This is a tough question to answer. Can using technology actually make learning different? I suppose that answer depends on the definition of learning, therefore I consulted the Miriam-Webster dictionary. It said that learning was “1: the act or experience of one that learns; 2: knowledge or skill acquired by instruction or study; and finally 3: modification of a behavioral tendency by experience (as exposure to conditioning)” (Miriam-Webster, 2012). Can technology change the knowledge and skills acquired by instruction or study? I teach physics and biology. Can using technology really change a student learning concepts such as Newton’s 3rd Law, or evolution? I am hesitant to think so. For example understanding the conservation of angular momentum is tough no matter if the student read about it in a book, on a website, or watched a Youtube video. The act of learning that concept is identical to how it was learned fifty years ago.
So here I am arguing that technology isn’t changing learning, but at the same time taking an online class, and working to complete a Master’s degree that is completely online. I am immersed in using technology to further advance my skills as an educator. What I am doing would not have been possible ten years ago when I was working on my bachelors degree. I used to write papers read by only the teacher, and now I write blogs available to any internet user to read. I used to read only a textbook and now I am reading blogs and articles, and watching videos about the questions we are exploring in addition to reading a textbook that by the way is an electronic version on my iPAD. I used to have to create overhead slides and posters, and now we are creating videos, Voicethreads, and Prezis. All of these experiences are much richer than completing assignments for one person. I am exposed to multiple points of view. I now see the instructor of these courses as more of a guide and someone to give me feedback for improvement rather than someone who assigns grades to a project. (Note that this could be due in part to a change in perspective as I am now a teacher and give feedback regularly.) I am accountable for my words to the global community, and I had better demonstrate that I know what to do with the information I am learning rather than just regurgitate the content we are learning about. I am collaborating with students living ten hours away from me to create presentations. So how can I argue that learning as an “act of experience” isn’t changing? The long and short of it is that I can’t.
Though the content of many subjects isn’t changing, the relevance of the content is altered. Yong Zhao says “knowledge might be the same but the relevance is different. The relevancy depends on community and individual” (Zhao, 2009) Technology makes it possible for students to become reflective about their learning. Metagognition aka students “thinking about their thinking” is one of the most powerful experiences we as educators can provide. Using technology such as writing a blog in which they are accountable to a global community, or having the students take group notes in a Googledoc or Typewithme file can provide the students the opportunity to see themselves as learners while also letting them become contributors rather than simply consumers. They can use the tools to demonstrate how the content of a class is applicable to their lives.
I can also argue that the connections that the content can be tied to are much stronger by using technology than it could before. In one lesson using the Smartboard, I can use multiple Youtube videos, websites, and animations to help the kids not only understand the concept but know where it is applied in the world and to their lives. This though touches just the tip of the iceberg because so far I only describe using technology to consume content. The students then create content by writing blogs about their lab and unit experiences. They create podcasts and share them with our class and with the internet community. This makes what they are learning much more valuable than the concepts were when I learned them fifteen years ago in high school.
The 21st Century Skills and the movement to incorporate technology in our education system is another reform. Education reform is just as much a part of our education system as learning and students are. In America alone we have been arguing about what our curriculum should contain since the 1890’s and the Committee of Ten report. In the early 1900’s John Dewey paved the road for experiential learning and argued that true learning is more than memorizing facts and that for learning to occur it must be based on a student’s actual experience. In the 1950’s Benjamin Bloom helped design a framework for educators to use that included six levels of learning with the base being remembering and the goal and peak being evaluating and is now thought of as creating. The qualities listed in the 21st Century Skills such as creativity, innovation, problem solving, critical thinking, and evaluation are not new, but rather skills that have been expected of students at least in this country for over 100 years. Note, that I am not advocating to use technology just to dress the material up and make it seem fun. Technology is opening up new doors to make practicing these 21st Century skills not only possible but more relevant than they were in Dewey’s or Blooms’ time. For example, instead of each kid taking turns coloring a poster with information to present to the class, each kid can respond to a prompt on a VoiceThread, or create a podcast and upload it to Youtube and then get feedback from their peers, teacher, community, etc.
With great gifts comes great responsibility. Technology is a gift to education, but we must use it in a thoughtful manner in our classrooms. Many critics of using technology in the classroom argue that it is distracting and that the key to learning is engaging the kids. Engagement can come in all forms, not only through technology. Engaging the kids has always been something that good teachers do, but technology is making engaging kids easier than ever before. I am not saying that simply using an iPAD or the internet is engaging the learner. If not used properly the “newness” will simply wear off or the kids will quickly complete work to get to play a game, check email, etc. A student can learn information from a well-chosen book just as well as he can from a well-chosen website. If we are going to incorporate technology and make using it worth the temptation of distraction and wear on a child’s willpower (of which there is a limited daily amount, for more information on this check out Willpower by Baumeister) we must use it for more than content consumption, thus we must redefine learning. After watching Alan November in Myths and Opportunities: Technology in the Classroom it is apparent that we must use the web for students to collaborate and create rather than just another place to get information. November argues that we must “redefine the work” and that “the learners must become contributors” (November, 2009)
Before the massive explosion on the internet a student’s life was confined mostly to her local community. Now students are forming gaming communities with other kids from all over the world. Their websites, blogs, videos are no different in merit or value than an adult’s. Technology has leveled the playing field and made it possible for a students’ work to be relevant and applicable. Kids expect what they do and learn to mean something larger than being able to answer a question on a test.
Assessing correct answers to questions on a test is a much easier task than assessing a student’s growth in collaboration, creativity, and innovation. Just thinking about trying to assign grades in these categories makes me nervous (assuming that grades aren’t going away anytime soon and therefore must be taken into consideration), and yet if the primary advantage of using technology in our classrooms is to make growth in these areas possible, how do we blend the content knowledge assessment with the 21st Century Skills assessment. Blooms’ taxonomy holds true today in that knowledge and understanding must come before application and evaluation, so how should the structure of our classes change to assure that all skills are being taught? How can I use the content as a springboard to help kids improve their critical thinking and problem solving skills while at the same time assessing that they really are learning and understanding the concepts they need to know in order to move onto higher courses?
Finding the answers to these questions and implementing the solutions into our curriculum will redefine learning, and technology will be a part of that transformation. The business community relies on technology. Picture the last time you saw a businessman or lawyer without his or her smartphone, tablet or laptop. Our industries such as transportation, manufacturing, and even medicine have all adopted technology to use as a resource and using the technology is transforming the way we travel, do business, engage in commerce, and even manage our health. Why wouldn’t we expect technology to have the same transformative effect on education and learning? Why wouldn’t we want to use the power of technology to redefine learning?
Sources I found interesting this week:
21st Century Learning Video Series: http://newlearninginstitute.org/film-series/a-21st-century-education
21st Century Skills framework: http://p21.org/
An article against using technology in education: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/04/AR2009010401532.html
A resource to use with our students: www.typewithme.com
- This is a tool to create collaborative online documents. Checkout the group notes that my group took while reading and watching this week's content.
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