The use of "canned" software and digital technology that is being sold to us by industry is much like the use of a the "canned" lesson plan that can be purchased from teacher databases and then used in your own classroom. Surely, we are not to reinvent the wheel, but we need to look a the product in hand critically and determine whether we can "teach" with it or whether we are being lazy by adopting a preported technology that is being "given" to us by a nice industrial company. The goal of the company, not matter how altruistic is at the bottom line, money. Our use of their technology that is given freely is positioning ourselves into one direction or another and predisposing our students to jump at this good opportunity as well. Tying this article back to the Franklin article, I see this gift of technology as very prescriptive and the role of the teacher as holistic. The teacher is still the teacher and that role should never change. Technology, like the hammer, does not afford the student to build "a house" without understanding the function of the tool. Teachers and technology is about teaching the power of the tool. Technology is nothing more than a tool. Yes, the tools become very integrated in our lives and we become very dependent on them and that may not be a good thing, but we have to remember that our business is to educate minds, and minds are capable of much more that just using tools. Thinking beyond the technology starts with the teacher and school system being critical about the technology givers. I am thankful for the gifts of industry, but industry is not to be the sole educator of the young minds entrusted to our care. With the words of de Castlell, Bryson and Jenson I'll close:
"But knowledge and understanding come at a price we have this far been unwilling to pay: and what must be paid is our studious attention to these remarkable new tools and how we ourselves might invent, discover and devise their uses, even as we in so doing discover new purposes, new practices, new knowledge, new forms and conceptions of education."
What do you think should be the teachers role in deciding on technology integration and interpenetration into our curriculum?
4 comments:
here, here, well said:)
When teachers model the use of technology for their classes it promotes positive, real-world examples of how technology can be utilized as a useful tool for learning. Technology should support learning. Any reliance on any technology to become the sole vehicle for learning is a mistake.
Teachers that are early adopters too often tend to 'throw the baby out with the bath water' when it comes to new ideas for their delivery of content. Big companies rely on this and market their wares to cash in on this type of thinking. Educators should view technology as just another tool in their arsenal to reach, capture and inspire the hearts and minds students.
Adam,
I am guilty of getting really excited about new technology and have not yet implemented it in the classroom as I'm not a teacher yet, but could see that happening. For example the new BC Science 10 textbook addressing the new Science 10 curriculum is full of web based and technology resources. As I am teaching this course in the fall, during my long practicum, I will be tempted by the work of another and the tools they have provided. It is my job to critically evaluate the resources before implementation. I say this as it's the reality that we the science teachers in the fall will be scrambling to get it together to make it work, and the publisher of one of the available text books has made it much easier to adopt their material.
A hammer doesn't build a house. That's all for now.
Hey Bryon,
The quote you took out from Suzanne de Castell, Mary Bryson, and Jennifer Jenson's article was one that caught my eyes while I was reading it too. I personally think that having technology implemented into classrooms will be beneficial to the students because technology is now used throughout the world for constructing knowledge, gathering information, global collaboration for lifelong learning and etc. So, early preparation in using technology would be seen as a good thing, at least in my perspective because we are educating our students so that they will play apart in this technological world of ours. Although, I think that having technology implemented in classroom settings will be a good thing, I still think that it really depends on what type of classroom setting it is and how the teachers themselves plan their lessons. I think that having good learning outcomes by using technology as a teaching tool does require a highly skilled teacher to teach it. If the teachers were raised in the older days and only learned things from the traditional method than having technology implemented into their lessons may be more difficult and they may not have the technological knowledge as well, so they might need to upgrade themselves on it. So, I will say teachers should really see whether they have the ability to use technology effectively as a teaching tool before they have it integrated into the curriculum.
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