Elizabeth Chamberlain
Philosophy of Technology
My Philosophy of Technology
Technology, in the broader sense of the term, is simply any tool you may use to complete
a task in a way that you otherwise might not be able to. A pencil could be considered technology,
but so could an iPad or a smart phone. Technology is something that can distract us from the
world around us (imagine the teenagers you see sitting and drinking coffee with friends, but none
of them are interacting in person because they are all on their smart phones), or bring
communities closer together in ways that we may never have imagined through providing a
means of effective and easy communication. My belief is that for any type of technology, there is
a time and place for its use. It is neither good nor bad; the way you use technology and the way
you see technology being used by others is what determines the effect it has on your perception
of its value.
As far as whether or not technology fits within my theoretical framework of teaching, I
think that Bill Gates said it best: “Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working
together and motivating them, the teacher is most important” (20 Popular Technology in
Education Quotes, edtechreview.com). I believe that technology simply is a tool that, when used
correctly, helps teachers to make their teaching more versatile, modern, and engaging for
students. As a teacher, I would consider myself to be a follower of many different theoretical
teaching philosophies including humanism, constructivism, and behaviorism. These theories all
align with--and are supported by--the use of technology in the classroom.
The first theoretical framework that I align with most closely is humanism. Humanism is
based on five basic principles: Students' learning should be self-directed; schools should produce
students who want and know how to learn; the only form of meaningful evaluation is selfevaluation; feelings, as well as knowledge, are important in the learning process; and students
learn best in a nonthreatening environment (Anderson). Teachers can help their students to learn
Elizabeth Chamberlain
Philosophy of Technology
in a self-directed way through assigning tasks using technological tools that are easy to learn.
Students are often more motivated to learn when they get to use entertaining interactive
technological tools (for example, iPads are often popular with elementary-aged students). Selfevaluation can be done through using metacognitive tools such as screencasts (using apps like
Explain Everything), where the student can review their thought processes and work and selfevaluate based on their documented work. Technology can also help students to process their
feelings through using calming tools such as meditation apps (like Pocket Pond, where you can
play with a pond and listen to relaxing music). Since students learn best in a nonthreatening
environment, technology may be able to provide them with an escape from overwhelming
situations (through using calming apps and/or music), and lower their affective filter by using
tools they are familiar and comfortable with, not tools that make them overstimulated or
frustrated.
Another theoretical framework I can agree with and promote based on what I know from
my experience working with young students is constructivism. Constructivism is based on a
couple of main ideas. One idea is that as teachers, “…we have to focus on the learner in thinking
about learning (not on the subject/lesson to be taught)” (Hein, 1991). Another basic idea of
constructivism is that “There is no knowledge independent of the meaning attributed to
experience (constructed) by the learner, or community of learners” (Hein). As far as focusing on
the learner (as opposed to the material to be learned), technology can provide a means for
students who may not normally be able to accomplish a task to do so. Incorporating assistive
technologies like text-to-speech, which is offered through most devices, can help scaffold
learning for students with disabilities. Including assistive technology in lessons on core curricula
allows teachers to focus on the needs of their individual students instead of just how they teach
Elizabeth Chamberlain
Philosophy of Technology
what they will teach. In regard to the second main idea of constructivism, students learn from
experience and real-world applications of learning. Our modern society is deeply rooted in the
use of technology. When students learn the basics of how to navigate different platforms and
applications in school, they can apply their knowledge of technological tools to their work in the
real world.
The third theoretical framework I most closely resonate with is behaviorism. Behaviorism
is the theory that “…changes in behavior [result] from stimulus-response associations made by
the learner. Behavior is directed by stimuli. An individual selects one response instead of another
because of prior conditioning and psychological drives existing at the moment of the action”
(Standridge, 2002). Through the use of technological tools such as the app Class Dojo students
are able receive immediate feedback from the teacher about their classroom behavior. This type
of classroom management technology closely aligns with the behaviorist theory because it
reinforces good (desired) behaviors and punishes inappropriate (undesirable) student behaviors.
Perhaps the greatest benefit of this type of behavioral technology is that it can help teachers to
manage their classroom without having to address a bad behavior each time it occurs; they can
set up goals with individual students and specific areas of focus for improvement. When
teachers use technologies for classroom management (such as Class Dojo) they are able to easily
monitor students’ behavior and have a record for their growth and development over the span of
the school year that they can also share with students’ parents.
When used effectively, technology can be an invaluable resource for promoting student
learning in the classroom. Jennie Magiera is a teacher of technology and an advocate for its use
in the classroom. She believes that technology can “… [take] impossible situations and [make]
them possible.” In a presentation she gave, Jennie told the audience about how her kids came to
Elizabeth Chamberlain
Philosophy of Technology
the conclusion that in order for students to want to stay in school, schools should “make it suck
less,” essentially by making technology more widely available to students and creating authentic
learning experiences for them using current technology. From her presentation, I can definitely
see how important technology is to students at the elementary level, and how the quality of their
learning can improve through using technology in the classroom. The best indication that we
have for whether or not we should include technology comes from the voices of our students. As
Jennie reiterated in her talk, students want to learn ways to use new and innovative technologies.
Using technology in the classroom is a way that we as teachers can promote student engagement
and push our students to live up to their full potential and be independent, creative learners.
Technology is effective for promoting learning in the classroom because it makes learning more
desirable for students who otherwise may not want to engage.
From my personal experiences working with children both in and outside of the
classroom, I have seen technology assist students in bridging gaps in their learning and their
basic communication abilities. Without the technologies that they used to communicate, the
students may have been unable to identify their basic needs. I have noticed this has been
especially true in regard to working with students with special needs and ELL students. In one of
the practicums I was in, there was a new student who had just moved to the U.S. from Iraq. This
little girl spoke absolutely no English, and understandably struggled in the classroom when she
first arrived at the school. Through the help of the special education teacher and the ELL
specialist at the school, the little girl quickly began to learn the English language through various
assistive technologies. Even when she did not know how to communicate specific things
linguistically, she was able to communicate her needs through pictorial representations in a
PECS (picture exchange communication system) binder. I can only imagine how much she
Elizabeth Chamberlain
Philosophy of Technology
would have flourished had more advanced technologies and software been made available to her
through an iPad or tablet of some kind. In this instance, even incredibly basic assistive
technology made learning more accessible for this little kindergartener. More advanced
technologies may have helped her to jumpstart her learning even more.
In a report from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology,
the conclusion states that “Technology is not a silver bullet and cannot—by itself—produce the
benefits we seek in learning, but without technology, schools have little chance of rising to 21stcentury expectations… evidence consistently [indicates] the potential for positive effects when
technology is a key ingredient in well-designed learning systems…” (U.S. Department of
Education, 2014). Essentially, this U.S. Department of Education report found that technology
does promote student learning in the classroom when technology is incorporated effectively into
curricula. The report also urged schools to “…ensure equality of access to technology” and
“…encourage uses of that technology that focus on specific connections to learning processes
and address all the factors in complete learning systems” (U.S. Department of Education, 2014).
The bottom line is that students should have access to technological tools in the classroom
because they benefit from their use when the teacher knows how to effectively integrate
technology into class curriculum.
As far as I know, some of the only ways that technology can be ineffective for learning is
if it is too complex for the students to use (based on ability level of students), if the selected
technology is inappropriate for the lesson being taught (it doesn’t really fit with the assigned
task), if the technology is most consistently used as a form of punishment (instead of as a
reward), or if it isn’t demonstrated or taught well enough by the teacher (so students are at a loss
for how to use the tool they are supposed to work with). I have seen instances of all of these
Elizabeth Chamberlain
Philosophy of Technology
issues in my practicum experiences, and I could imagine that these might be some of the most
frequently made mistakes when teachers are trying to incorporate technology use in their
classroom.
In general, technology should be used in lessons where the integration of technological
tools is most appropriate, for instance, when it transforms a task into something that would be
impossible without that technology. I am thinking specifically of the SAMR (Substitution
Augmentation Modification Redefinition) model, in which technology should be incorporated
when used to modify or even redefine tasks. I also believe that technology should be used to
enhance learning, not just replace work that can be done in a different medium (on paper, for
example). There is no “right” or “wrong” subject to use technology integration in, it is just up to
the discretion of the teacher whether or not they should use technology (i.e. only when it will
ultimately significantly benefit their students in some way or help them to accomplish a task
more efficiently).
Technology should not be used to punish, just to meet student or teacher standards, or
when the technology can do exactly what something else can. Going back to the SAMR model of
technology integration, the idea is that when technology is used as a substitute for something else
(like typing instead of writing with a pencil and paper, for example) or just to augment the
experience (typing using Word for its spellcheck capabilities instead of handwriting something
and self-checking with a dictionary), it is less effective for learning than when technology is used
to simply replace one mundane task with another (and perhaps should not be used in this case). If
technology is used to punish, students are then turned off from using that technology and the
usefulness of that tool is lost as a result.
Elizabeth Chamberlain
Philosophy of Technology
Technology can facilitate family engagement in a number of ways: technology can aid in
frequency of communication between parents and teachers, decrease or eliminate barriers caused
by language differences, and keep parents up to date with what their child is learning and how
they are performing in school. In “Technology as a Tool to Strengthen the Home-School
Connection,” Tamara Kaldor states that “Families are living further away from their support
systems and looking to their children’s teachers for more help navigating their child’s
development” (Kaldor, 2015). This means that as teachers, we need to turn to technological tools
to keep in constant communication with the parents of our students so that we can provide them
with the support they need using tools such as Class Dojo, which help us to give parents
consistent feedback on their child’s day-to-day performance and Google Translate, a tool which
helps us to communicate with families who speak English as a second language (or may not
speak any English whatsoever). Technological tools such as these can help us to strengthen
family engagement in numerous ways.
Technology can also sometimes be a barrier to family engagement because many families
(especially in lower income districts) cannot afford the types of technology that are used in the
classroom (like iPads, tablets, Chrome books, etc.) let alone the basic technology they may need
to communicate with their child’s teacher (like a smart phone). In fact, a report from the Pew
Research Center indicates that “23% of smartphone owners have had to cancel or suspend their
service in the past due to financial constraints” (Smith, 2015). This means that owning a smart
phone could even become a financial burden for some of the families we will serve as teachers.
If financial hardship is an issue for any of the families of the students in your classroom, you
have to be able to modify the way you communicate with the people in that child’s support
system, which may require going back to basics, like sending notes home. Every family will
Elizabeth Chamberlain
Philosophy of Technology
have different preferences and needs. Though cost might be a barrier to using technology to
communicate with families, it doesn’t have to be. Families can always be referred to local
libraries and other resources available in the community that may have free access to electronic
use. Teachers should make sure to research available community resources for families to access
the technology they need.
Overall, from what I know about incorporating technology into the classroom, I believe
that technology is incredibly necessary for student engagement, participation, and the
effectiveness of classroom learning. At this point, we cannot effectively teach our students
without using technology. As April Chamberlain (no relation) stated, “Education is evolving due
to the impact of the Internet. We cannot teach our students in the same manner in which we were
taught. Change is necessary to engage students not in the curriculum we are responsible for
teaching, but in school. Period” (20 Popular Technology in Education Quotes,
edtechreview.com).
Specific Resources Mentioned:
Class Dojo https://www.classdojo.com/
Explain Everything (on the app store)
Google Translate http://translate.google.com
PECS: Picture Exchange Communication System
Pocket Pond (on the app store)
Text-to-Speech
Microsoft Word
Sources Cited:
Anderson, M. Principles of Humanistic Education. Retrieved February 22, 2017, from Suny
Cortland, http://web.cortland.edu/andersmd/HUMAN/PRINC.HTML
Cue (2015, March 30). Jennie Magiera: Beware the Transformation Trap: Making Meaningful
Change. Retrieved February 23, 2017, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWSWyvW2GFM
Gupta, W. B. (2015, September 14). 20 Popular Technology in Education Quotes. Retrieved
February 22, 2017, from http://edtechreview.in/news/2112-technology-in-education-quotes
Elizabeth Chamberlain
Philosophy of Technology
Hein, G. (1991, October 15). Constructivist Learning Theory. Retrieved February 22, 2017, from
Exploratorium, https://www.exploratorium.edu/education/ifi/constructivist-learning
Kaldor, T. (2015). Technology as a Tool to Strengthen the Home-School Connection. In C.
Donohue (Ed). Technology and digital media in the early years: Tools for Teaching and learning
(pp.201-217). New York: Routledge.
Smith, A. (2015, April 01). Chapter One: A Portrait of Smartphone Ownership. Retrieved
February 22, 2017, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/01/chapter-one-a-portrait-ofsmartphone-ownership/
Standridge, M. (2002). Behaviorism. Retrieved February 22, 2017, from Emerging Perspectives
on Learning, Teaching, and Technology, http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Behaviorism
U.S. Department of Education Office of Education Technology. (2014, June 30). Learning
Technology Effectiveness. Retrieved February 22, 2017, from https://tech.ed.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2014/11/Learning-Technology-Effectiveness-Brief.pdf