I tend to
live near the fulcrum when identifying as a technology enthusiast or skeptic,
as it pertains to the educational setting. To be clear, I feel that technology
and its impact on students, both now and in the future, is undeniable. So from
this standpoint, I will side with Team Enthusiasm.
But I have reservations.
Like all technology I encounter, educational technology
generates a very distinct response. I tend to judge its value, almost
immediately. I admittedly accept that
this isn’t the best lens through which to judge technology, but I do. These quick
reactions range from my “user experience”, aesthetic judgments, crowd reaction
and my lack of understanding potential use and impact. I immediately
process these feelings from my “teacher” side and decide whether or not it may
be useful. These first impressions tend
to cause more cynical feelings than positive as new technology is rolled out in
schools at an ever-dizzying pace.
I completely buy into the importance and impact
that technology can have in the classroom and throughout a school. Recent lessons I observed using animation software, 3D design technology and classroom social platforms were outstanding. These technology driven lessons created learning experiences for students that I cannot imagine being
bested through traditional resources and teaching styles. They also have left me reflecting on my own practice and energized to create more stimulating experiences for our own students.
The reservations which I
allude to come from the purpose driven impact of technology, which I feel is
missing in its application to learning, in many schools.
The issue
of how and why we apply technology is one that I feel strongly about, as a
school leader. I do want teachers to take chances, explore new opportunities
and provide meaningful learning experiences for our students. But this requires meaningful planning,
implementation and purposeful reflection. I do not rate the use of technology in the
classroom as innovative if the prior initiatives have not been met. Simply put,
I do not think that technology should be used as a crutch to replace high standards
of pedagogy.
I believe
that a large gap still exists, where the educational setting has not aligned
the purpose of technology with teaching and learning outcomes. Katie Martin
expresses this point in her EdSurge piece
on classroom technology versus evolved teaching. She states, “The power
of the teacher comes not from the information she shares, but from the opportunities
she creates for students to learn how to learn, solve problems, and apply
learning in meaningful ways.” I couldn't agree more and hope that the narrative surrounding technology in education, create a larger discourse on how we need to manage and train our teachers to align the use of technology with meaningful, learning-experience outcomes.
So as I side with Team Enthusiasm. I don't question the absolute relevance of technology in education. I do ponder its direction in shaping better teaching practice.
How can we best equip our teachers to use technology as a tool to better their pedagogy and directly impact teaching and learning?
Hi Matthew, great blog post outlining the benefits of technology and pointing out that a large gap remains, in my opinion, due to the fast pace of the school year and the need for teachers to be adequately trained to incorporate technology into their practice in a way that is meaningful, rather than to satisfy a tick box that they are using technology in the classroom. One challenge that must be considered and addressed when answering your question is that there is a proliferation of programs, applications, and technological tools that a teacher must choose from to use in the classroom. How can teachers even begin to select, learn and implement, the appropriate tool when there are so many to choose from? A possible step, in my opinion, is to have the technology specialists integrate, collaboratively plan and co-teach with classroom teachers to combine the content knowledge of the homeroom teacher with the technological expertise of the IT team. I look forward to continued conversations. Valeria
ReplyDeleteHi Mathew. It seems that we share similar concerns regarding the use of technology in schools when trying to improve teaching and learning. Even your final question is very similar to mine. There is a huge spectrum in terms of teachers and the use of technology in the classroom. For example, we can have the keen teachers that understand the importance of using meaningful learning opportunities; others that use technology but they don't add any value to the learning experiences; the good teachers but they are skeptic n terms of the technology positive impact; and finally we have the teachers that require more support with their practice in general.
ReplyDeleteAs Valeria mentioned in the previous comment, I believe that it is necessary to use the first group of teachers (technologist specialists) to showcase their good practices and let the second and the third group having a go at implementing the same tools. Hopefully some will buy in and become efficient users as the first group. Teachers need to feel comfortable with the tool before trying to use it in class. Would you think this would work in your school? Dinis
Hi Matthew,
ReplyDeleteGreat blog. Going back to Peggy Ertner, she argues that not all educators will be savvy with all the technology, nor should they be expected to be. However, taking Dinis's suggestion that the tech specialists support and enable to tech inexperienced/skeptics, I think the latter groups could begin to see that they don't need to fully au fait to allow their students to choose and use technology for their own purposes. For example in a 'traditional' unit of work, teachers may expect students to collaborate, team up, organize the group, design and redesign, present, analyze, reflect, etc. This is all done digitally and students can be the directors of their learning, deciding for themselves what tools they will use. By sharing with the educator at various steps along the way, the teacher is learning the tech as their students use it.
I honestly believe that one of the best ways we can equip our teachers is to remove the fear factor (through staff mentoring/coaching, etc.) and by letting them embrace the unknown, through their students.