We need technology-specific classes that have technology teachers at the front of them. Why? Because the whole idea of “infusing” technology into mainstream classes is great in theory, but the reality is that I don’t think we are seeing the type of growth in students that we should be given the amount of emphasis that a lot of districts are placing on their technology programs.
It fascinates me that the same argument a lot of people use to express a need for isolated content area courses is the antithesis of the need for technology courses and vice versa.
Think about it for a second. Many will argue that students need to have math, science, English, or history because “how will we ever know if students are learning those courses?” What they are really articulating is their lack of belief that infusing math into science will give students the necessary skills and emphasis required to be well-grounded in those subjects. Isn’t the same true for technology?
The next problem with the infusion model of technology is that there are no requirements for how proficient a given teacher needs to be. Is it really infusing technology if kids are spending days on end making a PowerPoint? Is it really an infusion of technology if students are typing a document in Microsoft Word?
I sure as hell hope not.
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I agree 100% with your observations. That being said, I wish to make a few observations myself. It appears that educators latch onto a fad without analyzing how to implement it. The consensus now is that there should not be a separate tech class. How in the world are the advanced students going to be cutting edge if all they get is infusion from the core curriculum and from teachers who freely admit that the students know more than they do! The other fad right now is Web 2.0. Don’t get me wrong, I think the tools are great. But it is only a subset of tech. Yearbook students need training in a desktop publishing program. Math students need training in spreadsheets. Journalism students need training in video editing. The list goes on and on! Most teachers would agree they do not have enough time to cover all the material–now we’re going to make the teacher responsible for the topics mentioned above? Doesn’t make much sense to me! Great post!
Thanks Aaron, for once again bringing up an important issue in schools. I disagree that we just need technology-specific classes – I think it’s more a problem of the structure of power in the classroom. I’ll try to keep it relatively short this time.
In classrooms where students know more than the teacher, each individual’s education is still directed by the teacher. If we give students the power to direct their own learning, and expect students to be leaders and even teachers in their own classrooms, they’re no longer limited by what the teacher knows, can do, or has practice “managing.”
Another problem is teachers generally don’t adopt technology that forces them to change how they teach. The reason you still don’t see cell phones embraced in most schools (in fact, I usually see them banned), is that teachers don’t know how to “manage” a classroom with cell phones in it. The only form of communication not restricted in a traditional classroom is from teacher to student. Cell phones give the power to create and communicate to students, so they can talk with each other, with their parents, and with others outside the classroom. The technologies that are really changing the world, like cell phones (especially smart phones) and social networks, also require a vastly different kind of education that today’s teachers (even the new ones) were never trained for. And the classroom will keep lagging behind the world until teachers finally give up trying to “manage” every interaction in the classroom.
I think for things to ever get better, most teachers need to be completely retrained. Teachers in training need to spend time in alternative schools where this power structure is the rule, and older teachers need sabbaticals so they can do the same.
Chris,
By all means never feel that you have to “keep it short” (as least for me). I always appreciate your input and thought.
I understand what you are talking about with smart phones and, specifically, mobile devices. They are banned in my school, but I still let my kids to use them. Though the restriction of mobile devices is a problem I think that we have issues that need bigger addressing right away; hence my rationale for technology classes.
I believe in the student being in control of their learning, but I also think there are certain aspects of technology that need appropriate modeling before students can decide which direction they want to go. For instance, if kids get to high school and they are unable to embed a link into a document, site, or blog, then that’s a major problem. Why? Because of the exact reason you’re thinking: that’s so easy. This hit me like a ton of bricks this week while I was working with my students on a project. They told me they never learned how to do that prior to this year.
If a skill as sophomoric as that isn’t being taught then, how far behind are they going to be in the future as the technology just becomes more and more complex? I hate subjects that are taught in isolation, but more and more I find that my students are ill-prepared to complete the technological projects I am assigning them. Part of this is because I think we drastically overestimate the “techsavvyness” of the current generation, but I think it’s deeper than that.
Mobile technologies will be the future, but those skills will need to be taught by someone and, as you said, the current teaching staff needs retooling. Problem is: it isn’t going to happen, and I don’t see a majority of higher education being all that tech-savvy either.
So that leads me to my thoughts on tech-specific classes. For every group of kids we allow to graduate secondary education without an advanced technology skillset, we fail. The clock is ticking.
Thoughts?
P.S. Thanks again for all of your contributions. They are always great for thought and discussion.
I like your perspective on this, but disagree that we should just give up. Instead we need to help teachers infuse the tech…and while we are at it, let’s mash everything else up too! I teach science and infuse history, math, reading and language and technology everyday! Aaron, keep dreaming. Imagine a school where there were no subjects, kids just came to learn – and teachers of various content acted as advisors when needed.
This is where Project-Based Learning becomes so important. If it were up to me and I had a whole bunch of time to organize this, nearly all of my elementary school curriculum would be delivered to students via thematic units of study that included standards in a variety of content areas. Proficiencies of skills would be assessed based upon student creations and project performance. Each unit would of course have a “technology” component, as well as experiences with writing/composing, reading in the content areas, peer collaboration, etc. Units would last weeks at a time and help students develop deeper understandings of content and processes. Learning would come alive!