Technology is everywhere, entwined in almost every part of our lives.

It affects how we shop, socialize,

connect, play, and most importantly learn. With their great and increasing presence in our lives it only

makes sense to have mobile technology in the classroom. Yet there are some schools that are delaying

this imminent future of using technology in the classroom as the valuable learning tool it is.

Here is a list of ten reasons your school should implement technology in the classroom.

1) If used correctly, will help prepare students for their future careers, which will inevitably include the use

of wireless technology.

2) Integrating technology into the classroom is definitely a great way to reach diversity in learning styles.
3) It gives students the chance to interact with their classmates more by encouraging collaboration.

4) Technology helps the teachers prepare students for the real world environment. As our nation becomes

increasingly more technology-dependent, it becomes even more necessary that to be successful citizens,

students must learn to be tech-savvy.

5) Integrating technology in education everyday helps students stay engaged. Todays students love

technology so they are sure to be interested in learning if they can use the tools they love.

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6) With technology, the classroom is a happier place. Students are excited about being able to use

technology and therefore are more apt to learn.

7) When mobile technology is readily available in the classroom, students are able to access the most up-

to-date information quicker and easier than ever before.

8) The traditional passive learning mold is broken. With technology in the classroom the teacher becomes

the encourager, adviser, and coach.

9) Students become more responsible. Technology helps students take more control over their own

learning. They learn how to make their own decisions and actually think for themselves.

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10) Student can have access to digital textbooks that are constantly updated and often more vivid,

helpful, creative, and a lot cheaper than those old heavy books.

There are some key trends and drivers we can expect to see in regard to curriculum alignment through
the rest of this year and into the coming years. Technology will play a key role in curriculum alignment as
these trends unfold because there will simply be no other way to implement and manage the
comprehensive changes we are seeing and will continue to see.

Rigorous Alignment Expectations: One of the main trends is around far more rigorous alignment
expectations. There is an expectation that all assetswork sheets, quiz items, summative and formative
assessmentneed to be fully aligned.

Cognitive Levels: This is a developing trend that will gain more and more traction in the future. There
was a time when educators, students, and parents cared about whether the material was covered
regardless of the method. Recall and recognition was the standard approach. The world is different now.
Strategic and extended thinking are expected and require a deeper understanding. Theres as much
emphasis on how a topic is covered as on whether the topic is covered.
 Accountability: This is a big one. Accountability is on the rise for everyonethe teachers, the students,
the schools and districts, as well as the vendors that provide education tools and products to the schools
and teachers. As accountability levels rise, all involved parties are much more sensitive to ensuring the
right instruction is in place for the right students at the right time. There is much greater concern around
the type of content that is being provided to students and how much it aligns to the learning style of the
student as well as the standards (state and Common Core).

Progress Monitoring: This one goes hand in hand with accountability, but basically there is a greater
degree of transparency in the way students are monitored for progress (and by extension the way
teachers are evaluated). Via ongoing assessments, teachers can always know in real time where their
students stand, what they need to work on, etc.

Differentiation: Classrooms are far more diverse than they ever have been. Teachers are expected to
meet the needs of each and every student in the classroom (this includes special education students and
limited-English-proficiency students all in one classroom)an unenviable task. To adequately meet the
needs of the diverse student population in a single classroom, teachers need to know about all the
resources available and what assignment will work best for each student.

Exponential Growth in Resources: Add all of the above to the amount of resources available
basically, in the old days we had a media center, textbooks, and field tripsand it becomes a herculean
task to even consider managing all the moving parts. This is where the right technologies really begin to
shine.

Technology Is Key

Technology is key to curriculum/content alignment with standards (both state and Common Core) to
ensure that students get what they need in the way they need it to be successful. Not only is there a vast
array of resources that can be tapped, but each one of those resources needs to be digested and
understood if it is to be properly aligned with standards. But challenges exist that need to be overcome as
well.

We have, without a doubt, made a tremendous amount of progress in aligning content as well as
developing tools to align all the resources at our disposal. However, a gap exists that needs to be
resolved to make teachers even more efficient and effective in their classrooms. And its a gap that can
really only be bridged by a technology solution.

We have made significant strides assessing students and gathering information about students
understanding learning styles, expression preferences, etc. Where the gap exists is getting all the vital
assessment information about the student talking to the alignment itself. Right now, this is often a manual
process and, for the most part, emphasizes only competencies. The teacher gathers the student data,
looks at the alignment, and manually adjusts the necessary variables to ensure cohesion between student
and standards. Essentially, teachers are playing the role of a data manager instead of the more aptly
suited role of mentor. Once the process becomes more automated and sophisticated so the mapping
between student data and alignment occurs as a process of the technology infrastructure, teachers will
become mentors to monitor information and pull levers to get the most out of students.

The move to Common Core standards will greatly facilitate the automation process and help standardize
curriculum across the country. There is still work to be done with these standards, as the current set is
fairly broad, but there is activity to create a more discrete set of instructional standards. The beauty of
Common Core from a technology standpoint is that an agreed-upon set of standards will spur the
development of interchangeable tools and technologies that will be used to align curriculum across the
board.
One of the biggest positive changes we will see as technology continues to play a more prominent role in
the education sector is that of tagging, which ultimately leads to the Holy Grail of predictive analytics (and
personalized instruction). Until recently, alignment activities have leaned toward some kind of learning
objective. Can the student add fractions? Can the student identify the main idea? Now were getting
access to such great information about the student. What is the students learning style? What is he or
she interested in? How does he or she like to express mastery of a concept? Demographic information?
These are all important factors that we can use to fine-tune the right resource for the right student.

But how do we match the right resource with the right student? Tagging. For example, if a student
happens to be an auditory learner, appropriate resources need to be tagged (or identified) as auditory in
order to ensure the student has access to the best possible resources to ensure his or her success. At the
end of the day, the vast amount of resources students have access to are only as good as the tags that
support a certain learning style. But when they do correlate and match up, watch out. Its incredibly
powerful.

From Predictive Analytics to Personalized Learning

All of these trendsthe evolution of Common Core standards, the increasing role of technology in content
development and curriculum alignment, as well as tagging efforts to connect the right resource to the right
studentare leading down a very exciting path toward predictive analytics. The predictive analytics path
ultimately leads to a truly personalized learning experience for our children.

We are starting to see the power of predictive analytics in the world outside of education on a more
regular basis. For example, when we order a book from Amazon (or any item for that matter), upon future
visits we are provided with product suggestions based on our purchasing history. The same holds true for
Netflix. We see movie suggestions based upon our rental history. All the suggestions we see as
individuals are personalized just for us. Well, imagine that in a classroom setting. We can take all the
information we have about each student and start one of two processes: 1) automatically delivering
personalized content to a student or 2) providing recommendations for a teacher to use when making
instructional decisions about a student or class.

The more we personalize instructionwhich is definitely the way education is goingthe more curriculum

alignment becomes critical. Technology will play a key role. And while technology is certainly a key

component in delivery of instruction, its also a key tool in keeping all the content aligned. In essence, it is

really helping our students be fully engaged in a lifelong pursuit of learning, and it is providing our

teachers with the tools and time to be the mentors they always dreamed they could be.

Technology is ubiquitous, touching almost every part of our lives, our communities, our homes. Yet most
schools lag far behind when it comes to integrating technology into classroom learning. Many are just
beginning to explore the true potential tech offers for teaching and learning. Properly used, technology will help
students acquire the skills they need to survive in a complex, highly technological knowledge-based economy.

Integrating technology into classroom instruction means more than teaching basic computer skills and software
programs in a separate computer class. Effective tech integration must happen across the curriculum in ways
that research shows deepen and enhance the learning process. In particular, it must support four key
components of learning: active engagement, participation in groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and
connection to real-world experts. Effective technology integration is achieved when the use of technology is
routine and transparent and when technology supports curricular goals.
Many people believe that technology-enabled project learning is the ne plus ultra of classroom instruction.
Learning through projects while equipped with technology tools allows students to be intellectually challenged
while providing them with a realistic snapshot of what the modern office looks like. Through projects, students
acquire and refine their analysis and problem-solving skills as they work individually and in teams to find,
process, and synthesize information they've found online.

The myriad resources of the online world also provide each classroom with more interesting, diverse, and
current learning materials. The Web connects students to experts in the real world and provides numerous
opportunities for expressing understanding through images, sound, and text.

New tech tools for visualizing and modeling, especially in the sciences, offer students ways to experiment and
observe phenomenon and to view results in graphic ways that aid in understanding. And, as an added benefit,
with technology tools and a project-learning approach, students are more likely to stay engaged and on task,
reducing behavioral problems in the classroom.

Technology also changes the way teachers teach, offering educators effective ways to reach different types of
learners and assess student understanding through multiple means. It also enhances the relationship between
teacher and student. When technology is effectively integrated into subject areas, teachers grow into roles of
adviser, content expert, and coach. Technology helps make teaching and learning more meaningful and fun