There were interesting (and lively!) discussions around educators who wear "I don't do technology!" as a badge of courage, private schools who tout their anti-technology philosophy, how tech integrators and coordinators might model technology use, and where teachers might find the time to learn new technologies if they wanted to.
But several recent comments reminded me of what a subtly huge paradigm shift technology actually represents to education.
Josh Young, a tech lead in Unity, Maine, wrote:
While I think some technology in the classroom is certainly beneficial (as long as it actually enhances learning and isn't just a new toy), I don't think all technology belongs in the classroom. Some technology is not right for the classroom. Whenever any new piece of technology comes out there is a rush to use it in the classroom without ever considering what the actual purpose of using it is. Instead we should stop and evaluate whether or not it is needed in the classroom and whether or not it will enhance learning - in other words, is there a real purpose to this thing or is it just something we think would be cool.
For me, this was a good reminder that the conversation is about Pedagogy, not Tools.
Josh's comments would apply almost as well to "books" as they do to "technology." There are probably specific books that don't belong in a specific schools, and others that are "not right for the classroom."
As a conversation about pedagogy, I would hope that when we "evaluate whether or not it is needed in the classroom and whether or not it will enhance learning" that we were not simply asking "does it support the way we teach?" as much as we might ask "would this be a good way to teach and learn?"
Which led me to some of the comments by Jim Burke, a regional technology coach and mentor working with districts in Western Maine. He wondered:
Question: Could it be that the reason we see so many interactive whiteboard, student response devices, and CMS vendors at tech conferences is that technology has indeed enslaved us?
But I don't think the answer is that "technology has indeed enslaved us" but that rather we are enslaved by the approaches to teaching that we we know well - paradigm paralysis, as it were. The technology uses Jim ponders take what we do now and explores how it might be done with technology. Commercially, they're a safe bet, because teachers already know how to teach that way.
But in fact, schools already do a great job of teaching without technology. If schools want to be schools as they are now, perhaps they don't need technology. Not to mention that technology is expensive. Can we justify the cost of technology if we are just going to do with it what we are already doing without it?
And here's the subtle part…
I believe that the ubiquity of technology (and especially as a fixture of in the lives of youth) means that educators (as a group) are obligated to find what technology allows us to do that we couldn't easily do before without technology. That we must explore shifts in pedagogy that technology speaks to. That we must leverage shifts in learning that students already experience outside of school.
In our program, here are some of the ways that we leverage technology to do things differently:
- Managing student-designed project-based learning
- Using data to daily monitor student progress and plan educational interventions
- Allow students to work where and when they'd like
- To provide students with 24/7 on-demand academic support
Perhaps we need to be reminded that regardless of how the debate on if schools should use technology or not or if they should be open to change or not, that, in fact, learning has already changed for our students. Perhaps this is the change that we need to be focusing on.
QUESTION: How are you leveraging technology so students can learn differently (or more easily) than they could without technology? Post your answer in comments!
No comments:
Post a Comment