“Is the Use of Technology making a difference in students learning?”

I would agree that the use of technology definitely makes a difference in students’ learning. In today's generation, technology is definitely at the forefront of children's lives and entertainment. For this reason, incorporating learning materials into these digital mediums can prove to be useful and engaging since they are already such a large part of their lives. First, technology allows students to learn by doing rather than trying to absorb lines of information from a textbook. By interacting with technology, they have a chance to learn by trial and error, which allows them to see how things work. The teacher's role becomes more of the facilitator asking individual students about their choices and engaging them in deeper conversation on the subject. Another reason that technology makes a difference in students learning is that it offers opportunities like never before.  Building background knowledge that “sticks”, which we know, is one of the strongest indicators of how well students will learn new information and be able to transfer and apply it into other areas. So imagine a virtual field trip to explore the pyramids in Egypt when sixth graders are studying about Ancient Egypt; or visiting a country or state they are studying. Now the explanation and images are not limited to descriptions of things or a few pictures about the subject, it is experiencing it by using technology.

We need to provide our students with activities that are innovative and challenging as well as purposeful if we want them to be engaged in learning, no technology for the sake of “using”’ technology in the classroom. We have to be very critical and evaluative in using technology that is aligned to the instructional outcomes. Teachers can create learning activities with technology that enable students to learn independently, to be creative, and to think critically about issues relevant to their own lives and their own learning.