EDLD+5364+Week+4+Assignment+Reflection

This week's learning tremendously impacted my understanding of the importance of technology use in today's schools. In the wake of the seriousness of an education system that’s failing nationwide, educators must awaken to the idea that we must embrace technology and use it to reform our teaching and learning. Solomon and Schrum reminds us of how far removed we are of understanding the benefits of technology in the classroom with the following quote, “Unfortunately, even though massive amounts of money have been spent on training educators, we have not seen a real difference in the ways technology has been integrated into the classroom.” (Solomon & Schrum, 2007) This implies that there’s a resistance to its use by “trained” teachers in the classroom that is only leading to wasteful spending. Consequently, this has only led to the negative attitude that those who are on the outside of the classroom has about spending more money on education. Presently, districts are cutting their budgets due to the national deficit because of overspending. With this in mind, you can’t help but wonder if the generosity to build education technically will discontinue. It would really be a travesty if a school district decided, “Well, we’re cutting our budget and that means that we have to get rid of the wireless laptop computers because the teachers aren’t using them any way.” With that thought in mind, just where would we go from here if that idea is adopted nationwide? It would mean that education in American would go completely “down the tube” because the futures of our young, bright digital natives would go with it. We as educators must realize that Technology Teaching 2.0 is no longer an option. It’s our success.  Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). //Web 2.0: New tools, new schools////.// Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.     