Chapter 2 in Transforming Learning with New Technologies (Maloy, et al, 2014, p.22) started out grabbing my interest with the discussion about technology by the three future teachers. There was a viewpoint by one of the teachers that was also reflected in some of the introduction posts. This is the view that using technology frequently in school makes children weaker in critical thinking and problem solving skills. I did some research (online of course) and found and article entitled “Linked In With: a Writer Who Questions the Wisdom of Teaching with Technology” by Marc Parry (2010) that I thought was interesting. The article covers an interview of Nicholas Carr about his book The Shallows “which warns that the internet is rewiring our brains and short-circuiting our ability to think.” I agree with Carr that teachers should take a “balanced approach” when using technology. Rather than no technology or technology everything, I think it is good to have a variety. I did, however, find one of the studies that he based his findings on, “The Laptop and the Lecture,” to be silly. Of course students that pay attention during a lecture rather than surfing the web at the same time are going to have better recall. Could all this technology be changing the way we think? Possibly. However, we can’t stick our heads in the sand and ignore the reality of the world we live in. Today’s students need to be familiar with all of this technology to be successful in the real world, so I definitely believe technology should be incorporated into the classroom.
Interestingly enough, this leads to the next section of the chapter which discusses how open you are to using technology. The choices range from being a “frontier developer/innovator” to “see very little promise” (Maloy, et al, 2014, p. 26). I understand that not everyone is the “cutting edge” type; I know I’m not. I see myself as being somewhere between an “early adopter” and “quick to follow proven success.” I would like to think that very few teachers fall into the “pay little attention” or “see little promise” category. That just seems so unrealistic to me. Today’s students are digital natives, meaning that they have grown up “using instant and interactive computer and wireless technologies” (Maloy, et al, 2014, p. 38). Teachers need to keep up with the times if they want to be in touch with their students. At the same time, maybe those teachers who are reserved about technology just need to be educated about it and taught how to use it in their classrooms. I feel like there need to be more lesson plans developed using technology for teachers to use. I know from firsthand experience that creating your own lesson plan from scratch can be very time consuming. Perhaps if there were more technology based lessons available for teachers to tweak to fit their students, then more teachers might be willing to use it.
Photo credit to ransomtech on Flickr
I found one of the last sentences in the chapter to be so true. It says, “You use technology to teach students, and you teach students to use technology” (Maloy, et al, 2014, p. 41). I know some people lament that kids these days don’t know how to use the library to do research. Sure, that’s still a good skill to learn. I know that my daughter was required to have one book source for a paper she wrote last year. What’s more important to me, however, is that students be taught how to use technology and the internet to do research. That is the world we live in today. They need to understand that some resources available are very reliable, while others, not so much. These are the skills that going to be the most useful to the students down the road.
In conclusion, if teachers want to be on the same page as their students, all of whom are digital natives, they need to embrace technology, or at the very least keep up-to-date. I would like to be the kind of teacher that not only keeps with my students technology-wise, but is able to teach them new things regarding technology. How cool would that be?
Resources
Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2014). Transforming learning with new technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
Parry, M. (2010, July 4). Linked in with: a writer who questions the wisdom of teaching with technology. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved January 12, 2015 from http://chronicle.com/article/Is-Technology-Making-Your/66128/
Roberson, C. (2015, January 13). To tech or not to tech. Created with ToonDoo http://www.toondoo.com/cartoon/8353829
Fun ToonDoo (wasn't that fun to create? Imagine if we incorporate creation of learning concepts using comic strips in our teacher lesson plans!!) ;) And the photo says a lot with both words and visuals. Even though they are digital natives, they still need teachers (which implies strongly that teachers need to know technology).
ReplyDeleteThe article you found was interesting - though the book apparently did not get too far on the 'popularity' list. There have been many studies indicating that the younger generation's brains have been wired differently, but it doesn't necessarily mean that is 'short-circuiting their ability to think'. Perhaps we need to expand our idea of the definition of 'thinking'. Just as we have learned to acknowledge the various modalities that various learners use to learn, perhaps 'creative' thinking is the new way to 'think'. I think it pretty much points us to generalized notion that we may have various ways to solve problems, etc - there's no one, perfect, way to do so.