The Good and Bad of Technology Integration

Technology Integration in the classroom is something teachers deal with on a daily basis. It is the actuality of living and teaching in today's urban society. The article "Linking Technology, Learning and School Change" by, Alan Feldman, Bob Coulter and Cliff Konold, discusses one particular teacher's journey to technology integration in his classroom. William took the initiative to work toward a smooth transition, which did not happen over night. It took a lot of work and cooperation with many people to make it happen; including Laura who concentrated less on hardware and wires and more on integration . It also took several years before he was able to work with technology so easily that it truly enhanced his unit and lesson plans. The point is that it did enhance his lessons. His classroom was able to cooperatively learn with other classrooms around the country and thus gained a much more accurate and deeper understanding of the lessons William had taught them.

Unfortunately this type of integration can only happen in a school that is lucky enough to have technology support and sufficient in-school computers. The funding is just not there in many communities, although there are people, like Nicholas Negroponte, who are working to make computers more accessible to all individuals. He is spearheading a project called One Laptop Per Child. If we are able to overcome the financial limitations, I believe it is just a matter of time before all classrooms are technologically integrated.