Digital Blog Post L - Integrating Technology in the Classroom

This chapter is all about integration of technology within the class. Integration is the way educators use technology to connect with ideas about the real world and the lessons they are teaching. It means they find ways to incorporate it continuously into the learning experience. It is part of a larger phenomena known as educational change, which refers to the process by which teachers introduce new ideas and patterns into the educational process. The integration of technology is a form of educational change which many have embraced.
One of the most important issues the chapter brought up was the participation gap and digital inequality. Though we often think of the internet today as a necessity, it is astounding that so many students go without access to useful forms of technology for education. In more wealthy households, students are more likely to use the internet every day, and they are able to use it often for a better educational experience it. But poor families - and in particular, poor minorities - are less likely to be able to afford broadband connections. So in recent years they have turned to the smart phone, but due to the differences between the smart phone and typical computer, school work is not as easily done on the smart phone. Thus, it's capacity in education is diminished to an entertainment device. Therefore, as an educator, one of my jobs is to find a way to enhance and embolden the experiences my students have with technology.
Another important issue the chapter discusses is the way technology and our school cultures interact and influence one another. The way schools currently function, technology is limited by the organizational structures in place. The books main point is that change cannot come from the top of the organizational structure downward, rather the ideas should flow from teachers, students, and communities up into administrations...
And one of the cooler terms of this chapter was mindtools, a term created by David Jonassen to describe computer based tools and learning environments that have been adapted to function as intellectual partners with the learner. The concept is about learning with computers rather than through them, and it means that the computer supports the learner through doing and supports exploration, as well as knowledge construction. The computer essentially plays the role of a helper, or friend, and assists in the learning rather than being the tool of learning.

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.