I probably should have made this post in the beginning...
a reprint from Edutopia
So often I hear people say that the only reason that I use technology is because I like technology (I'm the "geek"). The sad thing is that this keeps others from seeing that technology is not just about having gizmos in the classroom.
Animals and humans have used technology to do what they could not do before. Reach bugs that are too deep, fly to the moon, communicate around the world. All impossible or supremely difficult tasks otherwise.
So if we take this to be the definition of technology, what is it allowing us to do that we couldn't do otherwise? The sad thing is that the reason many classrooms have students falling asleep is because they are being asked to watch or listen to content that has no relevancy to them. How many hours could you sit quietly and do that? I could go to my favorite band or to the world funniest comedian and yet if I was asked to sit and watch for an hour a day everyday for a year, I would fall asleep or grow to hate it.
Technology is being used to keep students occupied. Why that might be could be an entire book. The most prominent educational technology, the projector, could just as easily be a white board if all it is doing is delivering content. Requires students to all focus on the screen and copy down word after word when the textbook already has everything in it.
Computers more powerful than the Space Shuttle are being used to show slides just as film reels were 50 years ago.
Technology needs to involve students doing. Doing things they could never do otherwise. Expressing themselves as much as in an art class, students not sleeping but making.
Are your technologies allowing your students to do things they never could before?
The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
