Within a classroom, contribution and collaboration is crucial. When trying to create a community, learners need to utilize their responsibility and time management skills in order to find reason and success. However, the utilization of technology also begs to question whether it will motivate the students to become interactive within discussions. How does technology affect student interaction and involvement? With technology, such as blogging and webquests, will students be more apt to contributing and discussing, and what are the motivational factors?

As the age of technology becomes larger and necessary, it is inevitable that technology should be integrated graciously within the classroom. Student motivation is a factor that I look at when developing any activity, project, or assessment. Technology, I believe, will enhance student motivation and productivity, if used in the correct capacity. In Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, Volume 12 Issue 2, “Integrating Popular Web Applications in Classroom Learning Environments and Its Effect on Teaching, Student Learning Motivation and Performance,” Lin, Y., Jou, M. says, “...enhancing student learning motivation and participation is crucial for the teaching and learning of new knowledge or skills since motivation would affect how instructors and students interact with learning materials.” (2013) However, using technology can either have positive or negative effects depending on how you use it. “...this study proposed a learning environment supported by well known web applications to supplement classroom teaching and learning activities, assist instructors in facilitating student learning and participation, and help improve student learning motivation and performance. Experimental results revealed that students had higher learning motivation and participation when using the proposed web application supported learning environment during and after class as it gave them access to adequate learning support.” (Lin)

The study uses Google Docs as an example, which enables constant progress monitoring, feedback, and collaboration. The students were interviewed and asked for feedback on the use of technology and applications as a medium of assessment. The majority gave positive feedback and reflected that the applications were easy to use. This made me think that as long as the applications are user-friendly and do not take a long time to download, upload, update, etc., the student’s motivation and productivity should still be intact and positive.

A limitation is obviously not having access to computers, tablets, internet, etc. This will limit the students who do not have such things. I think the limitations for outside of school use will be more affecting than in school use due to lack of internet connections for the students. As I continue to research and explore flipping my classroom and using technology as a large portion of learning in my courses, I will need to troubleshoot these roadblocks.

J. D’Adamo in Contretemps “Cycle of Learning, Part IV: Groupthink? Guess Again!” illustrates for us the importance of collaboration and groupthink. The cycle that takes place I found interesting and relevant to the integration of technology resources in the classroom. They talked about the thesis a student works at, the antithesis on their own, and the reflective piece of synthesis when coming together and blending those elements. Here were the four pieces of coming full circle with collaboration and technology:

DISCOVERY: EXPLORING COMPLEX SYSTEMS AND CONSTRUCT CONTENT KNOWLEDGE WHILE USING THE NECESSARY SKILLS.

EXPRESSION: EVALUATE INFORMATION WITH SOUND JUDGMENT AND COMMUNICATE ACCORDINGLY.

COLLABORATION: APPLY BEST PRACTICE FOR THE SYNTHESIS OF PRIOR KNOWLEDGE TO GENERATE NEW IDEAS AND CONCEPTS WITH PEERS.

INTEGRATION: EMPLOY USEFUL RESOURCES (MEDIA, TECHNOLOGY, DIGITAL) TO CONTRIBUTE TO INQUIRY-BASED PROBLEM-SOLVING SCENARIOS.

I think that this cycle, ending with the integration piece and following through again, will help me administer technology to my students in different, but useful ways.

In the Journal of Educational Technology Systems, “Scaffolding Complex Learning: Integrating 21st Century Thinking, Emerging Technologies, And Dynamic Design And Assessment To Expand Learning And Communication Opportunities,” E. O’Connor, F. McDonald, and M. Ruggiero (2014) illustrated important answers to important questions, explaining why we need to understand certain things regarding technology. These questions bring us deeper into the big idea, to help our kids achieve the skills of enduring understandings. I appreciated these questions: “Why is knowing this content important—for government and infrastructure, for science and health, for cultural awareness and peace, for communication and dissemination, for education? And, to whom is it important—government, healthcare professionals, scholars, businesses, teachers . . . people? Once the importance of the field has been re-affirmed, instructors should understand how this knowledge is developed, communicated, enhanced, and shared.”

From this, we can then decide how to get our students there. This then brings us to a more memorable experience for our kids, and this becomes enduring to them in the long run.

Student motivation is key to the level of their application of the skills you are teaching. If the student is motivated, they will be more apt to persevering, and showing signs of grit. With the use of technology coming more and more upon us within a classroom, it is essential that we are not just using technology to use it. Rather, we need to be intentional in the development of our lessons, just as we would be with a pencil and piece of paper. The students can still shut down during these hands-on activities with technology. So it is important that we still are explaining why we do these things in a certain way, and how it will benefit them in the end.

    In my classroom, technology is a privilege that allows us to further our exploration of the Essential Questions in each unit. With blogging online amongst each other, I prompt students with all levels of questions, but our goal is to achieve that “big idea,” so that our face-to-face discussions can have substance and deeper reason. The students have thrived off of this use of technology, because they are able to think a question completely through before writing it out. This leaves them with a more meaningful answer to the prompt, and it gives those slower thinking students and wallflowers an opportunity to be heard.

    Along with the opportunities to have a voice, the collaboration factor comes into play, and allows for a secure feeling for the learners. They are able to see what other’s thoughts are, and feel more confident that their opinion matters. Some may agree with one another, and others might see things differently. Still, we are all after that answer to the Essential Question, and great dialogue is produced because of our journey. And it is just that: the journey. The students in the end want an answer, but is there ever really one answer? It is the journey that impacts them the most, and their discoveries are that much more rewarding with how they get there.

    Webquests have proved to be a very successful exploration opportunity in my classroom. I have put together a few websites that lead the students on an adventure through their literature. It is more than just the literature, however. It is everything surrounding it. The era, the deeper meanings, what the student’s opinions are, etc. They are able to explore and come into a better understanding of when the literature took place, to the background of the author, to answering Essential Questions in surveys and questionnaires along the way. The dialogue this has created I have been fortunate to witness. The students are hopping from one website to another, learning without even realizing it. They engage in meaningful discussions with one another about the Essentail Questions embedded along their journey, and at the end of it, they are itching to converse about their opinions and findings.

    Overall, technology is an important and useful tool in our classrooms. But just like any tool, it is imperative that we all know how and why we are using it. Technology is not to be used in lieu of something else. It is to be developed for a differentiated purpose of teaching. For schools that are going 1:1, technology could be used for the basic of lessons, which can also be effective. It keeps the students intrigued as you continue to explore yourself, and find new ways to teach a concept. Technology continues to improve, and it is an inevitable happening that it will make it’s way into all of our classrooms. We must embrace it and run with it, for our students are the future of this technological advancement.

O’Connor, E., McDonald, F., Ruggiero, M. 2014. Journal of Educational Technology Systems. “Scaffolding Complex Learning: Integrating 21st Century Thinking, Emerging Technologies, And Dynamic Design And Assessment To Expand Learning And Communication Opportunities.”

D’Adamo, J. 2012. Contretemps. “Cycle of Learning, Part IV: Groupthink? Guess Again!” from http://johndadamo.wordpress.com/2012/01/. Wordpress.

Lin, Y., Jou, M. 2013. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, Volume 12 Issue 2. “Integrating Popular Web Applications in Classroom Learning Environments and Its Effect on Teaching, Student Learning Motivation and Performance.”