Why Techonogy Fails in Class

Technology can fail in classroom. One of the reasons is teachers’ “obsessive” use of technology without affording their students this opportunity. That is, teachers take on the role of technology users or lecturers rather than that of technology coaches or guides. Teachers should understand the fact that nowadays, students are very likely to know more about technology than they do, and it is time for them to learn from their students and provide space in class for self-learning or peer-to-peer learning.

Another factors resulting in the failure of technology use in class is adopting wrong pedagogy by teachers. For technology to succeed, partnering pedagogy (watch the tube below) is of utter importance in that under this collaborative model of curriculum, students have the real chance to put technology into use at their own pace and in their own way. Therefore, the bottom line is to let your students be the user of technology, while teachers make use of guiding questions to engage students and demand high quality out of their individual or group products.

Take a geography class for instance. Teachers could first give students some guiding questions such as Which country do you want to visit or know most? How big is this country? How many people are living there? What is or are their official language(s)? Could you name three special things of this country? After posing these questions to students, teachers could divide them into groups and give them time searching for related information on the Internet. Then, students will organize their information using PowerPoint or Prezi. Last, they need to present their findings in front of their class.