1. Technology Interview Essay
Instructional Tech
Charles Rosenthal
Over the last five years technology has advanced quite a bit at the education
level. The days of overhead projectors and hauling in the giant T.V’s are over and
the days of Apple T.V and Google classroom have just begun. As an educator, you
have to advance your knowledge of technology as technology advances itself.
In the science classroom environment technology has gone through a few
advancements since I was last in a High School science class. After conducting an
interview with one of my High School teachers, I found that teachers still use
portable laptop labs that the educator checks out. This allows the students to use
laptops for the entire class period. These laptop labs are used for group or
individual projects, as well as assignments that demand Internet. Because not all
students’ families have computers at home, these portable computer labs are a great
addition to the classroom.
Some of the technologies that my High School science teacher currently uses
in the classroom include Kahoot and Vernier LabQuest. Using Kahoot, students can
take a quiz and submit their answers using their cellphones. This makes Kahoot a
quick, easy, and fun way to review for tests. Another huge plus about Kahoot is that
it gives students immediate feedback on the question that they answered. Another
form of technology that is used in classrooms today is Vernier LabQuest. Using
Vernier LabQuest students can graph, analyze, and collect data as they complete

2. their lab assignments in the classroom. Using the LabQuest students can easily
graph and collect data from their labs where they need to measure velocity,
temperatures of solutions in different states of matter, change of the temperature
over time, and the pH and pOH of acidic or basic solutions. Because of the LabQuest,
students are able to collect data as they complete challenging labs, furthering their
knowledge in the subject that they are learning.
I conducted my first interview with my ex-science teacher Mr. Gottula, who
teaches physical science at Lincoln Southeast High School. In my interview Mr.
Gottula shared with me that just next year all the students at Lincoln Southeast are
going to check out Chromebooks to take home with them and have at all times. The
addition of Chromebooks will give the students more resources for learning and the
classroom will become more of a college classroom environment as the students
begin to submit assignments online. The addition of Chromebooks in the classroom
comes with the growing popularity of Google Classroom. Because the students are
going to be taking the Chromebooks home, they will be able to access the
information that the teacher puts online whenever they want. With each student
having their own Chromebook the number of resources that students will be able to
access will increase extensively.
Over the last three to five years, technology in the classroom has changed
quite a bit in the way that teachers present information to their students. The
popularity of Google Classroom has grown and is widely used by many teachers in
the Lincoln Public Schools district. Along with the rise of the internet, smartphones,
and laptop popularity the amount of resources that students can use has grown

3. substantially. As we look into the future, we can reasonably predict that the use of
Chromebooks is going to increase substantially at all grade levels.
For my second interview I interviewed Mr. Witt, who is an administrator at
Lincoln Southeast High School. From a district standpoint, Lincoln Public Schools
(LPS) is starting to initiate Chromebook implementation programs. After
conducting my interview with Mr. Witt, I learned that these implementation
programs are especially relevant at the Middle School level. At the Elementary
School level, LPS is starting to issue classroom sets of Chromebooks. Instead of the
students taking home their own Chromebook they keep the Chromebooks at their
school. As opposed to Middle School, were the students will get their own
Chromebook issued to them. To go along with the implementation of Chromebooks,
schools are starting to install Short Throw Projectors or Apple TV’s to interact with
the students as they use their Chromebooks during class. Along with the inclusion
of Chromebooks comes online curriculums. Mr. Witt also shared with me that these
online curriculum classes are commonly used for math and reading curriculums in
lower level classes.
Lincoln Southeast administrator Mr. Witt also shared some information with
me about how LPS plans to get technology into High School classrooms. At the High
School level, Lincoln Southeast and Lincoln Northeast are piloting a Chromebook
implementation program for High Schools, where all other High Schools in LPS will
follow in their footsteps the following year. Mr. Witt also informed me that because
of the rise of the use of technology in the classroom, LPS is actually starting to train
their teachers how to use Google Classroom and other forms of technology so that

4. teachers are well educated on how to use these forms of technology and educate
their students in the best possible way. Over the next five years LPS plans to give
every High School student their own Chromebook to take home, do assignments on,
and to submit their assignments online with.
After conducting my interview with Mr. Witt, I also gained information on
what is occurring at the LPS District Office. At the District Office, Lincoln Public
Schools has issued an application investigation team. In 2015, the Apple App Store
was growing by over 1,000 apps per day (International Business Times). With the
large increase in apps everyday, it is fair to say that a good portion of these are
eligible to use in the classroom and that is where the application investigation team
comes in to play. Their job is to test apps that are proposed to be able to use in the
education setting, see how reliable they are, determine the pros and cons of these
apps, and ultimately decide whether or not they would be beneficial to use. Because
teachers are already busy enough creating lesson plans and grading papers, it is nice
to have a group of people whose job is to decide which apps are approved to be used
in the classroom setting. With the high rate that technology is increasing by, it is
nice to know that LPS is trying to make a teacher’s job a little bit easier.
Technology has increased tremendously over the past few years from when I
started High School. The years of the traditional overhead projector and hauling in
the giant TV to watch Bill Nye the Science Guy are over and the days of Google
Classroom, Apple TV, and each student having their own Chromebook are just
beginning. Hundreds of apps are being created everyday and new models of
computers are being released every year. Educators must advance their knowledge

5. with advancing technology, while at the same time making sure they aren’t
neglecting to increase their teaching skills. From all the advances that technology
has seen over the last 5 years, it will be very interesting to see where we will be 5-
10 years from now.