Today’s students are web-savvy, eager users of technology who expect their education to be interactive, engaging and immediately relevant. To reach them, you need to integrate technology in the classroom much as they integrate technology into their daily lives. If this sounds like a challenge, it is, but teachers can and should be able to use their technology resources to the fullest to enhance their students’ education.

Technology that is easy to use and implement can substantially enhance the delivery of education in the classroom and improve a student’s learning experience, even in a classroom with only the most basic of computer resources. This article, the first in a series, gives an overview of what technologies can be implemented and what tools teachers might want to bring into their classrooms.

In a modern classroom, the most common technology available is at least one computer, usually with Internet access. Whether equipped with individual or shared computers, most classrooms now have PCs or Macs and an Internet connection. This connection can serve as a foundation for many methods of integrating technology into students’ daily learning.

The most basic use of classroom computers is to perform research. Via search, students have access to a wealth of resources that can be used in their essays, projects, presentations and enrichment activities. While it’s important to choose sources judiciously, many educational sites offer high-quality information on topics likely to come up in the classroom.

Classroom computers can also be used for multimedia integration. They allow audio, video and interactive programs to be brought into the classroom and inserted into presentations. On sites specializing in images and videos, keyword “tags” help students and teachers to locate multimedia related to their research subjects.

Additionally, classroom computers can be used for educational games either from the Web or in CD/DVD formats. CD-based games are a resource available even in classrooms without Internet access. For more advanced students ready to work with Web 2.0 tools, students can also download, create and publish podcasts, and publish and read blogs with nothing more than a computer and Internet access.

In some districts, teachers will have even more advanced integration tools at their disposal. These items may be integrated into the classroom themselves or may be peripherals. For example, smartboards are touch-sensitive screens that work with a projector and a computer. They are highly interactive and ideal for presenting multimedia-rich information within a classroom. Some classrooms will have classroom response systems (also sometimes referred to as personal response systems or audience response systems) that enable teachers to present content with multiple-choice responses and students to transmit their answers wirelessly.

When you consider computer peripherals, there are almost no limits on what you can integrate into lessons. Digital cameras allow students and teachers to capture their own images and/or video, to integrate into lessons or into podcasts and blogs. Web cameras and conferencing software allow classroom collaboration with others around the country and around the world. Many other devices can be used in lessons, such as global positioning systems (GPS) trackers for geography and scavenger hunts, scanners for archiving and transmitting documents and images digitally, and much more.

In future articles, we’ll explore in depth some of the technologies being integrated in classrooms today, and give some specific examples of how and why teachers are doing it. We hope that this series of articles will inspire you to integrate technology at all levels of teaching, to engage your students on as many levels as possible.

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