"What's wrong with a book?" My husband asked me this morning after hearing me rant of how confused I have become with all of the conflicting data and opinions of technology in education, "It always opens. You don't need a password to find out what's inside, and you don't have to worry about the damn thing crashing."
Oh, how he makes sense.
Yesterday while I was trying to teach my junior English class how to use discussion boards, I thought the same thing as a hand quickly went up, "Mrs. Brown, I can't log in." After 10 minutes of retrying passwords and an impassioned email to our tech team, she was able to complete what I thought was going to take 15 - 20 minutes total. Instead, we used almost twice that much time.
Talk to any teacher who uses technology in the classroom, and you will find similar stories. While my student apologized profusely for not being able to log in, I told her not to worry -- it amazed me that it was only her. "Don't worry," I said, "it is always something." And it is. Sometimes the wireless signal is down. Sometimes the server is. Sometimes kids get locked out of accounts. Sometimes their computers weren't charged. This list is endless. The problems often make me want to toss every piece of electronic equipment I have into the nearby river.
I tell myself that digital literacy is a crucial skill that a well-educated 21st century student should have -- and school is obviously a perfect place to learn that skill. My thoughts are echoed by NY Times tech blogger Virgina Heffernan who in a recent post "Education Needs a Digital-Age Upgrade" left many a teacher reeling. The blog post, a review of Cathy N. Davidson's, co-director of the annual MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competitions, new book "Now You See It," begs educators to come out of the 19th century and to "stop disparaging digital prowess just because some of us over 40 don’t happen to possess it." While I don't hit that iconic mark until next year, I get her point. It is ideas like these that make me keep bringing new technology into the classroom. I feel a sense of responsibility to my students.
But then I watch things like Frontline's Digital Nation and I sweat. Am I helping students to become more distracted in their lives because of what I am doing in my class? Will they be like those kids in South Korea that have to be sent away to anti-tech camp to stop their addiction to the net and gaming?
And then there's the recent incendiary (to digiphiles anyway) yet enlightening NY Times article entitled "In Classroom of Future, Stagnant Scores" that questions just how effective the onset of all of this technology in classrooms is.
Ultimately, I keep returning to a quote from the Times article -- as Bryan Goodwin of Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning so aptly told the reporter "Good teachers can make good use of computers, while bad teachers won’t, and they and their students could wind up becoming distracted by the technology."
I just hope to all that is good and holy that I am one of the "good teachers," not for my sake, but for my students'.
I tell myself that digital literacy is a crucial skill that a well-educated 21st century student should have -- and school is obviously a perfect place to learn that skill. My thoughts are echoed by NY Times tech blogger Virgina Heffernan who in a recent post "Education Needs a Digital-Age Upgrade" left many a teacher reeling. The blog post, a review of Cathy N. Davidson's, co-director of the annual MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competitions, new book "Now You See It," begs educators to come out of the 19th century and to "stop disparaging digital prowess just because some of us over 40 don’t happen to possess it." While I don't hit that iconic mark until next year, I get her point. It is ideas like these that make me keep bringing new technology into the classroom. I feel a sense of responsibility to my students.
But then I watch things like Frontline's Digital Nation and I sweat. Am I helping students to become more distracted in their lives because of what I am doing in my class? Will they be like those kids in South Korea that have to be sent away to anti-tech camp to stop their addiction to the net and gaming?
And then there's the recent incendiary (to digiphiles anyway) yet enlightening NY Times article entitled "In Classroom of Future, Stagnant Scores" that questions just how effective the onset of all of this technology in classrooms is.
Ultimately, I keep returning to a quote from the Times article -- as Bryan Goodwin of Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning so aptly told the reporter "Good teachers can make good use of computers, while bad teachers won’t, and they and their students could wind up becoming distracted by the technology."
I just hope to all that is good and holy that I am one of the "good teachers," not for my sake, but for my students'.
Sherry, I echo all your concerns, but also that ambition to bring in relevant technology and do your best to embed it within good teaching, rather than have it become the distraction for distraction's sake.
ReplyDeleteI am sure you are one of the good teachers. I think the key is using technology not as a replacement for paper, but as a way to ask kids to think more deeply about the subject and become more fully engaged.
ReplyDeleteChallenging? No doubt. But what an exciting time to be teaching (and integrating technology). To be not just learning to use technology, but also contributing to shaping the use of technology in schools and in the lives of our children.
ReplyDeleteOf course, part of the challenge that comes with the complexity of today's technologies is how they tend to obscure their affordances (i.e., what they can do or allow us to do)...like for example how to open them!