Critical Evaluation

With technology being ubiquitous in our everyday lives, the concept of technology integration in the classroom reflects the need to keep pace with society and prepare students for their roles in society as future workers (Eady & Lockeyer, 2013; Sanders & George, 2017, p. 2916). This suggests that technology must be an integral part of the learning experience and an important consideration for teachers (Eady & Lockeyer, 2013). Whilst considered important, historically, the integration of technology has not been a simple task, with literature suggesting that a teachers’ pedagogical adoption and technology integration of ICTs in schools is either not happening, happening too slowly, or with little or no effect on student learning (Phillips, 2015, p. 319; Sanders & George, 2017, p. 2917; Eady & Lockeyer, 2013; Tondeur, et al., 2017, p. 158). 

To effectively integrate and use technology, we must first undertake an analysis of teaching and learning needs, compare the benefits of new methods to their current methods and determine if the benefits are worth the additional effort (Roblyer & Doering, 2014, p. 62). The rhetoric-reality gap suggests the need to look critically at the lessons emerging from the history of ICT innovations, learning from them in order to avoid past mistakes (Sanders & George, 2017, p. 2928; Eady & Lockeyer, 2013). Including the persistent and underlying premise of technological determinism, which is demonstrated by the belief that by simply designing an activity that incorporates digital technology, it will contribute to new, improved, and better outcomes for the learners (Phillips, 2015, p. 326). In contrast to the deterministic attitude, Sanders & George (2017) highlight that there is an increasing realisation that the pedagogy of task design is crucial and educational technologies must therefore be seen as learning tools to serve pedagogy and not the other way around (p. 2923). The key to meaningful technology integration lies in equipping teachers with the necessary skills and knowledge to go beyond using technology to replace or substitute within a traditional pedagogy (George & Sanders, 2017, p. 2890). It is also necessary for teachers to have a thorough understanding of their own capabilities in terms of Technology, Pedagogy and Content knowledge (Roblyer & Doering, 2014, p. 72) and how each of these competency areas intersects (Tondeur, et al., 2017, p. 159).

Educational technology cannot replace teachers or be always used for teaching, learning and assessment. Therefore, the role that technology plays in education affords teachers the ability to enhance good teaching and the opportunity to design meaningful learning experiences and assessment that embed technology (Timmis, et al., 2016, p. 455; Eady & Lockeyer, 2013; Sanders & George, 2017, p. 2923). In order to assist the teacher in the integration and use of technology in the classroom, essential conditions of technology integration must be met. These conditions include standard and curriculum support, shared vision for technology integration, required policies, access to resources, skilled personnel, technical assistance, appropriate teaching and assessment, engaged community (Roblyer & Doering, 2014, p. 79). Technology-based strategies offer many unique benefits and instructional solutions (Roblyer & Doering, 2014, p. 62). They can be used to enable and facilitate meaningful and authentic learning that embodies collaboration (Smith & MacGregor, 1992; Bower, 2017, p. 57). Sanders & George (2017) highlight that with integrating technology, some things work some of the time, with some teachers, in some contexts (p. 2925). Additionally, it is worth noting that when integrating technology for educational use, not all students have equal access to technology (Buchanan, 2019). This supports the notion that all stakeholders need to be aware that there is a possibility for unanticipated and unintended negative outcomes and consequences when educational technologies are introduced (Sanders & George, 2017, p. 2920).