Has Technology REALLY Changed Education?

[Michelle Davis]

A new NEA/AFT report on technology use found that even though many schools are connected to the Internet and have some technology, it hasn't really altered the way education is delivered. The technology is more of an "extra." Are districts and teachers using technology to really reach out to students in a new way? If not, how can school technology leaders encourage that?

[Dr. Bill McIlwee]

A "technology" is anything that aids in the understanding or process of doing something. When I think of educational technology, I think of an aid to educating students. This need not be anything complicated or even "technical." A textbook is a piece of ed.tech., as is a white board (chalk board to us old timers), demonstration materials, manipulative, and all sorts of media. Let us not forget that even the Socratic Method is also a technology.

[Larry M. Rausch Ed.D]

It depends on your definition of "delivered." We see the use of interactive white boards in many subject areas becoming more widespread. When teaching the writing process, using peer review techniques, or the submission of papers in nearly all classes the use of word processing is the norm. Communication with parents via web pages and email and texting has encouraged many student centered communications that would not have happened a few years ago.

If "delivered" you mean has technology changed teaching methods to the extent that the investment can be justified. We are slow to develop or pay for online classes that allow students to learn in the way that is best for them, learn at thier speed, or to attend the class on thier schedule. The money allocated to purchase technology rarely has included the funds to be innovative.

How could you not make the investment in technology? Every student has an IPOD, Cell phone and a FaceBook account. They live in a technology rich world. School has to be a technology rich enviroment or school will become even more of a foreign world to them.

[Drew Murphy]

In many ways, I agree with this claim that technology is seen as "more of an extra" in schools. But don't under estimate the impact of this "extra". Many teachers I work with come to me raving about new websites they've found and how they'll be using them in their lessons. The impact of this "extra" content source has been huge for schools and, as the online content continues to get even better, will continue to impact the way we teach and learn.

However the deeper systemic change that people are looking for where technology is "reaching out to students in a new way" is still rare and elusive . The reason for this, in my mind, is that applying technology in classrooms is still a lot of work and only the most ardent supporters of technology are willing to put the time and effort in to reap the rewards. And there are rewards, huge rewards, when you create meaningful and authentic learning experience using technology. But as the early adopters and innovators we need to be real with how most other people see technology and teaching. Teaching is a lot of work (ultimately rewarding but still a ton of work) and if you're not careful, the demands of your teaching job can eat you alive. And, quite simply, most teachers don't have the time to "add" technology to their work load. This is why those teachers I was referring to earlier love finding website content....... its saves them time from having to design the content themselves. It reduces their stress levels and makes them feel competent and relevant. And so herein lies the path towards effective technology integration. I say don't focus so much on students. Focus on teachers. Give teachers technology that saves them time, reduces their workloads, accelerates the marking process, increases their abilities to give feedback, etc.... And I'm not just talking about blogs and wikis, but real web tools for educators that give real teaching functionality to teachers not generalist self publishing tools (ie: blogs) or social networking tools.

I believe we're being distracted by the recent web 2.0 tools as new educational panacea. But we are still very early in the ed tech evolutionary process. The web 2.0 tools are not built specifically for teachers and, as a consequence, they're a lot of work to deploy. They actually add to the teachers workload. But its been a good process to go through because we've learned a lot from the web 2.0 phenomenon. So I think the role that technology leaders can play right now is to recognize that this process of technology development is far from done. We need to be talking about the next generation of tools and in particular online tools that should be taking shape. And in doing so, giving programmers and designers more refined information and clearer ideas for creating really effective online educational technology that positively impacts teachers and compels them to apply technology in their teaching practice. So is technology REALLY changing eduction? No.....not yet.

[Michelle Davis]

So how do we get teachers to put in the time learning technology to reap those rewards? As you say, a teaching job can eat up all of your time. How do we make it easy for teachers to get the training or train themselves on this new technology than can give them a boost in the classroom?

[Susan Kienlen]

I think you said it well when you addressed the rewards of meaningful and authentic learning experiences. Thank you for pointing out that teaching is a lot of work and that it can eat you alive. I had a very stressful year this past year. But, who doesn't have stress in their job. Right? I feel I am one of those teachers that you describe who searches for website content to help with my teaching. I have been researching about the web 2.0 tools and want to try them. I am trying to find the time to learn. Soon I will try to use them.

[Robert Sigrist]

I think we are nearing a "tipping point" in the usage of technology in the classroom, partly driven by the fact that more and more educators are "digital natives" and it's not something "new" to them. For quite some time, technology did little more than create a way to take attendance more efficiently and to communicate with other teachers more rapidly. I see more and more teachers wanting to aggressively find ways to actually use technology as another "tool in their teacher's belt of tools". I think it is great to see educators working to find ways to teach kids in the manner that they learn, which whether we like it or not, is not the way kids learned 20 or even 10 years ago. The way that we are supporting this movement in our district is to make a commitment to making the technology available to the teachers that are truly interested. Our hope is that this will encourage others to take the same steps in their classrooms. With the $$ involved, we can't just put pieces of equipment in rooms and say "here it is, make it work". It is a tough issue to resolve in the face of our limited $$ and time.

[Sean Nash]

I pretty much agree here, but I have a problem with the notion of "digital natives". I just cannot use that term to paint a broad picture of kids any more. I think this construct gives the idea that because of age alone, young people are digital wizards.

After working with kids on many, many things where technology is embedded, I have found that this is a huge overstatement. Kids are generally not afraid of technology, but their proficiency beyond text messaging, Wii and IM is weak to non-existent. Like any age group, there is the minority who really utilizes technology to enhance their personal learning network. With younger kids, this minority is larger than with older folks, but it is by no means large.

I just really think the idea of "digital natives" is a terrible overshoot when it comes to describing a group of people as we have en masse.

And yes- I too am glad to see many pilot initiatives going in the district toward the ultimate goal of better integration.

[Michelle Davis]

And just because students may be proficient with the technology, don't you think there's a huge role for teachers and other ed tech leaders to play in terms of guiding them to use that technology in a positive, thoughtful way? I know the state of Virginia is now requiring districts to provide training for students in kind of an "IT ethics" class to help them navigate the world of social networks and talk about privacy and online bullying.

[Sean Nash]

That is a solid idea. There are some decent resources out there to serve as guidelines.

Netsmartz
&
CyberSmart

-are both solid and have good things to contribute to the discussion.

[Robert Sigrist]

I agree with your statement about the proficiency levels. In many cases, it isn't much more than adults, but they definitely have less "user ego" about trying new things. Funny, technology is changing so quickly that a term like "digital natives" is becoming outdated- hadn't thought of it that way.

[Susan Kienlen]

Wow. Lots of ideas to think about.

I am a teacher with 2 children. I moved closer to my work so I could have more time-more time with my 2 preschool age kids and more time to plan interesting lessons for my students. I really love technology. But, it does take a while to read and learn about these new web 2.0 tools. Also, my district is slow to allow access. Some times we go to websites that have been blocked. Of course, I am sure I could just send an email to request the block be taken off. But 4 things distract me and the task gets lost in the shuffle. The blocking of websites is just one obstacle for me when using technology in the classroom (or computer lab). Sometimes software doesn't load properly. And, the computer assistant doesn't know how to solve the problem. Oh..I don't mean to complain about the problems that I have as a teacher with technology. What I am trying to get across here is that a teacher is in charge of coaching 30 plus students to learn content as well as technology skills while making sure that questions are answered and problems solved. It is all overwhelming when things don't go smoothly. But, when things do, there are rewards. The best is when a student says that he really liked a certain project or when parents share that they see their child learning (content and technology skills).

So I have been reflecting this summer on how to create interesting lessons that address standards and that include technology which many kids love. But more than that, I really want to find ways to use technology to (as stated above by Michelle Davis) "really reach out to students in a new way." Plus, I want to use some of the web 2.0 tools to communicate with parents and even the community to see what the students are doing/learning in the classroom.

[Connie Baker]

Our school, NE Metro 916 Career and Technical Center, is in an independent school district. Students come to my Design/Interactive Media class from 10 different school districts for almost two hours per day. In the course of a year, we cover the ILife and Adobe suites of applications as well as a lot of hands on design projects thumbnailed or storyboarded on paper.

I believe it is the combination of creating ideas on paper and then producing them on the computer that leads students beyond what I or they knew they could accomplish.

Now, I may have a unique situation in that my students elect to take my class and are already interested in some creative field. While it takes time to build curriculum that needs to change every year to stay current with what is happening in the digital world and the workplace, each successful project I come up with for students to create is already done and can be redone year after year as long as it is relevant.

The use of technology in my classroom is the spark that generates interest and participation in my students. While they are there, they are also learning soft skills like teamwork, business behavior, and negotiation, as well as applied math and reading.