I have established this blog for two key reasons- 1) So you all may have the experience to blog using one basic tool, and 2) to have an online forum we may use to communicate and reflect upon class readings, presentations, and content.
For our first class (July 9 in Williamstown, July 11 in Boston) we will have a text-based discussion on chapters 2 and 3 in the Collins and Halverson book, Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology. So please read pages 9-48 in advance of class and I ask that you mark up the text with lines or passages that really resonated with you.
In the interim, please comment below with a quick reflection on the following prompt:
Collins and Halverson detail cogent arguments why schools MUST change to include new technologies and why they WILL NOT due to institutional resistance. Based upon these arguments, are you a technology optimist or a technology skeptic? Or a combination of each? Why? Explain...
12 comments:
I see Collins and Halverson's comments first hand at my school. We are pushing for use of new technology (and in some cases old technologies, like the use of a scanner) and we are getting significant push-back. I believe that I am a technology optimist, because I see the value and importance of its use, but I do understand that for many people, the new technology is overwhelming and scary. Appropriate training and support is critical and I do think that often times the people in charge of planning or creating such training miss the mark. They either low-ball it and treat teachers/administrators as technophobes who have no idea how or what to do with technology (and therefore people taking the training get frustrated and find it useless and tune out) or they assume a much higher understanding of technology and everything goes over heads (and therefore people taking the training get frustrated and find it useless and tune out!) Practical application is key and it is vital that administrators and technology directors understand that knowing how to use technology personally and knowing how to teach with technology are two VERY different things.
Here is an interesting blog that I found on the topic of using technology if anyone is interested: http://www.connectedprincipals.com/archives/3964
-Erica
I would have to say that I am a combination of optimist and skeptic. However, I like the word enthusiast, used in Collins and Halverson. I found myself being excited about the possibilities technology can offer education while reading chapter two. However, the pessimist in me (which I will use instead of skeptic) kept thinking about the problems, or obstacles, that are in the way of using technology in schools. Reading chapter three about the skeptics’ argument, many of the obstacles I was thinking of were mentioned. The major obstacles for me are the high-stakes assessments (which do not seem to be going away anytime soon) and the cost and access. In my experience, the lack of appropriate maintenance and software upgrades has made the use of technology in the classroom frustrating. And, along with Erica’s post, the technology department knows how to use technology, but does not necessarily know what it means to teach with technology.
I am leaning more towards the technology enthusiast, because I wont let the pessimist stop me from trying new technologies. I am not sure how, or if, schools will change. It is an exciting world…that does not necessarily exist inside schools.
I believe that I am a technology optimist! First, I think that education often steers to far away from the students and gets caught up in the politics or fear of change in the administration in staff. The truth can not be avoided, our student today love technology. They comfortable socializing,researching, and learning, all through their laptop, mobile phone or ipad. If our goal is to the teach the students, then we must keep up with the times and build on their amazing strengths. This generation is going to change the world through their technical abilities, why would our education system want to change that. Second, I realize it's easier said then done. But again I think I would see all the obstacles mentioned in Chapter three changeable. Yes it as to come from all levels, a government who supports technology and invests in it, a higher education system that understands the importance of trained tech support staff for schools and invests in created more Educational Technology Master's programs, and it has to come from schools believing in the power technology has over their students ability to learn better, faster and in a more engaging way.
Knowing how schools work, they will be the last to implement anything innovative or risky. I believe, inevitably, with time the rest of the society will be so far ahead, there will be no risk involved in there tradition to tech savvy education system. It's unfortunate we have to wait that long becasue student would benefit greatly from it now, but I am optimistic they will eventually feel they have enough support to move in that direction.
I haven't finished reading all the chapters yet, however I am a techie optimist in one sense and a pessimist in another. I wish I could post a picture of my 11 month old granddaughter flipping through the pictures on her mother's iphone. Although schools(teachers) are very slow on the uptake, I am afraid that if I do not remain optimistic, I will spend my time worrying about what will become of the next generation in a school system that is mired in tradition
I am both. I strongly agree with the two arguments forwarded by the technology enthusiasts that 1. The world is changing and we will need to adapt schooling to prepare students for changing world they are entering and 2. technology gives us enhanced capabilities for educating learners, and that schools should embrace these capabilities to reshape education. However, I also recognize that schools as we know them are established institutions and have been in existence for quite some time. The schools as we know them are governed by laws which also specifies level of funding. It would be unrealistic to one day expect schools as we know them to drastically change over a short period of time to conform with the new trends of ideas. This would not be possible for a number of reasons. 1.Most of the ideas flouted by the technology enthusiasts require significant infusion of capital. Schools as we know them are currently struggling with their budgets just to meet the bare minimum mandates.
2. Most of the ideas espoused by the technology enthusiast will require legislative help for them to be successfully implemented at the school level. 3. some ideas, in as much as they may sound good have not been tested to warrant widespread adoption by schools. Having said that, I think it will require more than the teachers and education administrators to effect major changes.
I am a technology advocate because I view technology as efficiency. A mathematician at heart, I subscribe to the theory of the least pencil strokes as being the best solution to a problem. I can still remember my first personal computer experience with WordPerfect; it was a life changing interaction for me. Previously, I found typing to be a laborious process that I was not especially good at, influencing my college major and subsequent career choice. Word processing gave me the ability to compose and edit my thoughts. Consequently I pursued higher education past the BA level that would never have been a fit for me in the past.
I support inquiry based learning and meeting an individual’s learning profile and feel that technology allows educators to do a much better job in those areas eventually maximizing learning and meeting student needs. The key factor with any tool or strategy is to promote learning, reflection and critical thinking. My favorite example, perhaps a bit dated, is the Social Studies project where the student searches for photos on a topic and either prints them out and mounts them on poster board or saves them to a PowerPoint presentation without processing or learning anything about the content of the photo/event/time period. That learning activity and similar ones used technology but did not promote learning and must be avoided at all costs.
As a naïve prospective school administrator, an interviewing Superintendent asked me several questions about change. I gave some lovely flowery answers about the collaborative process and the good of the students. The Superintendent kept saying what if the teachers don’t respond and I kept coming back with more strategies. After eight years as an administrator I realize that staff resistance to change is probably the area that I spend most of my time. As educators we are here to serve our students and their families and must adapt in order to meet their needs. Students are our messengers to a time we will not see and it is our job to educate them and prepare them for the future.
I would not consider myself either extreme: a technology optimist or a technology skeptic. I believe I am somewhere in the middle. Yes, there are many wonderful technologies available that would be amazing to see in operation in schools. I believe that technology does have the power to provide learning experiences that are difficult to acquire through face to face instruction. Although I am no expert in the realm of technology, I can imagine the potential that technology has for learning when available and used properly. However, as pointed out in the latter chapter, there is something important to be said for face to face, in person teaching and learning. In that respect I fall in line with the skeptic. Part of this perspective is the result of my own personal experiences which have contributed to biases that I have developed for technology. For instance, my learning experiences in taking online graduate courses have not been as strong as my face to face experiences even though I did all that I was expected to do. Yes, technology has the power to educate all kinds of learners, but what if a student does not learn as well by using computer technology? Is the optimist suggesting that technology in some form will always be superior for learning? I suppose I sound like I lean toward the skeptic perspective, but actually I push for the integration of technology the most of all of my colleagues. I am a strong supporter of technology because I realize its potential and I see the positive effects that the use of technology has on my students, however I also see many pitfalls and I worry about the direction that our society is taking in how we communicate with one another. Global communication is a wonderful thing as we are all citizens of the world, but I am a strong believer that there is much to be said for communication that can occur on the local, physical proximity level. I am all for technological progress, but at times I question whether it is always good for us as a people. Further, sifting through information that is available courtesy technology is a challenge in and of itself. Although I do not question the power that technology has for teaching students, I do question the best ways to incorporate technology. (More on the next post…)
I would say that I am a technology optimist. Technology is continually evolving at a much faster rate than decades ago and everyone must evolve with the changes. I have a particular interest in technology and students with significant disabilities. Students are going from having paper picture symbols to voice output devices to now ipods and ipads. Students using ipads to communicate have been given the opportunity to be further included in the general student population. For example, peer-to-peer communication using identical technology. Collins and Halverson touched upon putting technology in IEPs, but the effect of technology for those with disabilities is quite significant.
However, in order for the students to use these new technology devices, educators need to not only know how to use them, but to teach others. The concept of changing someone’s routine and way of teaching is a difficult task and will take a good leader to instill the importance of changing and evolving with technology. More importantly, understanding that not everyone has the opportunity to own or even experiment with technology. Expense, I believe is a much greater factor in determining the integration of technology. Incorporating the many ideas of technology integration that Collins and Halverson touch upon is only good if budgets can support the costs. I remain an optimist, but with reservation. So perhaps more of a realist than an optimist.
Before I started reading this book, I looked at the question and though "well of course I'm an enthusiast; I love technology. I find it useful every day!" I'm lucky to be in a school that makes technology a priority. Most classrooms use ELMOs, LCD projectors, and smartboards. By the end of this coming year, our goal is to have as many school laptops as students.
As I read the first two chapters, one word kept coming to mind: Balance. As valuable a tool as technology is, I worry that it is transcending its purpose - a tool - and is now becoming the means and the end. On pg. 15, the authors state that in terms of what we learn in school we have "no reason to use the knowledge in every-day life, most of us forget that we ever learned them." This is juxtaposed with "just-in-time" learning, where students only learn what they will need in the workforce. While very practical, this forces us to re-evaluate the philosophical purpose of education. What do we want our schools to accomplish? Should students really only learn the skills that they will need in their jobs?
I worry what skills will fall to the wayside if technology becomes the main focus of education. will emails replaces a firm handshake and eye contact? Will the speedy nature of technological communication cause us to lose any ability for delayed gratification? Socially speaking, will text messages and facebook replace a phone call or face time?
I guess I would consider myself a cautious enthusiast. I believe that technology is a very valuable tool, but I worry that the promise of bigger and better instruction through technology will transcend its actual value as a classroom tool.
p.s. One more thought. This is my second post. My first one was met with an error message, and was subsequently deleted. Computers just do that sometimes. The second time, I saved the post to a word document just in case. Along with technology instruction, will we also teach our students how to rely on their own resources to problem-solve when things go wrong?
Thanks, Nastasia- Very good thoughts there.... Blogger had a glitch over the last 24-36 hrs... hope it's fixed now!
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