students receive information rather than using technology as a tool to showcase their understandings. Meaningful use in schools allows students to experiment with and experience different purposes.
The benefits of meaningful technology integration, however, extend beyond the students and can invigorate teachers and their approach to instruction. Teachers who teach the same levels for several semesters or years often teach the same content using the same methods. Over time, this repetitive nature can negatively impact teacher attitude. If teachers are bored while they teach, so are their students. Bringing in new technologies can revitalize a dated lesson and reinvigorate teacher attitude. Students deserve inspired teachers who are passionate about their content and prepare with engaging methodologies.
We recognize that technology can be intimidating. Start early, start small, collaborate, and be willing to work outside of your comfort zone. When we began our planning process for the Breakout EDU session, we were familiar with the approach and had a lot of ideas, but still needed help focusing our thoughts and with implementing some of the new technology. Utilizing experts will save you time, but also give you confidence as you plan. Our final product met our expectations, because those continued to evolve as we met others who encouraged and assisted us. The implementation was still scary, but watching our students engage with each other was priceless. We are already looking forward to our next opportunity to innovate and create and we hope you will, too.
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