Using technology as an assignment vs using technology to support classroom activities

After reading Chad's response to the previous post, I thought it made more sense to enter my response as a  new post.


I think there are two ways you can look at technology in education.  The first, and most often way people look at it, is through the assignments students complete using technology.  This could include basically any assignment students are required to do through the use of technology.  I'm thinking digital storytelling projects that require students to use cameras, software, and the like.  But there's also another aspect that is overlooked, which I'm going to term lesson-based technology use.

Technology use doesn't need to be an assignment to be used effectively.  Rather, technology can be leveraged in the classroom to enhance the teaching that is already taking place, not to mention the opportunity for something new to happen.  In this regard, I'm thinking of lesson-based things you could do with technology such as: setting up a back channel during a lecture, bringing in an expert through a video conference, or something as easy as having access to the Internet to bring in outside resources and opinions.

But it isn't always as easy as...which is why many teachers resist. Often teachers don't have faith in the technology working or that they won't get the intended outcomes they wanted from the technology.  The locus of control is beyond their grasp and when it comes down to it, we don't have the required trust in other people, the system, or simply that the technology will work.  Usually this is due to past experience.

That doesn't mean we have to like it, and I often don't, which is why I try to eliminate barriers that prevent teachers from doing something really amazing with technology in their classrooms.  Will things go right the first time you try it in the classroom, probably not.  But that doesn't mean we need to stop trying to make it work.  Innovation doesn't happen overnight and it often takes a considerable amount of time.  I understand that teaching time is sacred, but only to the extent that we fail to be relevant.

So my question to you is, are there ways you want to use technology in your classrooms?  If so, are there any barriers that I can help remove or reduce to make this happen?