Think about the old days, when we had charts and boards in our classroom walls that displayed internal organs of human body and map of India with States and Union Territories marked on it. And one fine day, we walked in to our classrooms to find projectors, screens and speakers. We were among those students who witnessed the initial steps of technology inside our classroom environment. The smart class setup showed us what happens during photosynthesis, how food gets digested inside our body, how earth and other planets rotate around the sun etc. What amazed us back then is no longer the same with the students of same age in the present.

Technological advancement disrupted the area of education in a lot many ways to educate the students by showing them the practical applications of integration and differentiation which we used to complaint. When we talk about technological integration, it deals with how diverge set of equipments that made the teaching smoother and understanding of lessons better. Technology Integration is the way in which the bigger technological paradigm converged into the learning experiences of students.

Types of Technology Integration

When we look behind, the present tools and practices used in technology integration have ameliorated in a significant way from the smart class scenario. It becomes difficult to describe how technology has become an integral part in helping the learning process.

Technology Integration has become an umbrella-term that comprises many tools that precisely fits in the learning space. A few types of technology integration that are widely used in the context include; Online Learning and Blended Classroom, where teaching and learning arena could make useful methods for meeting the teaching and learning requirements. A blended classroom is a learning experience that is perceived through online with face-to-face interaction. This learning platform could increase the potential of learners to take charge of their own learning process and accelerate the development of a sense of community among them.

Another one is Project-Based Learning, where in involves a project based learning that shows the gate for an instructional approach for creating projects of its own. The student-driven interface will enable the goal of achieving specific learning objectives from multiple subjects. Project-based learning lends students complete technology projects focused on problem solving tasks. One of the popular technological integrated systems will be Game-Based learning and Assessment, which motivates the students to learn from games and essential problem based learning, by incorporating simulations and fun activities into the classroom system. Likewise, technology integration has enveloped many advanced methods that could resolve the problems in traditional method of teaching and mould a better future generation.

Models of Technology Integration

The two current models of technology integration include SAMR and TPACK model.

Dr. Ruben Puentedura, who proposed the SAMR model, says that the model enables teachers to design, develop, and integrate digital learning experiences that utilize technology to lead learning experiences to a high level of achievement for students. Whereas, TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) is a framework to lay out the knowledge that educators need in order to infuse technology for teaching purpose.

The incorporation of technology resources and technology-based practices demand strategies that need to go in line with it. Instruction designed for self directed motivated learners used to supplement classroom instruction and make choices. Other strategies in technology integration could benefit the student to learn tings by themselves, and do homework and meet deadlines of projects in the right manner and method. This could boost the ability to learn the content in an instructional setting. Meaningful learning is what everyone seeks for, and that is what a combination of technology and pedagogy can deliver to students of K-12. Technology, in the end, is just an object that could foster the ways world of knowledge is perceived by a student, and make use of self development.