Article Review #3

Article Review: Using Technology to Bridge the Cultures Together in a Multicultural Classroom

In the article, the authors address the importance of the use of multimedia in the classroom to help increase creativity, innovative problem solving, and improve communication between other students.  Using technology in the classroom allows for the teacher to incorporate a variety of learning styles.  The technology will help bring different cultures together that are all in one setting, the classroom.

There is a need for teachers of the new classrooms to find new approaches and resources to help with learning of the multicultural students.  Technology will allow the learners the opportunity for equal communication and interdependent learning experiences.   Using the technology will increase the needed language skills that the learner will need in and out of a school setting.  Multimedia will effectively facilitate learning on several different levels from collaboration to individual learning styles.

Essentially regardless of cultural background all learning styles are possible, it is the communication that is needed to be able to reach all learners.  Over the years as technology has developed it has been possible to customize the learning environments to help with language acquisition of the multicultural limited English students.   By creating a cooperative learning environment it is encouraging students to participate with their learning and creating an environment that increase communication amongst their peers and self-confidence.  Technology can also be used for individual learning, as it can be designed for the specific learners levels.  The teacher facilitates the use technology by guiding the learners to the right site for new experiences in learning.  Finally technology can help with the learning of new content concepts that are hard for the students to visualize may be easier to understand using technology.

The use of technology will help foster the learning of new language learners in the classroom.  Using different technology resources will support the learners by creating new experiences for their creativity and their imagination.  Teachers will be able to provide meaningful ways for the learner to participate by creating meaningful learning environments.

As a teacher in a school with a very diverse population, many that are English language learners I find that technology can actually be difficult at times to use in the classroom.   As the group I teach are refugees who have not had technology, until now.  So I do think that it depends on the experiences the learner has had prior with technology on how successful it is used in the classroom.  I do know that when I use technology with the students that have been in the country for at least two years there is less of a learning curve, but the newer  the student it can be somewhat difficult.  However, if the students are in the right setting, that is a smaller class such as ten students or less, than the use of technology has a higher success. 

Reference

Hollenbeck, J. & Hollenbeck, D.  (2009). Using technology to bridge the cultures together in the multicultural classroom.  Retrieved from: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED519991.pdf