In my brief notes, I came up with three ideas for what constitutes as “good use” of digital technology in the math and science classroom. First, it should build accurate understanding of concepts. Second, it shows students different ways of acquiring knowledge and demonstrating understanding, Third, it should accommodate for diversity among learners.
In the classroom, these three characteristics can look very differently. The digital technology should not overshadow the learning that takes place. For instance, a student who uses technology should still be able to acquire accurate knowledge about a topic. Certainly, with technology, accuracy can also be an issue because the Internet is not always right. Students can use different ways to showcase their learning such as making a video, giving a digital presentation, creating a digital information book, among others. This also refers to the characteristic that digital technology accommodates for diverse learners. Students can choose how to demonstrate their learning but also the best way for them to learn. For example, students can choose to watch informative videos or conduct inquiry-based research to obtain knowledge.
Digital technology can address conceptual challenges in many ways. For instance, students can cross-check information among multiple sites to ensure accuracy. Also for Heather from the last activity, she can be challenged to show her learning in different ways using technology about astronomy facts as a class activity. She can collaborate with her peers to create a digital model of the Earth’s rotation and the moon.
It is definitely not a simple task to implement digital technology in these ways because it requires teachers’ background knowledge on technology and student awareness of digital literacy. The teacher would be expected to have some knowledge of the digital technology incorporated and be willing to invest time in teaching these skills to students, but also have the ability to manage multiple diverse projects going on at the same time. Furthermore, students will need to be taught digital literacy that goes beyond how to use the technology, but researching skills, word processing, copyright policies, among others. Resources will definitely be another factor as there needs to be adequate funding for technology usage to be successful.
HI Gloria,
I like how you mentioned the diversity of learners. That individual students will learn information differently and should have the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge in a way that suits their learning style. As you mentioned the digital literacy of both the instructor and the student is important, as is the availability of the technology, both in hardware and bandwidth, necessary.
I also believe that we should be exposing our students to the “myths” of the internet from a very early age, yes as early as kindergarten. While you may not have students that young researching a concept on multiple sites to ensure accuracy, it could be as simple as showing them the “house hippo” commercial and having a circle chat about why it might not be real, even though the house hippo looks very real. If we start our students from this early age to be critical thinkers and question what they see (with them coming to the realization that just seeing something doesn’t make it real) we will be much further ahead when they reach the higher grades.
Finally, I also think it is very important for students to have an opportunity to construct their knowledge, whether that be my creating a model, doing computer simulations or even acting out the information in a skit. It has really become apparent to me, in the last ten years, what a disservice I did to my students, when I just chalked and talked them to death. It funny when I started teaching I strived to have my class working quietly, in their seats, engaged in paper and pencil tasks. I really believed that the quiet room meant I was a good teacher. Now I understand I could not have been more wrong. I want them up moving, talking, building, sharing, even during assessments. Funny how our perspective changes.
Catherine
Hi Catherine,
Thanks for sharing your perspective on having students participate in diverse ways to showcase their learning. I think a great idea is to have students creating skits or infomercials on different aspects of digital literacy (e.g. cyberbullying scenario, safe online talk, etc.). Definitely mixing it up allows for more integrative learning!
With regards to the need for the teacher to be comfortable with the learning tools as well, I think this can be a learning process that also involves students. I have a group of grade 8/9 students who are very keen on the digital world. At the beginning of the year, I installed a pile of math, social studies, and art apps on my classroom Ipads to come back to and try out later. What I found throughout the fall was that if I had a student who was done their work and there wasn’t enough time left in class to have them move on, I would ask them to try out an app for me and provide their feedback. This turned out to be a task that they enjoyed and strived for. While this wouldn’t work with all technologies, I actually found it very beneficial with the apps because they were able to give me feedback about difficulty, design, fun, and quality that also showed me that they were being critical thinkers.
P.S. I forgot about the house hippo commercial! I am going to have to find a way to include that in my social studies classes this year.
I forgot to add that a part of the condition of the student app review was that if they found an app that they wanted me to keep, they had to figure out how to teach myself and their peers how to use it. It has been a fun process!
Hi Stephanie!
Great idea for student ownership! I will definitely try to implement this process with my students. They could even have to write a proposal of why this app is a good investment (particularly if it costs money!).
Hi Gloria!
Good point made on the competency of both the teacher and the students in digital tools. Similar to Heather’s teacher who assumed students have some background knowledge, it cannot be assumed that students are apt in digital tools like word processing, researching, familiarity with copyrights etc. To incorporate digital tools in the classroom suddenly becomes a secondary curriculum that the teacher would need to spend time on with students in order to have success. There is certainly a considerably amount of time we spend with our students teaching them the D2L learning management system, word processing, navigating around a Windows computer etc in order to support students at Wapaskwa Virtual Collegiate.
Lastly, teachers require bravery and willingness to try digital tools, to learn, and to teach using them.
Thanks for sharing,
Vibhu
You are right on Vibhu on the importance of teaching students how to use digital tools. It’s interesting how students are more proficient in “texting” and “thumb scrolling” than basic computer skills like how to print a picture, safely turn off a computer and of course, word processing.