Journal Reflection

I read the article e-Leadership in higher education: The fifth “age” of educational technology research from the British Journal of Educational Technology. This article spoke about the importance of using technology in classrooms and how many educators currently view technology. The author believes that technology is a tool that modern society students need to have in the classroom due to the how beneficial technological tools are for students. Technology allows students to become more interactive, and independent learners who can increase their knowledge with the click of a button and guidance from their teacher. The author strongly believes that technologies biggest benefit for students in the collaborative atmosphere it creates for students and gives them more authentic means of expressing what they are doing in school. The biggest issue the author has with technology integration is that many educators are not prepared enough to teach it and/or incorporate it into their classroom. The author firmly states that both administrators and educators need to have prep courses in how to use technology in a meaningful manner because currently it is mostly being used improperly or not at all. The article breaks down the e-Leadership outlook that the journal uses and gives specific training tips and technology resources for educators to begin expanding their own knowledge about technology.

From this article, I learned how unused technology is in the classroom because the author states that typically technology is integrated poorly when integrated at all within the classroom. Reflecting on my own practicum experiences I agree that this statement is true because the few classroom I have seen who integrate technology were meaningless games that the students would play when given free time. A big part of this problem is educators who are not trained on how to properly use technology in the class. Teachers are so busy with day-to-day activities that there is little time left to click around on the internet, blogs, or app store to find meaningful activities that would fit into a lesson. Administrators should have a day in which they can provide educators with a list of resources and give examples of them used in lessons and the time to check some of the resources during the training time. This would take a big road block out of the way for educators because it gives them the tools they need to begin to create meaningful technology integrated activities into their classroom.

Article Reference
Jameson, J. (2013). e-Leadership in higher education: The fifth “age” of educational technology research. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(6), 889-915. DOI: 10.1111/bjet.12103