During the Thursday leadership presentation in our Education 649 class, we had a great discussion about how technology can and should fit into the classrooms of today and the future.
The funding for such technology is a concern in some districts. There are schools that can barely afford toilet paper, let alone computers that make video conferencing possible. And if some students have a piece of equipment, such as a laptop, and others don't, how can a teacher utilize technology in a way that's equitable to everyone? More questions were raised, as well. By emphasizing technology, do personal skills like face-to-face communication suffer? Do students forget about reading books if they are Twittering throughout the day? And how do teachers figure out what to incorporate in their classes so technology fits with their broader educational goals for the year?
To me, that is the pivotal question. Each school district is going to have a different level of financial support for technology. Students will have different levels of access to technology at home. Teachers will have different levels of ability and comfort when it comes to using technology.
I think the challenge will be finding the right ways to use technology so students are engaged and challenged in a way that also improves their content knowledge. The activities at the Walter Payton College Prep school in Chicago, which we watched during class, represented a technological wonderland, with students video conferencing with experts from around the world, as well as with students from other countries. I have to believe a school like that is unique. But I also think that there are ways we can all use technology to help our students learn. And I think the exposure we're getting in the MAC program to various types of educational technology will allow us to choose from some different options.
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I appreciate what you have said. Technology does bring up questions of equity. I am trying to think of ways to incorporate technology without having to have that technology handy. We should all brainstorm ways to do this.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. It's great that we're learning about all of these different technologies so that we know what the options are. And I think you hit on a great point that we will all be constrained by the amount of funding our districts have for technology. However, now that we've all seen Walter Payton College Prep, we may all be daydreaming for the funding they get. sigh :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thoughtful post, John. In partial response to your post, and picking up on Jen's response, Liz and I make the very conscious choice to foreground free tools in our lessons and projects for ED 504. To be sure, there are times where, even given this orientation we (as we should) feel a bit self-conscious about the fact that our class is based around the necessity of a certain level of expenditure before many of the things we discuss can even come into play.
ReplyDeleteStill, I would bring the conversation back to the matter of how change is brought about in schools. The Peyton Academy is dazzling in its far-reaching vision of education, incorporating an imaginative and extensive use of technology. For most of you, the schools where you'll be placed or teaching won't be there just yet. That's where the idea of small change comes in. Our goal is to offer you some resources, and some opportunities to invoke your creativity, such that you'll come in to your teaching with a few ideas of how you'll do things a little differently, and you'll have thought a bit about why. In turn, this could lead to curiosity on the part of your colleagues, or a little "buzz" from the students, and perhaps you wind up arousing the curiosity of your mentor, or you have a colleague stopping by to ask a few questions. Maybe you can take the initiative to offer a professional development opportunity for your colleagues. Even if none of this happens, there's the potential of reaching a few of your students. In short, I encourage you to orient yourself towards making/facilitating small changes. We can't wait until our schools are transformed into Peyton Academies, because we may be waiting a long time, and we have important work to do in the interim...one student, and one colleague at a time.
John,
ReplyDeleteI pondered many of the same things in the presentation about technology in our reform class. Having covered the Flint area for many years, I visited schools that on the other extreme from Walter Payton College Prep. However, I also think that with some creativity and ingenuity, we can try to get funding, through grants, to help our students move into the 21st century. In fact, there are web sites to help teachers learn how to write grants. I know that the Mott Foundation in Flint has funded many outreach activities in the arts, especially, for the city. There are resources beyond our respective school districts that we may be able to tap into. So I guess we might want to think about wearing another hat besides teacher -- that of fundraiser too :) That is, if we really want to bring such advances into our classrooms and the districts can't afford them...