Without a doubt, there are many great resources at our fingertips. Thanks Kevin for introducing some very useful tools to us. From Google Cirles to Voicethread, our options are truly endless.
I am fortunate to be at a school that has plenty of tech resources. We have multi-user WordPress sites for teachers to have an online presence; Moodle; Apple Remote Desktop for observing and interacting with students; PowerSchool for grading, commenting, and taking attendance; ManageBack for IB classes; a multitude of online subscriptions and services, etc. Being a 1to 1 laptop school, technology truly becomes more of a second nature thing instead of something pushed. I find that typing is really no longer taught. The students just know how. If classes want to use GarageBand or iMove - well, the students just know how. Even softwares such as Adobe Photoshop, well students simply know the basics are are able to use it when properly guided.
I am curious how many of you feel that tech is becoming easier and easier to use. So what's the hold up? Being a tech coordinator for my campus, while I see teachers using technology everyday, there is still a level of pressure, anxiety, and sense of obligation. I think it's important for us to have a balance and really understand when it's beneficial for us to use modern technology in the classroom.
Let us not forget, a text book and a pencil was at one time as innovative as using an iPad in a classroom. I don't know if any of us feel pressure to use a pencil anymore. Textbooks... well that's also pretty standard and expected. However, you bring an iPad cart into the room and the teacher can't help but feel overwhelmed.
One thought I have is that technology is to make our lives simpler and easier. The problem is that the more we make like "convenient" the more we expect ourselves, or are expected, to fill up our free time with more. This doesn't necessarily leave our lives simpler or easier but busier than ever.
Well, where do you all sit with this? Does technology inspire you or overwhelm you? Is it easy for you to integrate these new and useful tools into your room or simply want to take a time machine back into the stone ages?
I like the way you've captured an all round perspective for the use of technology today....
ReplyDeleteI'm loving the new things that I am learning...however, do find myself hesitant beacuse like you simply stated the kids "just know" - at this juncture I'd like to explain that some teacher's (myself included) angst with the ever-exploding world of technology...it wasn't our first language - most teachers don't 'just know.' I remember when I, excitedly and successfully read manuals for, be it, my new DVD system, stereo system...as I set my different radio channels. Ask my daughter to do that today (Grade 5)...different language for her...no wait...outdated language for her.
Yet as I browse and fiddle on my iPad last 3 years...this I can say "I know" so did my son at 2 years! It's what he saw from inception. However, there's way too much that is updated, changed, outdated....and unless I am not fully immersed and practicing as any other language or skill.... there is natural anxiety.... yes as you positively put ....once we make something or life 'convenient, the more we expect ourselves, or are expected, to fill up our free time with more.' So well summarised! I should just learn to stop, breathe, enjoy and implement what I learn. It's just, even in that time, some (no, many) things just came up.
Still.... at the end...of course remain inspired is where I'd like to be.
I love using technology in my classroom - selfishly because I want to improve my own understanding of certain technological tools, but also because most of my students are much more engaged when they have a laptop to work on, rather than working out of a textbook or writing in a notebook. I like the idea of saving trees by using Google docs, instead of printing out essays to assess.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I have to remind myself constantly that technology is only useful if it adds something to students' learning that 'old-fashioned' ways of learning couldn't. So, am I using technology for the sake of technology or am I using it because it will improve student learning? Using VoiceThread to assess students' pronunciation would improve learning because they have real-time feedback. Using VoiceThread in the classroom as a discussion tool (for debate for example) would probably not be useful. Why not have the real debate/discussion with real people?
This is a great thread, and I have enjoyed both responses. I constantly reassure teachers that they don't have to do everything, and they really shouldn't unless they understand how the tools are impacting learning. Often, though, its about just getting out of the way and letting the kids show you what they can do.
ReplyDeleteI don't necessarily agree that "kids just know", as Paulo pointed out. Often they know just enough to be dangerous. I hope that the Voicethread activities gave you a sense of the types of guidance that you should offer students when they being using web 2.0 tools in the classroom.
Thanks for your thoughts Kevin. I guess the "kids just know" was only referring to actual typing. My principal at our school does the good old type with your 2 index fingers. He grew up in a time where you had to take an elective in high school for type class on a typewriter. We don't even offer this to students anymore. It comes in different forms disguised as games in early years such as 1st and 2nd grade. So I guess we are teaching them, but not in the same way we use to.
DeleteI appreciate Kevin's advice to his teachers: "They don't have to do everything, and they really shouldn't unless they understand how the tools are impacting learning". This is the advice I try to give myself. I learn about new technologies every day and am eager to integrate these into the classroom because they inspire both myself and my students. But too much and I would become overwhelmed. Baby steps are what I need.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Paulo that "kids just know" how to use technology in a literal sense. But I also agree with Kevin's argument that "Often they know just enough to be dangerous" because they don't know how to use whatever piece of technology responsibly to create positive digital footprints (I mentioned this in my post about blogging).
At my school, students only have a computer science class in grade 9 (randomly), so who should take responsibility for teaching students how to use technology? And what happens if no-one does?