In our modern technological culture there is a sentiment technology can solve any problem instantaneously. Feeling disconnected from friends and family? Connect on Twitter or Facebook. Have a nagging question you can’t answer? Google it. Low on funds and need a great deal? Compare prices online with your mobile device. Feel like schools are not meeting your child’s needs? Put technology in the classroom to provide better learning opportunities. If we’re able than we ought to, right??
Can technology be integrated in education and improve student learning? Absolutely.
Is technology the magic elixir which will cure all of our educational ills? Hardly.
Admittedly the mystique and power of technology is alluring, but it’s not the novelty and capacity of technology which are game-changers in education. Any parent knows bribery has a limited life span for enticing children. Similarly you can drive across the street to a friend’s house, but it’s certainly not efficient.
What is it that technology actually accomplishes in the classroom?
In a nutshell, technology facilitates learning through new mediums that create space to directly engage material with other learners allowing students to create meaningful connections.
Let’s unpack this a bit.
Secondary level science can often fall into the dry, passive lecture mode where students are focused on memorization and the right answer. Even teacher PowerPoints can fall into the category of cosmetic technology. Applying technology inside the box is using it as a band-aid. The challenge and promise of positively and appropriately integrating technology requires reframing the situation “to break free from old ways of thinking and explore new opportunities made possible by new technologies” (Bransford, Lin, & Schwartz, 2000). The unique feature technology possesses is allowing a shift in education from instruction to construction. Technology tends to be inherently collaborative and social, albeit not always in a face-to-face way. Technology provides a pathway to make learning student-centered, collaborative, and active. When students recognize connections between concepts, they create meaning. Meaningful information is what students retain (Bucci, et al., 2003).
One way to achieve student-centered learning is to use technology to automate grading thereby freeing teachers to focus on providing immediate feedback, chances to correct mistakes and help when learning difficult material (Kashy, et al., 1998). Technology can also be used to efficiently investigate what students are thinking by organizing student feedback, questions and interests (Bransford, Lin, & Schwartz, 2000).
Staying on top of technology is practically a full time job. A constructivist minded teacher knows their students are part of their learning community. Invite students to showcase their technological skills and teach you some new tricks. Teach them the value of contributing and using knowledge regardless of age or societal position.
Is technology always the answer to improving education? No.
Having students create their own pendulums to explore momentum, forces, and kinetic/potential energy trumps passively showing them a video of a pendulum moving. It’s not the novelty or ability of technology which improves education; rather it is using technology to create active, collaborative learning moments where students recognize connections between concepts.
References
Bransford, J., Lin, X., & Schwartz, D. (2000). Technology, learning, and Schools: Comments on articles by Tom Carroll & Gerald Bracey. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 1(1), 145-182.
Bucci, T.T., Copenhaver, L.J., Lehman, B., & O’Brien, T. (2003). Technology Integration: Connections to Educational Theories. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 3(1), 26-42.
Kashy, E., Thoennessen, M., Tsai, Y., Davis, N.E., & Wolfe, S.L. (1998). Using Networked Tools to Promote Student Success in Large Classes. Journal of Engineering Education, 87(4), 385-390.
