Let me give you some background before I begin this discussion. I am a building technology coordinator, advocate of Web 2.0 tools, blog author, reader of technology books, Android owner, website developer, technology using teacher (most importantly), and fearful of the ways that technology is seemingly being shoved into classrooms across the country with minimal regard for “appropriate use”. You read that last part correctly.
Technology should NOT be the focal point of anyone’s lesson. Technology is a new medium that stimulates students, but it is useless if haphazardly thrown into the classroom with no concern for cognitive development. There should be a logical progression and skill set that promotes critical thinking from “The Big Three”. If a teacher designs a lesson that prompts students to think critically, transfer knowledge across disciplines, or use integrative thinking to solve a problem then I am all for using technology to maintain engagement and aid the student in completing the task.
AT THE SAME TIME if a teacher utilizes technology so that he/she can keep kids engaged in a topic that is deemed as “less interesting” I find that perfectly acceptable…provided that this is not an every week occurrence. Having students learn the basics of a topic by watching a YouTube video and commenting or initiating a conversation through a chat room is another way (amidst a million) to stimulate engagement provided that there is some type of extension of that knowledge included to encourage kids to become engaged in the material.
My point is that technology has a number of dualities, and we, as educators, must be mindful of proper implementation to ensure kids are learning critical thinking skills AND how to adapt to new medium. If you have the resources and can utilize laptops every day in your classroom then great, but please don’t tell me that kids need to know precisely how to navigate every web site and computer application to be successful in the future. The platforms are constantly changing and chances are that computers of the future will look nothing like computers today never mind the applications.
Utilize technology appropriately. From one technology lover to another.
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