TechnologyPositionPaper

Technologyintheclassroomisbecomingincreasinglycommon.Moststudents
experiencethedigitalworlddailywhetheritisintheclassroomorathome.Therehavebeen
manydifferenttrendsemerginginclassroomssuchas
gamebasedlearning,flippedclassrooms,
virtualclassrooms,BYODand1:1programs.InthispaperIwillgiveabriefsummaryofeach
trendandthenprovidemyopiniononwhichtrendIseebecomingmostdominateintheK12
classrooms.
Acquiringtechnologyisthefirststeptobeingabletoimplementitintheclassroom.1:1
programsallowschooldistrictstoputalaptop,iPad,orothertypeofdeviceineachstudents
hands.Onedisadvantagetotheseprogramsisinregardstothecosttothedistrict.Theinitial
purchaseofthedevicesplusmaintainingthedevicescanbeafinancialburdenforsomedistricts.
Bringyourowndevice,orBYOD,referstostudentsprovidingthetechnologydevicefrom
home.Thiscouldcomeinmanyformssuchasphones,tablets,orcomputers.Benefitsinclude
costsavingforthedistrict,studentsarefamiliarwiththeirdevicealready,andstudentsalready
usethemintheclassroomsobyallowingthemtouseitforeducationtheteacherisincontrolof
theuseage(Chadband,2012).
Thenextstepinusingtechnologyintheclassroomisdecidinghowtodoso.
GameBasedLearningallowsstudentstolearnwhiletheybelievetheyareplayingagame.
FlippedClassroomsallowteacherstosendvideoshomewithstudentstowatchandlearnthe
conceptforhomeworkandthendothepracticeintheclassroomwiththeteacher.Virtual
Classroomsareclasseswheretheteacherandstudentsareabletobeindifferentplacesand

connectonline.Thisisusefulifastudentneedsaclassthatisnotofferedthroughtheschoolin
theregularcurriculum.
NowthatIhavegivenabriefoverviewofeachtrendIwillgivemyopiniononwhich
onesIthinkwillbedominateinK12classroomsinthenearfuture.Sincedifferentschool
districtshavedifferentbudgets,Ibelievethatthewayschoolsbringtechnologyintothe
classroomwillvarybasedonindividualdistrictneeds.Onewayoranother,schoolswillfinda
waytousetechnology,soIthinkthatmostteacherswillfocusmoreonhowthetechnologyis
implementedinsteadofhowtogetadeviceinstudentshands.

AccordingtoastudydonebythePewResearchCenter,74percentofteenagers,ages12
to17,accesstheinternetoncellphones,tablets,andothermobiledevicesatleastoccasionally
(Madden&Lenhart,2013).Becauseofthisstatistic,Ibelievethatoneoftheemergingtrends
willbeflippedclassroomsinthemiddleanduppergrades.Flippingtheclassroomallows
teachersmoretimetoworkwithstudentsindividuallyandmakesurethattheyarepracticingthe
conceptcorrectly.Flippedclassroomsalsoshiftthelearningresponsibilityandownershipfrom
theteachershandstothelearnershands.Thisisanimportantskillstudentswillneedinthe
future.Classtimebecomesatimeforstudentstoworkthroughproblemsandallowsteachersto
differentiate.Teachersareabletopushhigherlevellearnerswithhigherorderthinking
questions,whilegivingthelowerlevellearnersattentionandmakesuretheyleavetheclassroom
withafeelingofunderstanding.Collaborationamongststudentswillincreasebecausethose
studentswhograspedtheconcepteasilyareabletohelpotherstudentsintheclassroomwhich
freesuptheteachertogiveindividualizedassistance.Constothismethodwouldincludelotsof

initialworkontheteachersend,andstudentaccesstoaninternetconnectiontolearnthelesson
(Musallam,2014).Dependingonhowteachersuploadthelesson,Ibelievethatstudentsshould
beabletoaccessthevideoonanydevicewithwifi.Smartphoneshaveinternetaccesssothat
wouldbeanotherrouteIcouldseestudentsusingtodotheirhomework.Theversatilityof
creatinglessonsforstudentstowatchonce,twice,ormanytimes,dependingontheirindividual
need,andthefactthatteachersareabletogivemoreindividualassistancetoeachstudentare
reasonsIbelieveflippedclassroomswillbecomeatrendwewillseemoreofinthefuture.

Ihavediscussedseveraltrendsintechnologyintheclassroomandgivenmyopinionon
whichtrendIseebecomingmostdominateinthefuture.Technologyisalwayschangingand
evolving.Newtrendswillcomeandoldtrendswillfadeout,butnomatterwhatyoudo,good
teachingisgoodteaching.

References

Chadband,E.(2012,July19).ShouldSchoolsEmbrace"BringYourOwnDevice"?Retrieved
March13,2015,from
http://neatoday.org/2012/07/19/shouldschoolsembracebringyourowndevice/
Madden,M.,&Lenhart,A.(2013,March13).TeensandTechnology2013.RetrievedMarch
15,2015,from
http://www.pewinternet.org/files/oldmedia//Files/Reports/2013/PIP_TeensandTechnol
ogy2013.pdf
Musallam,R.(2014,December10).ShouldYouFlipYourClassroom?RetrievedMarch16,
2015,fromhttp://www.edutopia.org/blog/flippedclassroomramseymusallam