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My Philosophy of Instructional Technology

I have always been a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to technology. For the most
part, I like to resist technological trends for the preservation of printed copies of books and
taking notes by hand. I grew up during a time of a vast technological shift in society, where
suddenly the smartphone appeared and revolutionized our ability to access information at any
given moment. Moreover, the rise of social media began during my adolescence and is now more
powerful than ever anticipated. Because my grade school years were split between old
technology (books and paper and pen) and new technology (such as smartphones and social
media), my ideal world would be a balance between the two, where neither camp threatens the
longevity of the other. Yet, new technology is fundamentally changing the way we live and
making old technology less appealing. However, I now know that thats not necessarily all bad
especially when it comes to technology integration in the classroom (Postman, 1992).
Todays generation of students have never lived in a world without the internet,
smartphones, social media, tablets and the like. When I reflect upon what that means for how
they construct meaning and learn, I realize that I must understand the latest technologies in order
to understand them. This requires using technology to my advantage in order to help students
learn effectively in a way that is relevant to them. I used to feel that most of the time, a
classroom activity could go just as well without the latest app or Web 2.0 resource as with it. I
still firmly believe that technology is not necessary for every lesson, in fact, it could even detract
from learning in some circumstances. However, I now believe that it is all about the students I
am teaching and the content with which I am engaging them as to whether I use technology.
Furthermore, use of technology should have a meaningful purpose and enhance student
learning more than other methods would. As Bobby Hobgood, a well-known world language
(WL) educator says: Get everything else settled first. Technology should be the LAST thing you
decide on (Hobgood, 2015). This is crucial to planning; otherwise, the technology is simply a
cool add-on to my instruction in an attempt to engage students (Hofer & Harris, 2009). In
addition, I believe that in order to be a successful teacher of todays learners, what I know about
pedagogy, my content area, and technology integration must be ever interconnected in my mind.
These three sets of knowledge influence each other and when their intersections are considered,
they can produce the most meaningful teaching and learning (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).
For WL educators, technology can be a distinct asset when used appropriately. More than
ever, technology facilitates communication, and the goal of WL teaching is to develop students
ability to communicate in all ways in the target language. Therefore, I believe technology in the
WL classroom should allow students to create language in new ways and develop standardsbased language outcomes, such as being able to describe or express opinions (Curtain &
Dahlberg, 2015). Additionally, I believe that classroom activities and tasks must be thoughtfully
planned in order to match communication type with an appropriate technology. Learning Activity
Types, allow for careful technology decision-making, while thinking about pedagogy and content
standards. These activity types help keep the connections between pedagogy, my content area,
and technology in my considerations when planning lessons (Hofer, & Harris, 2009). Finally,
improving the quality of student learning is my principal goal; therefore, in integrating
technology in my classroom, I intend to use the aforementioned strategies as well as develop
strong relationships with my students in order to be successful.

References
Curtain, H. and Dahlberg, C.A. (2015). Languages and learners, making the match: World
language instruction in K-8 classrooms and beyond (5th Ed.). New York: Pearson
Education, Inc.
Harris, J. and Hofer, M. (2009). Instructional planning activity types as vehicles for curriculumbased TPACK development. Research Highlights in Technology and Teacher Education,
99-108.
Hobgood, B. (2015). Formative assessment: From low-tech to high-tech. Retrieved from: the
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Convention
Koehler, M. and Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge?
Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60-70.
Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly: the surrender of culture to technology. New York, New York:
Random House, Inc.