Technology is a tool, not the solution

I just read an interesting article entitled "Using Technology to Teach English as a Second Language" by author, Alan Cohen. 

The first point that he made was very interesting: Technology is a tool, it is not the solution. I thought that this was a very important point because there is so much pressure on teachers right now to be relevant and up to date with technology.  If we are using technology, we must have a purpose for it. Classes can be engaging with technology and they can be engaging without technology. 

I have recently discovered the use of Quizlet live in the classroom.  You may set up a list of vocabulary words and definitions in Quizlet.  Once you have any set of vocabulary set up, your students can log on and play games.  One option is Quizlet Live.  When students log on, they are randomly assigned to teams. Each team works together to get 12 right answers.  You can project the live results on your front screen as the game is live.  The kids loved this game......however, one day, when an unexpected change in schedule occurred and I didn't have a lesson plan, we played Quizlet Live a 2nd day in a row. The kids weren't as excited the second day.  It was really interesting to see how this amazing novelty wore off quickly. My point is that technology is a great tool, but you should make it work for you.  It seems like that thing that students want the most is to have constant variety.

Another interesting thing that this article mentioned was using technology for the flipped classroom.  We can use technology to create online lessons which the students can watch outside of class.  If the students can watch part of the lesson ahead of time, there will be no time lost in the classroom.  The classroom can be used for practicing the concept that the student learned watching the video or perhaps the video podcast that was created for them.  I thought that this was a great idea.