Every day, more academic institutions are integrating technology into their classrooms. Schools have been changing their traditional teaching methods to an innovate and technological teaching method. The purpose of adapting technology in class is to teach and prepare students to develop 21st century skills. For example, flipped classroom is a new teaching method which makes use of digital learning tools.
However, all teaching strategies have advantages and disadvantages when they are put into practice. Technology "affordances" in education refer to the advantages when using digital tools to teach and learn different subjects. For that reason, teachers need to select the appropriate technological resources that help students to develop the 4 C's -Creativity and Innovation, Critical Thinking & Problem Solving, Communication & Collaboration. The use of technology in classrooms is more than having computers, smart-boars, iPads, tablets, etc. According to the article What Educational Technology Challenges Do Schools Face? , the main idea when using technology is to "focus students' attention on learning from the device rather than on the device." Digital tools are helpful for students and teachers. For one side, teachers can make their topics more interesting, creative, real and interactive and ,for another side, students become familiar with technology while they learn academic content . For example, if educators are teaching math to elementary students, there are different programs, websites where students can continue working inside and outside the classroom, programs such as Starfall , http://www.arcademics.com/, ST Math, IXL, among others. Also, Google docs and Prezi are free software options to present lectures or another information to students.
Technology "constraints" in education refer to the limitations, disadvantages and restrictions when using new technologies. According to 6 Technology Challenges Facing Education, some technology constraints include resistant to change from school's administration or teachers, educators' lack of knowledge or preparation to use and understand digital tools, do not have enough devices for each student, do not have enough time to select appropriate digital learning programs, students lack of access to internet outside of the classroom, and high costs to protect devices from viruses and hackers.
The use of technology in classroom has its advantages and disadvantages but the important point is that teachers need to try and find what works for them and their students to keep advancing instead of stay with the same teaching strategies.
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