When I speak to parent or community groups I usually mention that the district is working hard to incorporate the digital world into our students’ learning. But twice last week I was told that we need to show more caution with using technology, that an overdependence on this medium will lead to an impersonal school experience. The gist of what I heard was that student learning should be based on a real-life contextual setting and not a virtual cyber world. As we continue to more seamlessly utilize digital learning, we need to better define the proper balance of digital and human interaction in our classrooms.
It is clear (to me) that our schools need to embrace technology and all it has to offer. I know that most of our teachers are doing a great job interspersing snippets of digital information into their instruction. Because our students, and for that matter, much of our society is so immersed in the digital world it would be a mistake for schools to not exploit this milieu. I appreciate that some parents are concerned that technology will cause school to become so impersonal that students will lose their ability to learn in a social (face-to-face) environment. However, if done well, digital information/content will capture time for teachers to have more opportunity for peer discussion and peer teaching (presentations). These two critical components of learning are good ways to demonstrate higher order thinking skills.
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I stumbled across this blog post while doing research about schools incorporating new technology in the classroom. I truly believe there is some sort of middle road that should be used in this day of age. I actually wrote a short blog post about this subject, and you can read it here:
http://www.enrollmark.com/2011/11/01/technology-in-the-classroom-%E2%80%93-embrace-it-or-prohibit-it/
As a parent I understand the concerns of over-use with social media and technology, I also see that it could be abused in some cases. However, this technology is becoming a large part of our daily lives and I feel it’s important for teachers to embrace it. If used correctly sites like Facebook and Twitter can be great areas to communicate with both students and parents. I’ve also heard a lot of schools using these social sites as another medium to contact parents/students/faculty in case of an emergency.
If used properly new technology can be an effective tool for educators. However, the importance of actual face-to-face interaction should always be stressed and incorporated with the learning process.
But when you compound the excessive amount of screen time that children are already getting at home with screen time at school, do you not think that it just becomes too much? Screen time has been associated with ADHD so I feel that we really do need to proceed with a bit of caution here. I know for a fact that if my 5 year old son gets his more than normal screen time (he averages between 2-3 hours a week, very little to none of which is TV; mostly “educational” games on his iPad), there is a definite change in behavior. Mostly showing itself as inability to integrate and just really moody and scatter-brained. We have called it in this house as “brain mush”.
Thanks for the comments. I agree that excessive time in front of a computer is not healthy. I do feel that we have to maintain a keen oversight of the amount of computer use and more importantly, the content or activity of the use. I also feel that we need to take adavantage of all that the digital world can offer. Because our students are digital natives and are (due to a lot of time in front of a screen) wired to learn through a graphical interface, it only makes sense to utilize this medium for learning.
I would be curious to see research about children using an iPad vs. a traditional book when reading/learning. Whether it inhibits learning or is associated with ADHD. Obviously if the iPad is using graphics and interactive video it would be different, but what about basic text? I think as time goes on we will see the use of products like the iPad incorporated more in the classroom. I even think something similar will eventually replace the traditional textbook.
I’ll let you know if I read resarch with learning to read through a digital medium. I did however read that students who read books acquire better reading skills than to those who do their reading on webpages.