- I am a senior in English Subject Matter with an emphasis in Popular Culture. I am an older student and a commuter. Throughout my lifetime, technology has been introduced. In elementary school through high school, the big highlights were films on a projector, electric typewriters, and the new computers in the early 80's for my senior class. Which were completely out of date within a few years. Wow and to think I made fun of my Granny for living through innovation like the washing machine and microwave. I was also there for the microwave, but it was huge news for her.
I have returned to college a few times. The second time, the teachers had computers, not lap tops in the front of the classroom and were able to do things much quicker than in past years. Technology was better sourced to enable videos or films to be shown in the classrooms. Most professors expected all work to be done on a computer and printed, rarely written, and never typed from a type writer at this point in time, which was 2000. Nineteen years later and while raising my young children, technology had grown, changed, excelled, and weaved itself into almost every aspect of our lives from those huge computers during my senior year. Now so much is available instantly that people get upset, if the wi-fi is not working fast enough. With so much available, the world, including teaching or education, can become overwhelming or distant for students. Answering text, viewing and commenting on social media like Tik Tok, Instagram, and X take time away from actual learning in the classroom. I know some instructor's have created Instagram and TikToks for their classrooms. I have not heard of any positive or negative feedback from these opportunities. Most schools provide a tablet or Ipad for students to complete work.
While one of my children was in high school, they would get into trouble for being on other sites playing games rather than the sites for learning as instructed by the teacher. It would be great if the computer could just shut down and the student had to do the assignments by looking them up in books and writing the information clearly for the teachers to read on paper. If this adds more work for the students (and the teachers), it was their choice that conditioned the longer and archaic, educational workload. As an adult learner, I have enjoyed Quizlet and Kahoot to name a few educational technologies. The ease of viewing informative works on YouTube and TedTalks has been helpful and thought provoking. These technologies have made me wonder how I can use them effectively in my classroom to stimulate the interest of the students and progress the lesson plan. Relating back to the films in elementary school to the little quiz afterward, then never returning to that information again. Was it just a break for us or the teacher? Technology is now and will be part of the future. As future educators, be need to adjust and welcome these changes to benefit our students and ourselves. Key foundations in these technology programs are to create, set, and follow guidelines for all staff and students using any technology at a school site. There are also many shows that can educate people of all ages on many different topics. There are a number of vet shows, zoo shows, in-depth history shows, and cooking shows that teach people things. As an educator, maybe we could have a student watch a show that is of interest to them and write in their journals about what they saw or learned. Learning happens in unexpected ways and we should be able to inspire those seeds.
Last year, a few states were planning to take away or eliminate cell phones in public schools. This is currently happening as we discussed it in class on Tuesday. While many argue of the dangers of young people having phones, their lack of interest in the classroom, or the many other comments that I can add, phones can be an educational tool. Phones have much more capabilities than we use. If teachers and schools begin utilizing them as part of the curriculum, for educational games or journal prompts as examples. What might happen? Would there be a revolt with families wanting part of their phone bills paid? Students currently have their phones out and are very quick with using and hiding them. Some parents say the phone is a way to communicate with their child or to know where their child is. If the plan to remove phones moves forward, there is the old school way of communication plans. The meet up spot and time is discussed in the morning or previous night. If something changes, call the school and leave a message, including a message to phone home. Lastly, parents could track their own children by affixing an Apple AirTag to a keychain, necklace, jacket, or backpack. This is maybe not what we want to do with our children, but is it a viable solution?
I do not claim to have the answers to these or any issues, but possibly a solution that can help to resolve or form a compromise.
I would enjoy hearing your thoughts.
Hey Christy! I think you raise a lot of truly excellent points that resonate with me. Technology is a tool and should be treated as such. I think what creates so much anxiety around technology, however, is how easily we become the tools in its presence. I think a lot of people can relate to the feeling of “doomscrolling” where we become the tool, our phones using us on behalf of companies like Instagram or TikTok as human statistics. Do we want to be scrolling for hours? Unlikely. Yet here we are. But it doesn’t have to be this way. You’re absolutely right when you say technology is a part of our lives now and forever. The genie is out of the bottle. There’s no going back. So we should utilize the tools at our disposal so that we are the one’s commanding them, not the other way around. Our students should be taught to use technology to their advantage and we as teachers must facilitate that.
ReplyDeleteHi Christy,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that instant gratification from technology has carried over into almost every part of life, including our school system. I can’t even imagine what would happen if there were a nationwide wifi outage. I think veteran teachers could manage it, but newer teachers might feel completely overwhelmed by students constantly asking, “what’s next?” It shows how dependent classrooms have become on technology.
What feels a little contradictory to me is that schools encourage technology by handing out Chromebooks, but at the same time, students can’t use their phones. Sure, districts can block certain sites on Chromebooks, but that doesn’t really take away the distraction. It almost feels like schools have had no choice but to integrate technology since it’s everywhere in society. I know the Covid-19 pandemic pushed this change forward, but honestly, I think the heavy reliance on Chromebooks should have stopped once students went back to in person learning. Chromeboosk have made it so “learning” looks more like a quick Google search rather than actually digging into those huge Language of Literature books or other textbooks we used to use.
Like you, I don’t have a perfect solution or all of the answers, but I do feel that technology was introduced too strongly into K–8 classrooms. There’s something special about waiting in line at the school library to pick up your language, science, or math books, and I think experiences like that made learning feel more exciting. Especially when you’re a child that doesn’t have access to a Chromebook outside of the school year. Technology is only going to expand in the next ten years or so, and I wonder what else will change in schools. Personally, I just hope the Scholastic Book Fair never becomes fully online, there’s something about physically picking out those books that technology can’t replace.
It is so inspiring to hear that you are on the journey towards your English major!! I’ve always felt uncertain about my capability to choose a major as I was always indecisive and took small gaps in college. However, learning never ends and is a life long journey.
ReplyDeleteI also completely agree with you that computers should be limited. The example you gave of your children and how they would be on other sites sometimes suggests that while technology can be very useful it can also be a bit distracting. Sites like YouTube and Ted talks, as well as helpful educational sites such as Quizlet and Kahoot can be wonderful resources that help create an efficient learning process. Perhaps, schools can still implement technologies within classrooms, but limit access to things that are not as useful for learning.