Tech+Integration

My first reflection on the video Anytime, Anywhere: Online Learning Shapes the Future, is that I was unaware that online classrooms had spread beyond College and are such a part of the secondary education process. To see that high school students can select from classes that were previously unavailable to them, or that they could use online classes for catch up or to work full time while in school, or to further their education is still somewhat unbelievable. Beyond this lack of knowledge comes the shock that these online courses are being used to fill in where there is not a teacher available. If there are no math teachers than we turn to online learning? While this method of online learning may work for some are there students we are not connecting with? Directly in line with this is the cost effectiveness of online tools. If it is cheaper for schools to use online learning programs then have a teacher present within the classroom what does that say for the future of my chosen profession. If someone develops a tool that will teach students literature, is my job in jeopardy? The importance of technology integration is exactly that; that it is an integration, not a complete substitution. I can and have definitely seen the benefits of integration in terms of visual understanding of a time and place within literature that may be hard to otherwise understand. As well, poetry can be served better through oral readings or with a biography and reasoning behind a work as only told by the author. A digital story board can help students develop their own understanding of a studied work as well as show off their grammar. More integrations include taking roll, learning the students names associated with pictures, and communicating with students outside of the building. These are just some of the many ways that I have witnessed and plan on using technology within my classroom.