Technology in Education

At the end of the semester add an entry regarding your thoughts on the role of technology in education and learning. How has your view of technology in education changed this semester?

Honestly, I used to be a little scared of technology. And honestly, I still am. However, I've learned a lot this semester and now feel much more comfortable with it. I now know how to use several crucial pieces of technology which can be incorporated into the classroom.

The biggest change in me over the course of the semester was not just my skill level but also my mindset. I supposed I'm old-fashioned in the sense that I think everything should be done manually if possible. I had thought that technology was just a superfluous tool for some people to take advantage of. But now, after this semester, I understand that it is a tool which everyone, including teachers, should know how to use. The biggest reason for this is that students will learn technology whether I like it or not; they are digital natives. I can either choose to go against this or embrace it. I see that trying to stop technological advancements is impossible, so I might as well use them to my benefit. While I had been skeptical, thinking that technology was useless because, after all, a good teacher can teach with nothing other than a chalkboard, I have now realized that technology is simply an aid to teachers and to learning. Good teachers are still necessary, but technology is a valuable aid, one which can incorporate all learning modalities, even more successfully than a teacher and chalkboard can.

I personally wonder how I will use technology in my own classrooms since I will be teaching in Uganda. I used to think that there was no use to even try. But, over the course of the semester, I've discovered that there might be options even for me, such as cheap laptops, creating websites, etc. I really can't wait to see what technology comes out next that I can actually use.