As the 21st century U.S.

advances toward a more technologybased society, educators are increasingly faced with the option to use
technology in their classrooms. With the growing opportunities to use
technology, it is becoming increasingly important for educators to
understand how to effectively incorporate technology into their
learning environments. The greatest takeaway I received from Chapter
One Goal of Technology Integrations: Meaningful Learning, is that
technology is most effective when learning happens with the use of
technology, not from technology.
The main arguments of the reading state that students learn best
when they are willfully engaged in meaningful activities that involve
active, constructive, intentional, authentic, and cooperative activities.
Technology can be used to facilitate such learning activities in many
ways. For example to aid constructive learning, technology provides
websites or folders to store information that can later be accessed for
needed information or reflection and for comparing perspectives,
beliefs, and worldviews. To facilitate learning by doing, technology can
provide students the ability to work with seemingly real-world
experiences by simulating meaningful life-like experiences, such as
life-like online lab dissections. I agree with the argument that
meaningful learning takes place when students are willfully involved in
active, constructive, intentional, authentic, and cooperative activities
because these types of activities combined provide multiple ways of
learning, which is the best way to make an idea remain in ones
memory.
Reading the article about meaningful learning has given me
more confidence in technologys ability to stimulate learning. In
previous experiences I have had with using technology to learn, I have
found that technology has primarily been used to deliver information
the teacher could be teaching. For instance, my Spanish class last
semester incorporated a large portion of online learning. However,
rather than facilitating learning, the online component asked me to
regurgitate facts that did not provide an effective way of learning. This
article makes a completely different claim that highlights meaningful
learning over the use of technology and even states, In order to help
students accomplish goals, we have organized the book around
meaningful learning activities, not technologies.
I agree with the articles claim that meaningful learning is best
achieved when the learning is the main focus and technology is only
used when it can facilitate learning.