I consider myself to be very tech savvy. I know how all the parts work, how to run all the equipment and how to use all the software. I consider myself a digital pioneer. I was here first, before the immigrants and definitely before the so called digital-natives. I have always been fascinated by technology, in particular digital devices. My educational use of technology often fails to be as effective as it should be, perhaps because I am too fascinated by the technology itself.
One defining moment for me came a few years ago. Our school acquired a number of digital projectors, and, as one of the tech savvy people, I had one at my disposal. I thought the change in my teaching was profound – in Science 9 I used PowerPoint slideshows instead of writing on the board; I accessed web pages in class; I showed videos! I was wonderful – or so I thought. Then a student asked me – “is this all we are going to do – watch your slideshows?”
This was a defining moment for me because I realized I was making a profound mistake in the use of technology in my classroom. The technology was making my classroom more teacher-centered and less student-centered. Yes, I could do and show things I could not with a white board and pens, but I was not taking advantage of the power of the technology to increase the effectiveness or the efficiency of the learning. I thought I was becoming a more efficient teacher, and maybe I was, but the important measurement is the amount of learning that is happening, not how often a slideshow can be shown, or how many different animations illustrate a concept. I realized that just knowing how to make a great PowerPoint slideshow, no matter how many interesting images and sound effects, does not make for a great learning experience. I realized knowing how to use all the technology made no difference if you did not know how to effectively use it in the classroom for the benefit of student’s learning. I realized I needed to put more thought into how I was using technology.
About the same time period ICT, at least for my school, consisted of units in programming and web page design. One of my ICT students came to me and asked if he could learn more about computer hardware. He had acquired a course book from somewhere (it may have been from an A+ course) but needed 3 things – credit for a course for graduation, a space to work, and a guide. It was then I realized 3 things – I don’t always know what the students want or what they need, I don’t need to construct and develop material for every student I have, and flexibility meets the needs of the students.
The two events mesh together, because technology allows us to be more flexible with what we ask of individual students, it allows time and space distribution of the learning, it makes the learning student centered, and it allows us to guide students in areas of self-interest. Technology can also become a gee-whiz kind of thing; it may be “cool”, but it may not increase the effectiveness or efficiency of teaching. The choice of which technology to use is important and so is the choice of how to use that technology. Care must be taken that the cool factor does not take precedence over solid educational rationales for using technology. Back in Science 9 the cool factor of my PowerPoint show was negated by my poor usage of the technology, not because PowerPoint is ineffective or inefficient in education.
Categories:
