My Educational Technology Philosophy

I believe technology should be used to help students in learning. Being digital natives, students are surrounded by technologies around them. They are exposed to all kinds of gadgets and media. Technology excites students. Videos and animations are captivating and attract the attention of the students. Music excites students. Sounds excite young people, so why not use them? Pictures have the same effects. Technology is so exciting and engaging with its multimedia capabilities and offer multitude of possibilities in teaching students and getting students to participate in their learning. Teachers should embrace technology and use it for educational purposes. Every teacher must play their part in this matter.

I believe every student should have every opportunity to learn how to use technology. The Internet has a lot of excellent materials and tools that will enrich students’ learning. Teachers of any subjects can do this. Teachers are in the position to get the students ready for the future. The world is going global. I believe students’ learning should be beyond the classroom walls. It is not enough to teach students the contents in the textbooks. They need to learn to access and use information. They also need to learn to create and share information. These can be done by students by using blogs and wikis. Through these activities they will learn how to cooperate, collaborate and take responsibility of their own learning. In this way they will develop self-learning, be creative, able to think, organize and share their ideas through writing or by creating multimedia presentations.

I believe that all students should have a level playing field. All students should know and be familiar with technology. Even for students without internet access at home, I will make sure that they will have the opportunity to learn what Internet is. HTTrack Website Copier program can be used to download the websites and show the webpages as if they are surfing the website in real-time. As a teacher I do not want them to miss out on what is available on the Internet. Students should have opportunity to get to know technology. Teachers need to look for solutions in this matter. Other than downloading the websites, I will download materials such as videos, animations, interactive exercises and et cetera from the Internet to help them to learn. In this way, I could ensure students would not lose the opportunity to learn using technology.

I believe that students learn better with technology. We should let students discover and explore the Internet. Let them find knowledge for themselves. I believe that one’s best learning is through self-exploration. When one starts exploring to learn things on his own, it promotes intrinsic self-motivation. This is very important for his success in life. Every student has the right to be successful in his studies. I, as a teacher will play my part in guiding and helping my students to be successful. In the course of using technology to help them in their studies, I will teach them to use technology as good digital citizens should such as using technology responsibly, respecting the rights of others, be aware of privacy issues, respecting intellectual properties and other tenets of good digital citizenship.