EDU352, Journal - Technology Integration Matrix

At the stage of Authentic Transformation in the Technology Integration Matrix, “Students explore and extend the use of technology tools to participate in projects and higher order learning activities that have meaning outside of school”. This use of technology is perhaps one of the most important and influential for students. As teachers, we often hear, “that’s great, but how am I going to use this, ever, in my life?” Providing students with the opportunity to take the lesson and extend it outside the classroom, to discover that relevant connection for themselves, is empowering and engaging—and appropriate use of technology can help accomplish that goal.

As a younger college student, this use of technology is what helped to keep me engaged in my statistics course. Inputting formulas in Microsoft Excel and making graphs and charts really held no interest for me, despite my aptitude for it. Midway through the course, however, we were given an assignment to build a graph with data we found on the internet. That was it.

All deaf patients should be provided with an interpreter when receiving
medical services. The discovery of this story fueled my statistics assignment,
and my interest in the field.
Photo credit: http://signlanguageco.com/temp/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Medical-f.jpg

Around that time, a story had been published in a local newspaper about a Deaf woman that had a medication mix up because the hospital failed to provide her with an interpreter, and her seven-year-old hearing daughter was relied upon to communicate between her mother and the hospital staff.  The hospital claimed that they were understaffed, and simply had no interpreter to provide.

Using this newspaper article to fuel my assignment, I gathered data on the interpreter-to-deaf ratio in the state, as well as interpreter programs that lead to licensure in the state, and created a series of charts and graphs to illustrate the need for more Sign Language interpreter programs in colleges in Iowa, to produce more interpreters. I had never been more engaged in statistics before then, and my interest has remained in the years since, extending into my career in the education field (interpreting statistics provided by state and local education agencies, and the option of gathering, interpreting, and presenting data to the school board should I ever need to make a point).

This experience has also informed my views on what great teaching looks like. I think that every student should be given the opportunity to extend their thinking beyond the classroom in practical and passionate ways. As a teacher, this level of technology integration is what I would ultimately hope to achieve (assuming I’m teaching in a typical ed classroom). In the description of the environment of a Transformation Level  classroom, the Florida Center for Instructional Technology says it “includes technology tools and online resources that allow for student engagement with the local or global communities”.

One example that I have always used in ideas for lesson plans involving technology is the opportunity to use Skype, or a similar videoconferencing tool, to connect with national or international peers—taking pen pals to a whole new level.

Students use videoconferencing technology to have a conversation
with NASA's Mission Control.
Photo credit: http://www.mdjonline.com/view/full_story/21359679/article-Far-out
-%E2%80%94-Elementary-students-video-conference-with-NASA

It could be used for students at any grade level: a younger elementary class reading the book “Flat Stanley” could mail their Stanley to a cooperating class in another city, state, or country; upper elementary or middle school students could discuss differences in culture and language (in a class setting, or more one-on-one like instant messaging); high school students could collaborate on specific projects with local or international peers, like discussing thoughts on foreign policy in a government or business class. The goal is to get students—or at least, their minds and their work—outside of the classroom. As a student, it is sometimes difficult to gain perspective on how a lesson affects the outside world without being given the opportunity to apply the lesson in a controlled setting.  One of our jobs as teachers should be to make the effort to give students these opportunities, providing for them interaction with and access to the wider world outside of the classroom, so that they will have the tools and skills to make an impact on the world.