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what is being taught in the lesson to keep students

engaged in the learning process (Liu et al., 2016). In a

society that is developing new technologies at a rapid

pace, teachers will only benefit the students if they use

technology and teach to use it themselves.

Teacher’s attitude and willingness to

use technology can greatly impact how successful the

integration of technology into the classroom. One

study suggests that teacher characteristics play a role

into technology use in lessons such as “gender, level

of education, number of years teaching experience,

and number of years teaching experience with tech-

nology” (Liu, Ritzhaupt, Dawson, & Barron, 2016).

One of the largest contributors to the success or failure room. The benefits far outweigh the drawbacks in

for teacher to integrate technology in the classroom is student achievement and learning. Liu et al. (2016)

a teacher’s experience with technology. The more makes a bold statement: “If used appropriately, these

prior experience a teacher has with technology, the technologies can enhance teaching and learning in a

more successfully technology is used in the classroom. formal school setting.” It is up to each individual

The support available to teachers from the school can teacher how they choose to integrate technology in

determine much of the confidence and comfort a their classroom. Many teachers choose to use Power-

teacher has when integrating technology into the Point to present material while others use online

classroom. In three studies it is suggested that “school resources such as YouTube or Prezi to present

support is the most important predictor of technology information. The limits are endless once the doors to

integration with access being closely related to online resources are available to teachers in lesson

technology integration” (Liu et al., 2016). According planning. The success seen in the classroom with

to Vongkulluksn, Xie, and Bowman’s 2018 study, technology will follow students in every aspect of

lack of school support would be considered a “first- their lives. Schools are teaching their students about

order barrier” because it is out of the teacher’s control internet safety, which is vital in a technologically

over the situation, and “second-order barriers” are driven world. “And while it is hard to dispute that

directly related to the teacher’s own beliefs in the area today’s students are spending alarming amounts of

of the importance of technology in the learning of the time on screens in their homes, it is also clear that

students. A teacher must believe that the technology there is more going on when students use digital

they have available can help accomplish the goals and games than mindless entertainment” (O’Rourke,

standards they must meet in instruction. “Second- 2017).

order barrier” teachers’ concerns may include: not

having the knowledge to operate the necessary References

programs, not knowing which programs would be  Liu, F., Ritzhaupt, A. D., Dawson, K., & Barron, A. E. 5 October
effective in teaching the standards, not having the 2016. Explaining technologyintegration in K-12 classrooms: a mul-
ability to manage what students are doing on their tilevel path analysis model. Education TechResearch Dev.
devices, and having difficulty incorporating
technology into the lesson. Some of these issues and  O’Rourke, J., Main, S., & Hill, S. H. 2017. Commercially available
barriers can be removed, “When classrooms are Digital Game Technology inthe Classroom: Improving Automatici-
sufficiently equipped and teachers are given adequate ty in Mental-maths in Primary-aged Students.Australian Journal of
training, first-order barriers may no longer exert a
Teacher Education, Volume 42, Issue 10.

 Varier, D., Dumke, E. K., Abrams, L. M., Conklin, S. B., Barnes, J.
S., & Hoover, N. R. 31January 2017. Potential of one-to-one tech-
nologies in the classroom: teachers andstudents weigh in. Educa-

sizable influence on teachers’ technology tion Tech Research Dev.
use” (Vongkulluksn et al., 2018). Once the doubt is
eliminated from teachers’ minds through a support  Vongkulluksn, V. W., Xie, K., & Bowman, M. A. 22 November
system from their school in teaching students to use 2017. The role of value onteachers’ internalization of external barri-
ers and externalization of personal beliefs forclassroom technology
integration. Elsevier, 118.

technology properly, there will be a greater increase in

teacher success in integrating technology.

Technology is a must in the 21st century class-

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