It may prove challenging for some teachers to integrate technology into their classrooms; however, the results are well worth the energy.

In “Fresh Perspectives on New Literacy and Technology Integration” Linda D. Labbo writes, “Effective integration of technology is achieved when students are able to select technology tools to help them obtain information in a timely manner, analyse and synthesize the information, and present it professionally,” (Labbo). Technology opens up many doors for students throughout the execution of a project. Research can be broadened, the stress of composition can be relieved by word processing programs and publishing can be made more effective by being able to reach a limitless audience.

Publishing has changed immensely because of the integration of technology into classrooms. Rather than hang copies of writing on a classroom wall, students are now able to create video and audio mash ups of them reading their writing, slide shows of their illustrations, or blogs for the world to read.Kathy Ehle explains her students’ affinity to blog publishing, “I think its more 21st century. They’re used to facebook and using technology as a way to communicate. Now, everybody in the class can read [their blogs]. Everybody’s parents can read it. Everybody in the class, their parents and I can comment on it. It’s that conversation, like facebook, that makes it motivating,” (“Teacher Focus Group”).

“They’re used to facebook and using technology as a way to communicate. Now, everybody in the class can read [their blogs], everybody’s parents can read it. Everybody in the class, their parents, and I can comment on it. It’s that conversation that makes it motivating.”

-Kathy Ehle, fourth grade teacher

It is not only publication that makes use of technology in classrooms but production tasks as well. Scott Scheuerell, a high school social studies teacher, wrote about his experience helping his students create web pages to publish the research they did on local history. His students used cameras to capture photographs of their historical sites and scanners to scan headlines from newspapers and documents from the history museum. Students then took this information and formatted it into websites to be published publicly online. “During the process of producing a Web page, the students had to think deeply about what they had learned and communicated their historical findings using the Web page as their medium. Using this approach, students ‘become creators of information and ideas, not simply users of technology’,” (Scheuerell 194-197). When integrated appropriately, technology is a way to facilitate learning, not have students passively scan through web- pages to gather research.

When asked how technology positively affects her classroom, Julie Johnson explained, “First, and foremost, is how engaged my students are when technology is involved… It’s a shame that we take all of that away from them when they walk through the classroom door. I want to find ways for my students to be connected in authentic ways that will help them thrive in the 21st century workplace.” (Johnson). Clearly, students are more engaged when given the opportunity to use technology on projects. When working on multimedia projects students are able to learn new skills and try techniques they have not been able to use previously. Not only do they get to experiment with production methods but publishing online allows them to share their work with a wider audience, be it their parents and peers, or the entire world. This gives their work extra meaning, their teacher is no longer the sole audience for their work, because of this students take more pride in presenting their projects.

While there are countless positive outcomes when using technology in the classroom teachers also face numerous challenges. The biggest barrier for teachers when planning a lesson that integrates technology is time. Kathy Parker-Jones, a technology specialist in Hilliard, Ohio works with students across three elementary schools in the district, “One thing that I see over and over, which speaks to the time issues in schools, is that, typically, the classroom teacher decides what technology they are going to use, or what program or what the end product is. The projects I’ve seen kids be most engaged in are the ones where they get the most choice,” (“Teacher Focus Group”).

Sometimes using technology limits the choice that children have. Because of the time that it takes to teach students a new program they are usually limited to using a single program on each project. As students get older and build more technical skills this becomes less of an issue, but with my audience, learning new software is a time consuming exercise that may cut into time usually spent on other subjects.

Another issue I noticed while observing Julie Johnson’s third grade class was the extra work that was expected from the teacher when technology was being used. When I visited the classroom, a laptop cart was brought in and every student had access to their own computer. The students were excited to work on their different online projects; however, Julie Johnson became not only the teacher helping students to compose their writing and organize their thoughts, but also the ‘IT guy’, having to help students log on, trouble shoot frozen computers, and answering questions about how to perform different tasks within multiple programs.