Class, Oct. 17, 2005

What do we mean when we say we are going to integrate technology? That was the topic on Monday. We discussed three categories where educational uses of technology generally fall. Technology literacy usage would include lessons in which students are asked to learn skills about computers, keyboarding, software and hardware. Another category would include lessons in which students use technology as an additional tool in learning. These are referred to as adaptive uses. The content stays the same, but the tools are updated. Finally, transforming uses would include those more complex lessons where the learning would not be possible but for the technology.

Transforming uses do not come easily to my imagination. Perhaps I just haven't read enough on the subject. Maybe the problem is that my own skills fall somewhere between literacy usage and adaptive. I wonder too, if some content areas lend themselves more readily to this kind of usage than others.

Integration; it seems to me that we will have technological integration when students (and teachers) are just as likely and just as comfortable using computers as we are paper and pencil.