Technology

The use of technology in the classroom is a current and widely researched issue. Whilst there are many advantages from incorporating technology into the literacy teaching program, one needs to ensure that the technology is used appropriately and effectively to improve the motivation, engagement and skills of our students. It is possible for technology to be used poorly and when considering using technology in the classroom it is important to ask the question 'is this the best or most worthwhile way of students completing this task?' The most important aspect of using technology in the classroom is understanding the potential, benefits and opportunities presented when considering implementing new technologies.

Some teachers may feel uncomfortable or reluctant to use new technologies in their teaching program due to lack of experience, understanding and knowledge about using these types of technologies, or possibly due to lack of support and availability of equipment required. There are many schools who understand the importance of allowing their students access to technology in their classroom and school environment, and who therefore are updating equipment when possible and who provide much needed support and professional development sessions for teachers on how to make best use of technology in teaching.

One particular journal article titled “Technology support for whole class engagement” (published in Journal of the Research Centre for Educational Technology and accessed via: [] ) details a case study which "explored the effects of technologies designed for whole class use on third grade students’ engagement in learning activities." The case study researched the levels of engagement of students in the class when completing tasks involving no technology compared to tasks incorporating different types of technology. The technologies which were used in the investigation were a document camera, wireless writing pads and a student response system all which were linked to a presentation system for large screen display. The study identifies that "engagement is linked with emotion and motivation". It is important to note that the study was focusing on engagement of the whole class rather than individuals. Data about student engagement was collected using two methods - Student self reflection and observations of lessons by researchers.

"The results of this case study suggest that the use of technologies designed to support group participation in classroom activities can increase students’ engagement in those activities. During focus groups and in their written comments, students consistently reported that the use of technology made learning “more fun” and that the technologies helped them to learn because they made the work “more interesting” and made them “pay more attention”. Teacher interview data supported this finding.  The findings, especially the results from student self-report data, also give some indication that engagement increases as active participation increases.  Increasing means in the self-report data particularly suggest that student engagement can increase relative to the degree to which such technologies support participant interaction. Such findings also suggest an explanation for the significantly greater engagement found in lessons during which the student response system was used. The student response system made it possible for all students to actively participate in whole class activities all the time, whereas the document camera and the writing pads only allow for active participation some of the time." (http://rcetj.org/index.php/rcetj/article/view/41/104)