Week 6 - Assignment 2-1 Reader Response Thoughts

The rapid advancements of information and communication technologies make it essential for educators to reevaluate their instructional practices and to think of new ways to integrate technology in their classroom. Many teachers use technology as a digital version of learning resources and fail to integrate technology in a way that facilitates inquiry learning and develops student’s new literacies skills. Education programs should provide professional development opportunities to enhance teacher’s ICTs integration skills. Teachers, of their own volition, should also make sure to learn and be equipped with new literacies skills in order to effectively educate their students in today’s digital era.

Students today use technology in their daily lives and are more motivated and engaged in the learning when technology is integrated in the lesson. Educators should take advantage of the opportunity and should incorporate technology in their classroom to support student’s cognitive skills and content learning. Social networking sites and ICTs provide meaningful ways for educators to enrich students’ learning experiences and to cultivate students’ new-literacy skills. Some educators are afraid of adapting theses technologies for security issues. The internet is not going away, instead of ignoring these issues and restricting the use of these tools, teachers should train their students to participate responsibly, ethically, and safely. Educators can also try to avoid many of their concerns by choosing a social networking site that provides maximum control for teachers to monitor students’ online interaction.

The benefits of incorporating social networking and ICTs are plentiful. Once teachers and administrators get over their initial inhibitions and take advantage of the many tools available, they will very soon discover that these platforms offer an abundance of features that will capture students’ attention, facilitate lessons and assignment submissions, and help parents and administrators keep track of their students’ progress. Try it, it’s worthwhile!