Information technology has the potential to reshape how we teach in the classroom by allowing students to combine words, images, music and video into a single product. This places students into the role of creators of their own materials and meanings. Computers provide students with the potential to become active constructors, rather than passive recipients, of their own knowledge. The classroom can have instant access to experts, online research and publications, cross-cultural communication, virtual field trips and an almost unlimited amount of resources to include in curricula. The greatest power of new technology is to allow students access to more primary sources. These resources take the student beyond the textbook and secondary sources, which are limited to those on hand and enhance teacher instruction to better engage the students. Many curriculum standards propose that students be taught with primary sources as well as textbooks and lectures. By encountering voices from the past and present students can discover that learning is a life-long process.
Our universe has been transformed from a globe based on analog technology to a digitized universe, where bits of information can travel at the speed of light and are constantly changing. The classroom of today is one in which most information can be transmitted via the digital information highway, the Internet. The role of teacher can change along with technology. No longer do we have to lecture in teacher-centered, text-based classes with neat rows of desks. Rather, we can become mentors and guides in an instructional environment that is student-centered, discovery-based, collaborative, and accommodating of all learning styles and intelligence. Given a classroom computer, video projecting equipment and online access, it is possible to move the classroom into the cyber-world. The teacher can develop web pages to enhance communication with students and parents, provide a venue for publishing student work, include multimedia presentations and direct students in assignments. You can also better prepare your students to select materials critically, and to interpret, evaluate, analyze and synthesize the information so that they become intelligent and efficient information processors.
Information technology and the Internet must still utilize well-crafted lessons: teachers must ascertain if an online source is central to the knowledge needed to be learned. I believe it is important to our classrooms and students to have the ability to connect and interact with this vase amount of information if we are to prepare our students for the challenges of the future.
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