Using Technology in the Classroom

When I'm asked how I feel about using technology in the classroom I have to admit that I am pulled in two directions. On the one hand I see the potential for its use. I have so many ideas about using technology as a resource for teaching ESL students. For instance, I could use technology to do video conferencing with English speakers from all over the world to showcase the variety of dialects my students will encounter. I believe that real life situations in the classroom can be used to drastically increase authenticity of curriculum, which I am a fan of. There is also software that can work with students on pronunciation. Another idea I was thinking about is the use of a blog as a resource for my students. I could keep a daily blog about class and what was covered so that my students could choose to self study. I could have links to everything we did in class like power points, worksheets, maybe videos of discussions, so that way students could have the opportunity to stay with the class if they have to be absent.

But on the other hand I think about my students and then I get bummed out because they probably will never get to use anything like that in their classrooms. I teach adult refugees in a non-profit organization. The class fee is $20 bucks I think. Few of my students have access to Internet and so it makes me a bit angry I guess. I feel like they are getting the raw end of the deal always. They don't have it at home and our organization doesn't have a lot of money or resources, so we will not be getting computer labs for student use anytime soon. When do they get the chance to use technology?

Anyways, I will come down off my soap box now and conclude with saying that I do think there is a place for technology use in the classroom. I think that online learning can be effective in well constructed formats. I think if an online class is set up so that students and teacher are in good dialog with each other than it can be really beneficial. I think that teacher feedback helps students really get the process of online learning because it's one thing to have a rubric specifying requirements (which I think is important also) but I also think that in the online learning format, those rubrics need to be followed up quickly by some feedback from the teacher. It's hard to understand exactly what is meant sometimes when you are not face to face and able to interact, so feedback to students would help them understand if they are interpreting the rubric the same. In an interview, author Alfie Kohn agrees, "Positive feedback that is perceived as informative is not in itself destructive and indeed can be quite constructive, educationally speaking"(p.14). Also Alderman states, "Feedback is an outcome of evaluation, but it can act as an incentive as well, depending on the type"(p. 268). They continue quoting Wiggins (1993), "Feedback should provide user friendly information about how students are doing and how they might improve"(p. 268).