ryan's philosophy on technology in education.
Little known German-Irish
philosopher Ryan O'Marx
philosopher Ryan O'Marx
Now that this semester is almost over, I’ve got to figure out a way of taking all of my general beliefs about technology in education and formulate them into a coherent “philosophy.” I’d suppose the main tenet of my use of technology in the classroom would be that it has to be natural. As I’ve said before, far too many teachers (and even more administrators) see the computer as a magic box that will effortlessly make American schools competitive again without any need to raise taxes, pay teachers an actual living wage, and completely overhaul our ancient and archaic educational system. Forcing technology into a lesson just to, I don’t know, get kids in front of monitors more hours a day is exactly the wrong way to do things. Multimedia is nice, and I have to say I’m looking forward to a future of online video rather than clunky filmstrips. It’s good for a teacher to set up his/her own website as an online toolbox for students looking to study – important topics covered in class, links to videos and articles and stuff, and of course an “ask the teacher” box would prevent me ever having to give my personal email to a student. Online forums where students can post and chat and discuss things with each other are cool. I can’t say I’ll ever have my students do a “webquest,” though. There’s just no need to have an entire lesson be online. Videos are best shown in front of the entire class (though the link would be posted on my Weebly for anyone who wanted to see it again), and I still wouldn’t see the purpose of building an entire website just to show kids how to make a group PowerPoint, even if QuestGarden wasn’t a clunky pile of junk, which it is.
Second thing I’d say is that administrators, in their zeal to expose their students to more magic from the magical computin’ box, need to stop just throwing money at things. Of course technology needs to be integrated into the classroom, but remember – kids are basically born in front of a monitor now with a mouse instead of an umbilical cord. They won’t need to “learn” computers because they’ll have been exposed to computers since day 1. They’ll know computers as well as they know their first language. It’s administrators and teachers who need the technology education, so they don’t get taken in by glitz and marketing and can look at something like Kidspiration and say, “Huh, should the district really spend 10 gazillion dollars on this thing that can easily be replaced by at least a dozen different freeware applications?”
Second thing I’d say is that administrators, in their zeal to expose their students to more magic from the magical computin’ box, need to stop just throwing money at things. Of course technology needs to be integrated into the classroom, but remember – kids are basically born in front of a monitor now with a mouse instead of an umbilical cord. They won’t need to “learn” computers because they’ll have been exposed to computers since day 1. They’ll know computers as well as they know their first language. It’s administrators and teachers who need the technology education, so they don’t get taken in by glitz and marketing and can look at something like Kidspiration and say, “Huh, should the district really spend 10 gazillion dollars on this thing that can easily be replaced by at least a dozen different freeware applications?”
Finally, we have to remember that sometimes the old way is better. I don’t mean the old “stand-up-and-lecture and only-one-right-answer and teach-to-the-test” way. It’s that actually, physically putting a magnet into a child’s hand will be more effective than watching a hundred PowerPoints about magnetism. We can do a “webquest” on the life cycle of a butterfly, or we can actually give them live caterpillars to watch grow bigger and bigger, spin chrysalises and then hatch into butterflies over the course of a school year. Take your kids outside once in a while and let them see nature with their own eyes. What’s more impressive, seeing a real dolphin during a field trip to the aquarium, or seeing a dolphin on YouTube? As teachers, we can make things “real” for a child in ways that no screen can. Yes, technology can enhance a lesson, but we’re cheating our students if we let the technology be the lesson itself.