Reflections on the Use of Technology in Classroom: The case of FATİH Project

Educational environments that previously only made use of a blackboard and chalk have now been replaced by student-centric ones, rich with materials and supported by technology. This evolution will inevitably lead to a number of differences in the educational environment. The objective of the present study is to reflect on learning environments enhanced with interactive boards and tablet computers within the scope of Fatih project. The changes in the teacher’s class preparation and in the behaviors of both the students and the teacher in the classroom were examined, as well as the differences in teaching practices. Furthermore, the problems occurring during the implementation phase of the project were established. Action research (researcher teacher) method was used in  this study and  data was gathered from video recordings (each teaching practice was video-recorded), the researcher’s journal and observations. The students’ communication with the teachers, as well as among themselves, was improved and it was also observed that some students, who did not participate in class in the conventional learning environment, showed more active participation. Technological problems encountered by students in the classroom, as well as the activity based problems, caused students to move around the classroom, thus creating new levels of communication even among the students who previously had not interacted that much. A limited and slow internet connection, together with a lack of sufficient learning content, are some of the main problems that limited tablet computer use for some of the students. Such problems hindered the motivation of both the teacher and the students, causing the students to lose concentration and focus on non-class-related activities.

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