First milestone question

I apologize because I think I am posting this after it is due.

"Given the realities of our modern age and the demands of our children's future, is it really ok to allow teachers to choose whether or not they incorporate modern technologies into their instruction?"


I would usually say it is unfair to "force" new classroom technologies onto teachers, however as the question says, "given the reality of our age" I think is important that new technologies are incorporated into the classroom. There should be certain technologies that are required to be used, because when students move on to higher levels of education they will need to be familiar with it. I will use an example from high school to illustrate my feelings:

Despite coming from a relatively large high school, I had the same biology teacher my freshman and senior years. My freshman year we learned the "old-fashioned" way. We used worksheets, copied down outlines from the overhead, even copied notes off of the chalkboard. However my senior year for AP biology, all of our notes were in power point form. Oddly enough this was my first class that we had more than just a one day encounter with power point (I say oddly enough since all of my biology classes at U of I have used power point to present pretty much all material). Its humorous to think I had no idea how important it was for me to get used to power point presentations.

I am not actually sure if my teacher was forced to convert everything to power point, or he just realized that it was probably something that he should do. Some days he loved it because he didn't have to spend hours a day on the chalkboard. Others he seemed to dislike it since he had to convert 20 years of lessons into powerpoint form. I bring this up because some teachers that have been doing things for so long they may not want to use the new technology. With the right training teachers can learn to use this technology to benefit the students, and that is the ultimate goal.

Some technologies however may conflict with what teachers may regard as a better way of teaching a topic. For example, my biology teacher still had us fill out some of those primitive worksheets because he felt it was more effective than being lectured with power point the whole time.

In conclusion, I believe some technologies that students need to get used to (such as powerpoint 4 years ago) should be required for use, however if it is some new developing technology, or some sort of luxury, teachers should be able to choose what is the most effective way of teaching.