I bought my first computer in 1983. It was a Commodore 64 - cutting edge. It came with no software. I had to write my own programs. I played with it a little but mostly it sat alone in the corner of my bedroom. I didn't have the skills needed to fully utilize my new computer.
Flash forward. In the late 1990's the school in which I worked implemented a phone program that allowed students to call a number and they could access the night's homework - this was cutting edge technology.
Flash forward. It is the year 2011. I am a digital immigrant; my students are digital natives. My students are adept at playing a variety of computer games, they easily access digital videos, they take and send photos with their cell phones, and they enjoy social networking. But ask my students to independently access a file from my webpage and they are dumbfounded.
In chapter 10 of the course text, Educational Technology in the Science Classroom, the author cites Pew Foundation studies where "the authors conclude that there is a 'digital disconnect' between limited use of technology in schools and extensive use of technology by students to complete academic work outside of school." This is not consistent with my observations. I see that my students more often than not are challenged to use the simple technologies that I incorporate in my classroom. As a result, while "the ultimate goal is to enhance student learning" I see that most of my endeavors to incorporate technology involve a high level of "instructional overhead" which limits our accomplishment. Students do not at this time see the connection between the technology that so easily engages them in their free time and the investigations they are asked to conduct in the academic setting.
In a school where high stakes testing is the common practice my students have been trained to provide rote answers and to follow set procedures for solving problems (as in the "scientific method"). As I see it, in science education, the first challenge is to convince students that their technological savvy is transferable and applicable to their academic work. We need to have courses devoted to teaching technology methods so that the instructional overhead in a content area course is reduced. Then we need to convince our students of the value of the true inquiry investigation. This would bring us to using technology to create new and different learning experiences as described in the article: "Evaluating Technology Use in the Classroom."
Although I am on a slow learning curve with technology I am encouraged. Appropriate use of technology in the classroom has the potential to open many doors to learning. Once the "overhead" is dealt with there is incredible potential for differentiation, collaboration and creativity during inquiry and problem-solving activities. Through this course I look forward to exploring the possibilities that technology offers for not only my student's learning but my own.
That is a very good summary and I think it is true. The students use technology at home all the time and then are not really sure what to do with it when it is presented in the classroom, or what they do want to do is not educational (i.e. play games on the computer). Just like with any reorganizing of a system, it will take a some time to get teachers and students on board and comfortable with technology use in the classroom, so it might as well start sooner than later. The schools are already so far behind the rest of society when it comes to the use of technology and I think it is important for teachers who are using technology successfully to spread the ideas to others in their school/district so that schools can someday be integrated with useful, educational technologies.
ReplyDeleteI liked your discussion of technology over time. As Don said above, I think it's about changing the culture of technology in the educational system. The more that students use technology for educational purposes the more comfortable they will be. Hopefully as more and more teachers use different aspects of technology, the time wasted teaching that technology will be drastically reduced.
ReplyDeleteI will build on what Don and Taylor said about changing the culture of technology in the system...but I think it is also important to change the culture of learning in the classroom -- the process of learning is just as important as knowing a bunch of testable stuff!
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of the above,:). And I would like to add that while this "dunking" into technology has been overwhelming for me, it has also lead me to the belief that using Twitter and Facebook in the classroom will bring our more reluctant, yet techno savvy students around to using technology for educational purposes.
ReplyDeleteHi Susan
ReplyDeleteI love your reference to the Commodore 64. My first computer was bought for me when I was about 5 years old do you remember the VIC 20? I was then upgraded to the Commodore 64...fond memories. The 64 is back here is a link to a Wall Street Journal article I recently read http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/04/08/commodore-64-welcome-back-old-friend/
I agree about the need for creating new courses for our students to take regarding technology use. It becomes difficult at times to always incorporate various IT outcomes to courses with already full curricular objectives. But as one of the articles said, school's have that "digital disconnect" and are, in my opinion, slow to change unlike industry.
Kristian
I remember the VIC 20! I have taken one computer class in my life. It was a programming class and we used keypunch cards. That was 30 years ago. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteI am so happy that my students are very willing to help ME sort through my technological challenges.