An Open Maze

Through researching technology integration, I assumed that I would find many obvious solutions to my research topic. I found myself going through that old phrase if you find a closed door, there will be an open window. However, I was finding an open door which led to three or four more open doors, and the next open door would lead me to three or four open windows.  When looking to limit my research and focus on only one or two questions, it seemed like I was searching four, five, even six research questions simultaneously.  The process was quite challenging, and it was easy to get off of task and lose focus.

I related this experience to being a high school student to some degree, one that entered into our high school without much prior exposure to one-to-one technology. I have access to a great technological great device with a limitless amount of resources.  I was able to use different websites, browsers, search engines, and even had access to interview multiple school districts. With picking our own topic and focusing on our set of questions, the research opportunities were limitless.  I imagine that is how students feel the first day when given the iPad.  What can I do, what games can I download, how do I avoid trouble?  That was exactly I how I felt when I was researching. I had to sit back and slow myself down. There was a point that I realized I had more than eight windows open on Mozilla and Internet Explorer, and a few of those windows had two or three open windows as well.

There was one thing that kept me focused on my task, which was far above the research question. That focus point was what is really important, and what does quality instruction look like? As teachers, we should have a general idea of what best practices look like in the classroom.  If we do not know the best practices word for word, we should be able to easily find a place the defines or lists best practices for educators.  This is a broad way of describing that teachers must remember to incorporate scientifically researched practices including current trends in education. Obviously, technology integration would fall under this category.


When I reflect upon my research, the overwhelming lesson that I took out of the research is to use technology but do not let it be the driving force of my classroom. I have all of this great technology at my hands every day. This allows me to be kind of lazy when I act carelessly as a teacher. It is easy to use technology to capture the students' interest, but I am doing it effectively? Am I relying on technology to drive my teaching, or am I rely on my teaching to make the incorporation of technology meaningful, applicable, and relevant to students today?


I believe there is a delicate balance between utilizing to enhance the education of the whole student, and over-utilizing technology as a cop out in education. I believe as teachers, we have to look at best practices in education and research-based teaching methods. We then must use technology to enhance that process. For me, this is integrating technology in the RTI process and interventions as a whole. Making the content meaningful, activating prior knowledge, and using data to drive technology integration is going to always pose unique challenges. As we know, students change, practices change, and technological capabilities will jump tremendously, but we will always need to meet the growing needs of our students. That will pose a unique set of challenges.