Should Technology Drive Curriculum?

Reflective Teaching 30 Day Blog Challenge

Day 28: Respond: Should technology drive curriculum or vice versa?

I believe that curriculum should drive the use of technology not the other way around. The learning objective itself comes first and technology should only be used if it fits with the learning content and enhances it. As tempting as it is to choose technology over curriculum, especially when there are so much amazing new technologies out there,  it is the actual learning content that should be prioritised. Technology gives us great tools and skills for the future but if technology drives our curriculum we are losing sight of why we are at school in the first place.

The technology that I use in the classroom is minimal at the moment, mostly because I'm still trying to focus on delivering the classroom program. Having said that if I learn of a tool that I know would be useful to what the children are learning I am open to using it and I love learning about new technologies that I can use. Sometimes there are too many to remember!

I have recently been introduced to Kidspiration and have used it in a whole class brainstorm for writing to great effect. The kids were engaged as it was different to our usual brainstorms on the whiteboard and also because we could add pictures it worked well for the more visual learners in the classroom.