How Technology Enhances Learning for At-Risk Students

For this week blog I decided to write about how technology can be used to promote learning. I happened to come across this article set forth by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, entitled Critical Issue: Using Technology to Enhance Engaged Learning for At-Risk Students. This article deals with the idea of using technology to boost learning in students.
The issue section stated that not only can technology be used to boost learning for students who are at risk, but it can also be used to bring about educational reform.
The overview section continues to lay out how a school system can go about implementing various technologies into their schools. It then goes on to state how students can organize, obtain, manipulate, and display information more readily when technology is utilized. Some of the computer programs that students can use include word processing and graphing software. A recent study shows that by using word processing programs students are willing to write longer, more complex sentences and are more likely to edit their own work. By using this technology, students no longer have to worry about penmanship, grammar, and spelling because the computer program will correct these errors automatically, and as a result, students now can concentrate on writing good quality papers.
The goal section sets forth five main ideas that offer a target for prospective schools to attain when trying to integrate technology. Classrooms need to serve at-risk students by using collaboration, in that, all students of different abilities share information to make decisions and solve problems. All students have the opportunity to use various modern technologies, and teachers need to have the ability and training to implement projects using technology. Administrators, parents, and community also need to support the use of technological innovations by making these training sessions possible. Finally, school districts need to improve facilities so technology can be implemented and used by all students.
The action options portion of the paper has to deal with steps that teachers and the community can take in order to utilize technology in education. Teachers can specifically create classroom activities that challenge the students by using technological aids that will help in learning the material. Teachers can also promote learning by fostering cooperative learning so that students can work together in order to reach their goals in education. The community can help by giving all students access to various technology including computers, the internet, and computer programs. They also need to make available to teachers a technical support system that teachers can use when problems occur with the technology. It is important for the teachers and the communities to work together in order to fully immerse each student in an education that is rich in technology.
The final portion of the paper deals with “pitfalls” that the educator may come in contact with when trying to incorporate technology into education. It is important to train teachers in technology though staff development on various programs. However, the author of this article warns administrators to not only have staff development on various technologies but to also give time for teachers to experiment and fully understand the new programs. Teachers will be less likely to use something they do not fully understand. Teachers also have to be careful not to let the students get too distracted by glitzy technological presentations. Students may be more interested in looking at the animation on a PowerPoint than reading the information the slide has to offer. It is up to the teacher to select worthy information that will excite the students to learn but not distract them.
This article dealt with using technology to help at-risk students learn more effectively. This cause has tremendous value to children labeled as at risk, but this article can be applied to children of all ages and ability levels. It is important to utilize technology not for just its learning sake but to get children acclimated to using it. This article reinforced my belief that technology is an important part of education because not only does it allow the teacher to share information by many different methods, but it allows students to do work more accurately and efficiently. Most importantly this article affirmed to me that in today’s world technology is everywhere, and if students do not know how to use it they will fall behind.