My Personal Philosophy
Personal Philosophy Paper Assignment
Bradley Hunnicutt
School of Education, Liberty University
EDUC 630: Technology Practices for Instructional Improvement
Dr. Tae Chang
Author Note
I, Bradley Hunnicutt, have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Bradley Hunnicutt
bbhunnicutt@liberty.edu
In today’s society it seems as though technology is weaved into everything we do. There is no surprise that it is also imbedded in our school systems across the county. I believe we have a professional obligation to include technology in our lessons. The world is everchanging and evolving and therefore it is important for us to keep our students up to date with the world around them. It has been studied that technology can help students better understand the world around them and the concepts learned in school (Hughes and Roblyer, 2023). Our purpose of educating students is to prepare them for adulthood and one way of doing that is making sure they are comfortable with technology. Technology also has the purpose of engaging students in multiple ways and meeting the needs of students. Technology has come so far and there are so many applications that allow teachers to differentiate the content for our students. We can accelerate and modify the content to meet students where they are. Some program can do the differentiation for the teacher based on how the student is doing which can take some of the work off the teacher. Trust (2018) gives the example of asking students to learn science or math by a reading a textbook is going to restrict how many students will succeed in learning. However, providing them with an e-book where they can listen, define unfamiliar words, and interact with the information can drastically increase student engagement and success. This is just one of the many ways technology can be used to differentiate content for student success.
James 1:22 states “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (New International Version). When reading this verse, I think about us as educators and “merely” listening to what others are asking us to implement into our teaching. We should be actively listening and learning, implementing all the effective strategies in our classroom, such as technology, and doing what we are taught. This is a different spin on the Bible verse since it is originally talking about doing what the Bible states, but I think it can also be applied to doing what is best for our students and helping them learn in a way that is best for them. Proverbs 9:9 states, “Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning” (New International Version). As educators it is our job to teach students so that they gain knowledge. Embedding technology into the classroom and into the content we teach is a way we can instruct our students, adding to their learning. By adding in technology to our instruction, we are giving our students multiple resources they will use in their everyday lives.
Since I do believe technology should be incorporated into the classroom, I include technology into my day-to-day teaching. Something we use at my school is a program called Canva. In Canva, I can assign work to my students and have them complete it. I can also link our e-book, attach links to websites and videos, and more. Using Canva allows me to differentiate instruction for my students in multiple ways. I can assign students different assignments based on what they need. This helps me accelerate the students who need accelerating and remediate the content for students who need more support. Also, by using an e-book, students are able to listen to the content, define unknown words, and take notes or highlight to assist them in their learning. An e-book is a great resource my students have access to. I believe that too much technology cannot always be the best thing for our students. I know for me; I think that it is better if I implement a couple ways to use technology to enhance my students learning instead of seven or eight. By effectively implement a couple technology strategies well, it is more effective for the students. I know I get overwhelmed when learning about all the different ways technology can be used in the classroom, so I think my students can get overwhelmed the more and more technology I implement into my classroom. Too much technology can sometimes not be the best thing for our students. I think it is important to focus on what we know and implement it well so that it is more beneficial for our students.
Hughes, J. & Roblyer, M. (2023). Integrating educational technology into teaching, (9th ed.) New York, NY: Pearson.
Trust, T. (2018). Why Do We Need Technology in Education? Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, 34(2), 54–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/21532974.2018.1442073
New International Version. (2011). BibleGateway.com. http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/
New-International-Version-NIV-Bible/#booklist
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