Why do you use technology?

Lot of wonderful ideas were presented at the 2010 Reform Symposium, but I had to be careful not to get so caught up in reading the sharing of ideas in the participant chat window that I missed the message of the main presentation. As I look through my notes from the Symposium, it is many of the comments I wrote down from the chat window that are catching my attention.

One of those comments that seems to be jumping off the page at me is "Teachers want technology to make teaching easier .... Students want it to make learning easier." I saw this comment in the chat window during the presentation "Technology ... What's in it for my students?" by Alexandra Francisco.

As a district instructional technologist for my school system, part of my job (well, most of my job) involves training and supporting teachers. In many ways, technology can make creating lesson plans easier, quicker to find resources, provides opportunities for professional development, and enables people to make connections. While all that is true (easier for some than others I guess), I need to be focusing on how technology can be used to help students, not how technology can be used to help teachers. Any tool that a teacher uses, technology or not, should be in order to help students. According to Jaki Braidwood, "the goal should be about enriching the learning process."

What motivates you to use technology?

*I would also encourage you to see Alexandra's presentation that is linked above.

image from presentation "Technology ... What's in it for my students?"