.
   
   
8. ICT enables pupils to draft or redraft their work until they are satisfied with it.
   
   
9. Another reason to use ICT in lessons is because it can help to implement personalised learning.
   
   
10. Pupils usually enjoy using computers and other types of technology, so lessons which make use of it start off with an advantage (which is all too often squandered).
    
    
11. Educational technology puts the pupil in control (if it is well-designed), enabling her to personalise the interface, select and create resources, and even choose what to learn.
    
    
12. Just about every aspect of modern life involves educational technology; therefore, to not make use of it in the curriculum is anachronistic.
    
    
13. Because educational technology pervades all aspects of modern society, schools have a duty of care to ensure that pupils understand issues such as keeping safe online, protecting their identity, recognising good and misleading information sources on the internet, the effects of educational technology on communications and the economy, to name but a few issues.

Contribute to the Review of the National Curriculum -- especially if you think ICT is important!

A slightly different version of this article was originally published on 16th January 2008.

Comments

[Dawn Perry]

Thank you so much for posting this list! I am beginning to see more and more what advantages there are to using technology in the classroom but as you said sometimes there are colleagues who need to be convinced. The reasons you listed are great! I am currently working toward earning my Master's degree in Integrating Technology into the Classroom. We recently learned the idea that there is a difference between using technology to do things differently and using technology to do different things. I think that is a great point. So far in my career I have been using technology to do things differently such as teaching with Power Point presentations. Doing this has seemed to make my students more interested but if I could also make the switch to using technology to do different things I could bring my students to a new level. We all know that the world they live in is different from the world we grew up in and it is our responsibility to keep up with our changing society. I want to work toward having the students use technology more. I teach 2nd grade so sometimes I have a hard time with this but I am open to new ideas!

[GVSUJohn]

What a perfect way to sum up all of the reasons why we need to integrate technology into our instruction. The first point you make on ICT being more about thinking skills than mastering software applications/programs truly highlights an important issue with ICT in schools. Every school seems to have different software programs and it is vital that we teach students the thinking skills to effectively run different types of software. For example, look at all of the different word processing programs that are out there today (Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Open Office, etc.). When a school decides against purchasing a new form of Microsoft Word and transition to Google Docs, our students must have word processing skills and the ability to problem solve and explore new software.

One of the other great benefits of using ICT in the classroom is how it can expand the knowledge that both students and teachers have of their subject. I just recently finished teaching a unit on the History of the Ottoman Empire and would have been lost if I didn’t have the ability to bring in movies and a webquest into my instruction. ICT saved me from a 2 week unit of lecture, lecture, lecture, so I will always be sure to integrate ICT into my unit planning in my career.

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

@Dawn Thanks for your comment, Dawn, and I'm glad you found the list useful. I think you put your finger on a fundamental issue, the difference between doing the same things more efficiently, on the one hand, and doing entirely different things on the other. For me, the excitement of technology is the latter. The efficiency angle is necessary, and it frees people up to have more time for the creative stuff, but it's the doing different things that makes it worth getting out of bed in the mornings!

I think the key way to achieve this involves letting go: give the technology to the students and other (non-tech) teachers, and see what happens.
Terry

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

@GVSUJohn thanks for commenting. Yes, I think what's important is both transferable skills, which means understanding what you're doing at a deeper level than simply knowing which menu items to click on, and thinking skills, which for me includes evaluating, discussion, thinking about audience and fitness for purpose and so on.

Your unit sounds very exciting in format: the Ottoman Empire is not somnething I ever got fired up about! But I think had my teacher used video and web quests (which I love), it would have been a different story.
Terry