Technology... good or bad?

Technology in the classroom. The arguments for and against are strong. On one hand, some students and parents believe that teenagers spend enough time on computers at home that spending more time during class is detrimental to their overall development. Along the same lines, they often believe that technology usage in school removes the face to face time that students and teachers so desperately need to create appropriate connections. However, the other side says that using technology in schools only gives students greater skill to work in a 21st century work environment which will most certainly be filled with networks and online communication. Therefore, the more technology teachers can use in class, the better prepared students will eventually be.

In a simple questionnaire I prepared for my students to see where they fell on this spectrum, I discovered some interesting things about my own teaching. Because I work in a 1:1 laptop district there is pressure from above to be using our tools to the best of our abilities. I love it. It's invigorating for me as an educator to access material in new ways; it keeps me fresh in the classroom because I am still learning. However, I am not my students, and I have learned to keep thinking that way. Some students believed that their laptops were unimportant to their overall learning in school - giving it a 1 out 5. But most gave it a '4'. Besides finding out through the students that I am generally thought of as a teacher leading the charge with technology in the classroom, I also discovered that about 30% of my students felt that more traditional methods, including teacher lecture, were still vital to their learning of course material.

While I've been trying to learn how use the ideas that Will Richardson is promoting: the ideas that the new read/write web opens up a whole new world for all of us, I may be going too far. He states:

"One of the most challenging pieces of figuring out how to move education forward in a systemic way is “unlearning curve” that we teachers and educators have to go through to even see the possibilities that lay before us. So much of our traditional thinking about personal learning and classroom practice is being challenged by our ability to publish and connect and collaborate primarily because of the opportunities afforded by the Read/Write Web. For instance, in a world where literally any place can be a classroom, we have to unlearn the comforts of four walls that we’ve become accustomed to. When we can share our work with wide audiences, we need to unlearn the idea that student writing and projects are simply ways to assess what they know."

Our students have other ideas though as noted above. Many of them crave the walls as security for their work, their ideas, and for their overall comfort. It's simple. With new technology, we are moving quickly to use it, but are going too far at times. So, the reaction is to slow down with it to find a better comfort zone for students and teachers alike. That ebb and flow will continue until a happy medium is struck, which will be different for each educational site.

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However, we are still working with No Child Left Behind, so.... how does technology mix with the standards we are supposed to be focusing on? Can technology help us teach to the test? "The unfortunate truth is that we know very little about what children or adults know, can do, and believe about technology. This is because the state of assessment related to technology--or, better, technological literacy--is in its infancy," states Greg Pearson, program officer at the National Academy of Engineering.

The Editorial Director of the T.H.E Journal, Geoffrey Fletcher believes that, "Most poeple agree that technology needs to be a part of the new iteration of NCLB, but in what form is unclear." Obviously, there appears to be the general understanding that the standards we are teaching should be modified to meet current needs. The result of that would be that 'the test' will eventually be changed.

So, getting back to my main question, which was questioning my own teaching strategies with technology, I tend to agree with Lindha Rhienhart who says, "A teacher may use basically two design strategies when developing computer-enhanced classroom presentations: (1) replicate traditional methods, most often done by converting lecture outlines to PowerPoint slide shows, or (2) create new forms, which will take more time but has a greater payoff. Of course, it is possible to incorporate some of both strategies into the design of presentations." Moving too quickly could make my students feel left behind. On the survey, one of my students said, "Technology brings classes forward but we can't move too quickly and leave traditional methods all behind." That honest reflection has already impacted my teaching as I have definitely seen myself move 'backwards' a bit to incorporate more of those traditional methods I was working hard to move beyond. But, as we learned this week, students still deserve to be involved with their learning (see Powerpoint discussions).

Images used:

1) http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/community/columns/technologyinternet.mspx

2) http://student.ccbcmd.edu/elmo/cmsc201/cmsc201.htm

3) http://www.techsource.ala.org/media/richardson.will.blog.pic.jpg

Works Cited

1) Fletcher, Geoffrey H. "No Child Left Behind, Version 2.0: The Incoming Congress Will Take Up the Reauthorization of NCLB. Here Are a Few Ideas That Deserve Consideration If the Law Gets Updated." T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education) 33.17 (2006): 38+. Questia. 18 Nov. 2008 http://www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5019047886.

2) Pearson, Greg. "Approaches to Assessing Technological Literacy: The Challenge of Developing Assessments for Students, Teachers, and Out-of-School Adults in a Content Area as Complex and Relatively Unknown as Technological Literacy Will Be Significant." The Technology Teacher 66.1 (2006): 24+. Questia. 18 Nov. 2008 http://www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5017146013.

3) Reinhardt, Linda. "Confessions of a "Techno-Teacher"." College Teaching 47.2 (1999): 48. Questia. 18 Nov. 2008 .

4) Saxon, Jordan I. Student Survey of Technology in the Classroom. Raw data. 11 Nov. 2008.

5) Richardson, Will. "The Steep "Unlearning Curve"" Weblog post. Weblogg-ed. 7 Feb. 2007. 16 Feb. 2008 .