One of the things we were asked to do on the first day of the course was to think about how we’re feeling and take the time to really reflect on what may be holding us back. When I started to read Why School, I found myself falling back into some familiar patterns. The description of how proficient the author’s son was in using technology to learn did not fit the view I have of my own students. We often hear about how young people are “digital natives” and assume that they are coming into schools with this wide range of skills with digital technology, but this isn’t necessarily the case. They are good at the parts they enjoy – texting, using Facebook, looking up music videos on YouTube, playing games – but when asked to use social media to contact an “expert” for a research project, they become very uncomfortable.
I think that one of the roles of school, aside from preparing students for the real world, is to teach them how to do things that they don’t already know. I’m not talking about the standardized curriculum that Richardson takes aim at. I completely agree that having students memorize facts that they could look up on their phones is not the best use of our time in schools. What I think we need to be teaching students is the skills that they lack when they enter our classrooms. It’s important that they can solve problems, can use information responsibly, can interact comfortably with other people, and can identify when they’re struggling and need some extra help. The technology and the curriculum are really just tools that we use to help them develop these skills.
The other thing that I had to be honest about is my urge to want to minimize the use of technology in my own classroom. I’ve read articles about how screen time effects the development and mental health of young people (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19870199) and I worry that if they’re on their phones during their leisure time, and watching TV at home, school may be one of the places we can draw them away from their screens and get them moving, thinking, and interacting without technology. I’m still not sure how to find a balance between giving them some time away from their screen, but also taking time to teach them how to optimally use technology for learning.
I agree, technological proficiency, and productive technological dispositions are not age-related. In fact, for many, of any age, they have not had sufficient preparation with ICT and their uses may be quite limited, habitual, and focused on entertainment. We all need to improve our uses of ICT to ‘learn to learn’. I do believe the spirit of the BC Education Plan is to foster individual learning skills, communication skills, social skills, and particular subject or disciplinary knowledge (ie. math, science, music, etc.). However, I do not see a concerted effort to prepare teachers to teach these modalities. Also, education policy-makers in BC are combining personalized, flexible learning empowered by ICT with Common Core Standards. I don’t know about you, but I find this combination a bit of a head shaker. How are teachers to make sense of this? I agree that we need to have conversations about work/life balance and time spent on screens. The fact is that most of our educational, economic, employment and social lives are going to be spent interacting through some form of digital device. Does this mean that face to face, outdoor, creative, endeavours must be neglected? Or do we need to be more cognizant of the ways we are structuring our time? Why are they having so much screen time outside of school?