Teacher, do you use digital technology in your teaching practice? Perhaps a silly question for those teaching in the 21st Century. How about another question then: how are you using technology in your teaching practice?
You have a SMARTBoard? How do you use it? Is it basically the same as the chalkboard I remember from my childhood in school?
You have a document camera? How do you use it? Is it basically a fancy overhead projector?
You have a cart of iPads? How do you use them? Have you digitized the worksheets you used to assign?
I realize I sound a little snarky here. (I am a little snarky here.) I know that in my own teaching practice, there have been times when I was so enamored with a particular technology (like when I first got an LCD projector back in 2001) that I used it indiscriminately--just because I could. I replaced writing with a wet-erase marker on the overhead projector with displaying PowerPoint slides on the screen.
I admit that I'm a technophile, and I generally advocate for the use of technology in teaching (though I take "technology" pretty broadly...I've said before that a pencil is an educational technology...)
I recently came across this article from Forbes via Twitter: It's Time to Rethink Our Use of Technology in Schools. No matter if you consider yourself a technophile or a technophobe when it comes to using technology for teaching and learning, I hope you'll take the time to read it an reflect on what is being presented here.
Several provocative points that stirred my thinking:
"There is evidence that where schools and colleges use technology effectively there is a correlation with better outcomes. But that is not the same as saying the technology is actually aiding learning. It is not the technology that makes a difference, it is the teachers." (emphasis mine)
--> This is very much what I'm thinking right now. We often get pretty wound up about the possibilities of the tools, but good pedagogy still makes the most impact. Technology does not--and truly cannot--replace a great teacher!
"Five ideas for tech integration from Martin Blows:
Exchange: swapping traditional ways of doing things with ICT
Enrich: engaging learners with a richer mix of media
Enhance: encouraging deeper learning through the use of ICT
Extend: encouraging students to take their learning further
Empower: giving students control over their own learning
It is not the technology itself that is important, it is how it is used. And this requires investment not just in equipment but in giving teachers the confidence and competence to exploit it."
--> I love the five E's here, but I'm not so sure that "Exchange" is a good enough way to use EdTech. If it's a straight up swap, I'm not sure there is enough of a value-add for using the technology vs. not using the tech. My 2¢...
What do you think? Are there other great things that stand out for you here?
Found this one via Twitter this morning (thanks, @BSGSCSFoster!) It's a gem, and well worth the eight minutes to watch it.
I laughed, but honestly, the Apple IIe from my elementary school days--clunky and odd as it looks today--stirred a passion for educational technology that brought me to the point where I'm now working towards a doctoral degree in the field.
I know that many people sing the praises of all things technological in schools, as if stirring more iPads and SMARTBoards and student blogging and mystery Skypes into the mix will automatically make teaching better, and learning better, and schools, in general, better.
I know that many people also decry technology in school, fearing that we are throwing the baby out with the bathwater in our rush to replace old and "outdated" teaching methodologies, techniques, and tools with new technologies.
But I think that setting this up as a fight between technology and pedagogy is a fallacy.
It's not an either-or proposition.
While I'm a technophile, I like to think I'm a reasonable technophile. I do advocate for technology in education, I admit. But I advocate moderation! Honestly, I believe that good teaching comes first. Technology shouldn't (and truly can't) replace a great teacher. Strong pedagogy trumps high technology every time.
But does that mean we shouldn't (thoughtfully, carefully, wisely) include technology in education today?
I say no.
We need to recognize where we are and when we are. North American culture today is high tech, thrives on novelty, and emphasizes individualism.
Please hear me well: I'm not saying we need to cater to this in schools. I am saying we need to recognize the power of these cultural forces, and recognize that our students have been shaped since birth by this culture. We need to teach the students we have in our classrooms today, be responsive to them. We need to recognize that they may have proclivities to technology, and be willing to adapt our teaching accordingly.
But that does not mean we need to chuck everything we are currently doing to embrace the electric glow of the future. In fact, I think we need to be ruminate on how we can redeem educational technologies, and use them to wisely to enhance our teaching and learning. Simply having them present will not do this. But, neither will simply excluding them.
Being deliberate about incorporating technological tools when it makes sense to do so (because it will have a positive impact on your teaching or on your students' learning) seems like a wise rule of thumb to me.
Today's state-of-the-art, cutting-edge educational technology will eventually be outdated and almost seem like a joke in light of what will then be the norm. But that may be true of some of our pedagogical practices as well.
I recently received an email from a friend who is on the school board of a smaller Christian school. Knowing that I have a lot of opinions about educational technology, he asked me for some advice: their school is developing a technology plan for the next five years and want to plot things out well so it will be successful.
I was really glad to hear that. I think many schools just go blundering into the realm of technology and don't have a well-reasoned plan for how to design how technology will be infused into the classrooms.
So after some thought and reflection, here's my advice: nine things schools should think about as they create a technology plan:
I spent the day today at the Iowa 1:1 Conference. Interesting to meet up with several hundred (maybe a thousand?) educators thinking about teaching through technology. I have a lot of thoughts rolling around in my head right now...especially about how a 1:1 program would work in Higher Ed.
One of my biggest questions is about how to teach the teachers for the realities of teaching through technology.
There's a great model for talking about teaching through technology--it gets at how teachers can and should think about this. It's abbreviated TPACK--which stands for Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge. As a teacher educator, I've been thinking a lot about the intersection of pedagogy (how to teach) and content knowledge (what to teach). And as a technophile and former Technology Coordinator, I've also thought a lot about technology in education. But this model looks at the coordination of all three of these. I'm thinking about this because I'm going to be teaching a masters-level course in Teaching and Learning with Technology this summer, and I'd like to use the TPACK model as a part of the class.
