Saturday, March 26, 2016

Understanding ‘meaningful technology integration’ by Sadik.

Blog 10

Sadik(2008)  defined meaningful integration of technology “as curricula utilizing authentic tasks that intentionally and actively help learners to construct their own”  knowledge. The thing that resonated with me was “Integration is defined not by the amount or type of technology used, but by how and why it is used” (p.488) as in my experience while working with technology I have constantly found this statement to be true. Sadik (2008) says that  “many teachers worldwide are not able to adopt technology for teaching and learning tasks, and the gap between technology presence in schools and its effective use is too wide”(p. 488). And this strongly affects the belief of the teacher when working with technology. In my previous school teachers without computers background took technology as time consuming for teaching.  
From my previous experiences as a teacher I have found that there is an urgent need for teacher training in integration of  technology in a classroom. And I agree with Sadik(2008) when he says “professional development of teachers should provide continuous opportunities for teachers to align technology with the curriculum and collaborate and learn from peers who integrate technology into the teaching of other subjects. (p. 503)
The problem with integration is not the solution in hand but the strategy of integrating the solution. And I believe that, while working for how technology will affect the education, we should also look for, how it will affect the key person who delivers the education that is, the teacher. And if the key person is not trained then I don’t think that technology is going to change anything at all in a classroom. But beyond the classroom, technology is working fine.

Reference
Sadik, A. (2008). Digital storytelling: A meaningful technology-integrated approach for engaged student learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 56(4), 487-506. doi:10.1007/s11423-008-9091-8



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