Tech Has Its Place

There is so much banter about educational technology. Teachers are pressured to use technology even through our evaluation systems, while plenty of educators (and the public) don’t completely understand how easily pedagogical tech and novelty tech can be confused. For example, on the surface (pardon the pun) a Smartboard in every classroom sounds like a boon for a district. Realtors would surely point this out. I wouldn’t trade my Smartboard for chalk, but to be completely honest it’s not a huge leap. I’m still standing in front of a group, presenting even interactive media, that only one individual at a time can participate in while many others observe. Change that picture to me and a few different kids having tablets, laptops, and mobile devices. Teaching and learning suddenly look different because they are different. When we are all looking at the same math problem, but while one student is working through it his own way, a group is following my example, and others are Googling extended concepts to share in the conversation, learning is authentic and the institutional classroom looks and behaves differently.
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Tech has its place when applied thoughtfully and when neglected intentionally. Unlike simple machines that were invented to make work easier, tech has the ability to be more cumbersome than efficient. Simple machines were derived to make things simple that we couldn’t otherwise do, such as a lever can lift things we couldn’t pick up on our own. We wouldn’t use a lever to move a pencil (that’s an ancient writing device) from one spot to another. So it is in teaching with tech.

On a morning at our breakfast table last Spring, my son asked me how the brain works when we think. Rather than pulling out my phone and searching for the right site or app that would exhibit synapses firing off and making multiple connections, I made a conscious choice to use my hands and have him use his hands to model this. While we talked of different topics that were related, we extended more fingers to one another to make connections. Later that day, we were riding along and a song mentioned a “K Car”. He asked what that was and because explaining that it was a model of a Reliant automobile would not help him fire any synapses, I handed him my phone and guided him through a search to find pictures of this vehicle. This would be more meaningful to him in the moment than additional confusing words. In the same day, I provided two methods of learning, but chose specifically which avenue was appropriate for the student, the learning, and the context. This is where we need to be very thoughtful about educational technology. Is it really improving pedagogy or are we using it because it’s there, a different way of doing the same things? Don’t just choose wisely, choose thoughtfully.