Ed Tech Talk

Is Educational Technology in Our Schools Really Making a Difference?

I read with interest a report commissioned by the State Educational Technology Directors Association regarding technology and its perceived impact in the classroom. The report highlights success stories of statewide and district-wide implementation of technology based on the No Child Left Behind legislation.

I can remember the days when educational technology in the classroom referred to the teacher who integrated an overhead projector with individual overhead sheets instead of the acetate roll attached to the one end of the projector. We then saw our “high-tech” teachers rolling in a VCR and a monitor and playing full segments of a video.

Even though the technology seemed elementary by today’s standards, the teachers who made a difference at that time combined the technology with — at least — additional discussion to make the connection between the technology and the class work.

Today’s technology-savvy educators have a wealth of resources available to them, but are they making the connection? Are they using the technology as a tool, not a crutch? Are there so many technology options that the tools are never mastered, but merely controlled?

When looking over the state report, it became clear to me that the success stories involved teachers’ passion to help both their students and their colleagues. The other was professional development. Successful districts recognized the critical importance of teachers’ continual development in both the use and integration of technology in the classroom.

In its day, chalk and blackboards seemed like an educational technology nightmare for educators trying to figure out the “fit.” Today's educators recognize that the “fit” is not just the use of technology, but its integration in the learning process.

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