Integration of Technology for Gifted and Talented Learners

Gifted learners have special social and cognitive needs that the instructor must take into consideration when working with them, according to Vygotsky, the lack of supportive environment for gifted learner will make him lose the assistance in his zone of proximal development, because when his environment is not enriched the gifted learner will prefer to work alone and not to look for any assistance, and this will not help him to close gaps and be more knowledgeable to be able to work alone effectively. (French, Walker & Bruce, 2011; Vygotsky, 1978)

Schools role in the 21st century is changing, educators’ role is changing, and traditional education systems therefore have to change. (Najjar 2012) The question is not if the technology will take over the role of the education systems, the question is what the learners will be able to do with the learning instruction which is based on technology use – is the technology environment going to be an interactive one, is it going to support gifted learners and provide them with a ground that they can use to develop their skills? Are they going to be producers of knowledge or consumers of it?

In this presentation, I will talk about case studies from my experience as an instructor at the gifted and talented program. These case studies discuss models of technology integration in education for gifted and talented learners, from disciplinary perspective, and it aimed to give them the environment to help them to develop socially and cognitively. Integration of technology of these classes was various, starting from Web 2.0 tools, augmented reality, blogging, online conversations, distance learning, business models of applications, and more.