What are the benefits of and barriers to technology integration?
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(Cartoon from urban75blog)
Benefits:

  • Technology provides assistive technology for students who need extra help for either physical impairments or learning difficulties.
  • Technology makes differentiation for students with learning difficulties and for different learning styles easy!
  • Technology allows for easy collaboration - between students and also between students and teachers.
  • Technology makes a greener more paperless way of teaching and learning possible.
  • Technology integration in schools allows us to teach in our digital natives' homeland - rather than asking them to travel to our digital immigrant home where they are less interested and less comfortable.
  • Technology provides for more access to information and often cheaper (or free!) access to information.
  • Technology allows for education outside of the classroom - we can extend learning beyond the time and place of our classroom.
  • Technology makes globalization in the classroom an option - skype with students in another country, collaborate on a project with teachers in another country, etc.

Barriers:

  • Technology is expensive and not always completely accessible - at home and at school.
  • Technology depends on a quality infrastructure, to be reliable and fast.
  • Technology use requires a learning curve, every project won't be perfect or easy the first time around.
  • Technology can often lead to collaboration, which is a good thing in many cases, but which begs the question: what about individual student achievement?