Technology TakeOVER!!!
Salvete omnes and welcome back! Did you know that the earliest stone tools date back to 3.3 million years ago. Since that time the tools we have designed, created, and used have evolved into the advance technology we see today. While we are still (hopefully) a far ways off from a Terminator- level takeover, no one can deny the enormous influence that technology has on our lives. A video posted to YouTube titled, Social Media Revolution 2011, presents the social media statistics for 2011. The video quotes several examples of how social media is used. Such as how 93% of marketers use social media to promote their business and how YouTube is actually the second largest search engine in the world. After watching this video it's crazy to think how quickly modern technology and the Internet has evolved in such a short amount of time.
I recently watched another video because I have been watching a lot of videos in the past week, titled Future Learning. This video is part of a mini documentary series posted by GOOD Magazine on their YouTube channel. This segment of the series looks into what it means to revolutionize the learning process to better prepare students for their futures. One concept that the presenters examined in the video look at how to integrate technology into the ecosystem of the classroom. One presenter discusses how a common mistake with education technology is that some teachers just want to, “take what’s already there in the current existing model [of the curriculum] and just use the latest technology to just make, what’s in their mind, a more refined version of that same thing but they're not changing the content fundamentally”. I thought this was a really good point to be made because it reminded me of the transition period in education when teachers began the switch from overhead projectors to PowerPoint. For many teachers, PowerPoint was just an easier-to-use replacement for class lectures.
You might be asking, “But Brittany, what else can I use PowerPoint for?” and honestly I’m not sure, but last week I had also never considered using a blogging platform to expand on and assign activities in my classroom so I’m sure with a little creative thinking we can come up with a few ideas. :-)
Another topic this video touched on was the use of video games as one of the most powerful learning tools created. Now this idea definitely caught my attention. I grew up playing video games. The egg thief from Spyro the Dragon still haunts my dreams, and I still play video games today as a stress reliever after a long day of classes, and homework. So video games are not what I immediately think of when I’m thinking of learning tools that are used in the classroom.
I watched another video, titled Educational Change Challenge. And while I didn’t begin the video with the assumption that I was going to disagree with any part of it, I actually found it was quite the opposite. However, shortly after the video began the presenter quotes Philip Molebash stating, "If you put a doctor of 100 years ago in today's operating room, she would be lost, yet if you placed a teacher of 100 years ago into one of today's classrooms, she wouldn't skip a beat”.
This statement stuck with me through my entire viewing of this short video because of how much it irritated me. After several viewings, I can admit that I agree with the overarching message of this video, because it is the same message as the one shared in the Future Learning documentary. We as teachers need to adapt and improve our curriculums to better prepare our students with the knowledge and skills they will need to succeed in the future. I agree that to do that we need to implement technology and tools that help teach our students relevant skills.
However, I think an overgeneralized statement such as the one Dr. Cannell quoted at the beginning of his video is an insult to all the changes the education profession has already gone through in terms of teacher education and the many changes we’ve seen over the years in education policy. I also don’t think that we should discredit the progress we already made. Just like learning is a gradual and continuous progress so, too, is the implementation of new methods in teaching. Mostly because teachers have to learn how to use these programs and platforms before they can hope to successfully implement and use them in the classroom.
I can concede to the point that, because of my lack of experience, I have not had a diverse look at how teachers conduct their classrooms today. But from my own academic experience, and the few teachers I have had the opportunity to observe, most teachers have begun to incorporate more technology into their lessons. What I saw lacking was the amount of variety in the programs and devices being used.
Fortunately as technology improves, this variety will also improve. Even now my opinion of an insufficient variety is slowly changing based on the amount of my peers in their classes who have, or are beginning to use, iPads in use inside their classrooms.
The biggest takeaway I hope you, my dear reader, will gain from this is blog post is that technology has great potential to be a tool within Pre-K through 12th grade classrooms. While it may seem that education and teachers are only taking small steps to incorporate technology in their classroom, in my opinion those small steps are better than no steps at all. Could we do more? Of course! Will we do more? Absolutely! Technology is the future and if we want to prepare students for the future then we need to use everything that is available to us. We need to constantly be looking for the next thing to help our students as well.
I really enjoyed your writing this week! Funny and a good review. I played Code Monkey with my coder nerds during our free periods last year and it was fun to see how much they knew and they loved teaching me other coding "languages" besides the one CodeMonkey offers. We ended up blazing through the free trial I pulled out my credit card and bought the rest of the subscription so we could keep playing!
ReplyDeleteEducators have made some cast changes and I agree that there are some out there who are interested in making is seem like educators have ignored technology to the detriment of our students. Of course they never look at things like availability both of machines and PD!
That statement irritated me too! Although it is true for some classrooms, most are headed in the way of technology. Most schools are pushing and encouraging teachers to add useful technology into the classroom so I feel as though that was an untrue statement that made it seem like all teachers are dinosaurs that only use paper, pencil, and a chalkboard. We all know, especially in this class, that that is not true!
ReplyDeleteI love that you included coding into your blog post this week! I once read a really good article (wish I had saved it!) about coding and how now, students are learning to code younger than ever before. However, it made a point to state how in order for students to become good coders, they must learn how to play first. In other words, children must learn how to physically play and be creative in order for them to take those skills into the coding world.
ReplyDeleteI read something similar for my education psychology class recently. There was a whole section on the benefits of recess and how just letting kids play is essential because it contributes to all the major aspects of their well-being and development.
DeleteBrittany,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this post, both for its humor and intriguing thoughts. I had very similar thoughts in my blog this week as well. I too remember that quote referencing the older doctor struggling in a newer operating room and the older teacher not skipping a beat in a present day classroom. I absolutely disagree with this statement. Being a fourth year teacher, I can strongly say that many teachers are “falling behind the times.” Our job, as you discuss, is to do all we can to help our students be as successful as they can in their college studies and career endeavors. If technology continues how it is, when our students graduate they are going to be entering an even more “connected” and technologically advanced society. Thus, why would not do everything we can to provide our students with the needs to be successful in such a society? It makes rational sense to try and make your classroom as technology driven as possible!
I honestly feel the reason why many teachers shy away from true technology use in the classroom, is because they have not been provided with the needed training in order to be comfortable with implementing such technologies. I feel that many school districts focus too much on simply obtaining mobile computing devices, and not enough on making sure the initial training is set up for educators to utilize such devices effectively. We just started a professional development committee at my school. I’m interested to see how many teachers do their part and take advantage of the technology centered workshops!
Thanks again for a fun read,
Mike