NPR journalist, Barbara King, highlighted a college course
that required very little of students…besides the abstinence of all technology
and all verbal communication (King, 2017). The class was extremely popular, despite
the mandated journaling, the need for handwritten communication and the lack of
social media. This piece was written a month after King published a contrasting
article about a professor that had built-in “technology breaks” for his students
in hopes that these designated breaks would cause students to be more focused. King
suggested that these classes were examples of how our everyday community and
culture plays a significant role in creating norms for technology use.
So the question remains - what best practices should
teachers be cultivating in their classrooms? It’s hard to decide whether
technology is an asset or a hindrance. For teachers, technology has the
potential of being an endless resource. For example, a Promethean board can enable
teachers to create well-designed slides that captivate their students, while
being environmentally friendly. I’ve witnessed preschool teachers use a Promethean to structure their entire day, having interactive slides prepared
for each lesson and relying on it for transitions.
But when we place technology directly into the hands of our
students, how beneficial is it? Does technology loose its effectiveness when it
is not teacher-driven? Some researchers claim that passive technology use and
screen time, especially for young children, is not beneficial and may even hinder
the development of empathy (Aamodt & Wang, 20011). Yet in Baltimore County,
each student has their own device that is used throughout the day. They use it during
morning work and indoor recesses, and to take tests, write stories, play
educational games and fill transition periods. In my experience, students want
to use their devices regardless of the assignment or specified activity. Some
students like to put on headphones and get into their own zone, whereas others
sit in pairs and groups so they can interact with peers.
As helpful as technology can be for educators and as
desirable as it may be for students, we may have to wait for more time to pass
and research to be done before truly understanding its impact.
Aamodt, S. &
Wang, S. (2011). Welcome to your child’s brain: How the mind grows from conception
to college. New York: Bloomsbury.
King, B. J. (2017).
Monks For A Month: College Kids Give Up Talking - And Technology. Retrieved
November 09, 2017, from
https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2017/11/09/562933725/monks-for-a-month-college-kids-give-up-talking-and-technology
2 comments:
Wow, that NPR article is fascinating! It's really interesting to me that the class is so popular, because not being able to speak to anyone for a month sounds pretty awful to me. But the ban on technology makes sense in that context, because it's all part of an immersive experience which is the basis of the class. I wonder how an ordinary class about something other than monastic life would fare without the use of technology, and how students would feel about it. It's always been my opinion that students all carry incredible technology with them in their pockets, and to not use that technology to aid their learning is silly. I think there are powerful ways that smartphones can be incorporated into curriculum. But at the same time, I've never looked at research that measures student achievement in classes that use technology versus those that stick to more traditional lessons. You're definitely right that more research is needed on this topic!
Your post made me think about what seems to be a polarizing debate among high school teachers and administrators: should students be allowed to have/use cell phones during the day? Some see the devices as a method for distraction and the planning of disruptiveness, others as a powerful and engaging instructional tool, and still others views the banning of phones as a winless battle with a changing generation. In Baltimore City Public Schools, it can't be assumed that all students will have a functional device with them. Do ALL of Baltimore County's students have a personal electronic device provided to them or is it just students in certain grades/schools? While I agree with both of your points that more research is needed on the topic to determine how the use of technology helps/hinders learning, it seems inflexible not to lean in to the changes happening within society and incorporate technology in a way that is purposeful and positive. While my evidence is based only on my own experiences and the experiences of my fellow teachers, I have noticed that my high school students (9th, 10th, and 12th graders) lack completely the knowledge of how to the internet to conduct research, create documents, send emails, or even pay bills. Are we really equipping students for college, work, and life in society if we're not helping them learn how to interact with the technology that has become such an integral and unavoidable part of all of our lives?
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