To Tech or not to Tech?

"The most important thing that schools can do is not to use technology in the curriculum more, but use it more effectively"                                    -John G. Palfrey 

              A question that has been asked by many educators is, how wise and effective is it to use technology in the classroom? Is it a tool to further education or a distraction that halts education? How can we as educators assure that we use technology effectively? I was intrigued when we were asked to find out about technology in our placement. I was interested in finding out the different technology available for the students and staff. As important , how is technology being managed to optimize its usage?
             After a survey done at my placement I discovered that we had quite a bit of technology available. I learned that we had Chrome book carts that can be  borrowed for in class activities. The students also have a variety of computer labs they can use to get their work done. These computer labs can be reserved by teachers for class activities, woah! I began to wonder how was technology being managed at my school. I typed in different websites *drumroll please*  Students are not allowed to visit social media websites such as Facebook, even if students try to access them, they are blocked. Email websites such as google and yahoo are allowed to visit. I expected this since students are actually given their own google email by the district. The students are also not allowed to visit certain websites besides social mediam for example, they are not allowed to visit the Red Cross Website from the school's network among others. This is to help prevent distractions to students when they are in the computer lab or even if they are in their own devices, while using the school's wireless connections, they still have these restrictions. 
              How else is technology regulated at my placement? I n order to use computer labs, teachers must sign up online to use them. Aside form the computer labs, there is also the media room available for students. Students were able to go during study hour to the media center but that has recently changed. If students need to use a computer they must do so during lunch. I think this is restrictive to students because to some students, the only time that they can use a computer is at school. Some teachers do offer their room after school for students that need to type up a report for their class or need to do research. In my placement, there is a designated group of media specialist that not only advocate for technology use but they are also active in writing grants to fund this. At the beginning of the school year, teachers attended a professional development meeting in which different uses of technology was presented. In my placement, attendance and grades are all recorded online. Teachers are to take attendance at the beginning of each class and record it. This allows for the new attendance policy to be more efficient. Teachers are also encouraged to have a website in which students can access the class' information.
            Overall, students get a wide variety of technology at my placement. They are also being familiarized with technology since many will be using it daily in their future. For example, we have students in the honors biology and AP biology classes write up their lab reports. This involves students using excel to analyze their results. This allows the students to gain experience with excel and at the same time gain more experience in writing lab reports. Technology is well regulated at my placement and many measures are taken to ensure minimal distractions to students. I would like to see technology integrated in learning in my classroom, we have yet to use technology as a learning tool outside of the general uses of technology.