Please reflect on the two quotes below, which address technology in the classroom. Then discuss how you foresee utilizing technology to advance literacy in your classroom. Are there specific technological tools you favor that will have a strong impact? This is intended as a discussion, so please feel comfortable responding to one another when posting.
"Consider, for example, the changes experienced by students who graduate from secondary school this year. Their story teaches us an important lesson about our literacy future. Many graduates started their school career with the literacies of paper, pencil, and book technologies but will finish having encountered the literacies demanded by a wide variety of information and communication technologies (ICTs): Web logs (blogs), word processors, video editors, World Wide Web browsers, Web editors, e-mail, spreadsheets, presentation software, instant messaging, plug-ins for Web resources, listservs, bulletin boards, avatars, virtual worlds, and many others. These students experienced new literacies at the end of their schooling unimagined at the beginning....
"New technologies are transforming current literacies, and literacy practices, whether intentionally or unintentionally. These new technologies impact in literacy in classrooms."
(Haggod, Stevens, & Reinking, 2003; Lankshear & Knobel, 2003; Lewis & Finders, 2002)
"Before bringing any additional technology into the classroom, we must evaluate whether the subject we hope to convey through this technology loses anything when it is divorced from human interaction, and whether we will be able to make up for this elsewhere in our curriculum."
(Rushkoff, 2012).
I agree with bringing technology into classrooms at appropriate times, but the use of that technology needs to feel authentic and not tacked on. I don't know if this next comment is going to make me sound too much like an old codger or not, but sometimes I think that our students these days get SO MUCH time with new technology outside of the classroom (texting, blogging, FBing, surfing) that it's nice when certain times in the classroom can remain technology-free. Obviously I agree that students these days need to be familiar and nimble with the use of the web for research etc, but I also think that it's nice when we can be old school. I believe Rushkoff is correct when he cautions us to think carefully about whether new technologies we ask our students to use are actually causing them to lose face-to-face communications skills.
ReplyDeleteAbby
I think that technology can be such a tricky thing and I feel like my own feelings toward technology are shifting all of the time.
ReplyDeleteOn one hand, I think that it's very important for today's students to learn to use technology as a means for communication, especially as we move forward more and more toward a global on-line society. A lot of professional communication happens via email these days so I think it's important for students to understand how to be well written and polished. Also, because so much information is available, literally at our fingertips, I think it's important for students to know the importance of knowing what they do and do not put on the internet and how once it's out there, it's almost impossible to get it back! Thus, I think that teaching students both how to properly use technology and the etiquette that one might want to consider will be very important as our world continues to push the technological boundaries further and further.
All of that being said, I think it's important that we continue to teach students the importance of face-to-face interactions. I don't think we have to limit ourselves to technology-free face-to-face interactions though. Because of things like skype and facetime, we may be able to offer our students opportunities to show how they've learned literacy with other global learners. I think what I'm envisioning is something like a virtual reading comprehension discussion group via skype or google hangouts. That might be a really cool use of technology.
I'm not sure if I love what Rushkoff had to say because I think it's taking into account only the negative side of technology. As educators, I think we have an opportunity to really use it as a tool for good and further, broader reaching learning. That's pretty exciting!
Thanks,
Casey
www stands for "world wide web?" Is that what they used to call the internet?
ReplyDeleteThese two quotes hint at a need for caution with use of technology in classrooms. Regardless of that, I like how Haggard et al acknowledged the emergence of new literates. One of the things it means to my classes is the teaching of programming languages (even more common languages like html). If a person is going to be considered literate in STEM subjects, they need to be programming literate. Unfortunately there are more programming languages than spoken languages (unconfirmed, it just feels that way) and the most useful thing for a student of ALL of them to learn is the fundamental logic they all have in common. This tends to be done by teaching a first language. Then a student's second language is learned much more easily. A third usually only requires familiarity with the new syntax. Sitting back and thinking about how many languages a typical STEM professional will encounter, the word "literate" hardly means the same thing. It means understanding the process of language and the meaning behind it more than the specific stream of words and symbols. Yes, it means people will likely be able to communicate with computers better than they will with people, unless those people are similarly literate. Those other literacies should always be taught as well. Now the trick is to teach both in the same class. Too bad it just means more stuff to teach.
I have a feeling that, in my classes, the technology is often part of the curriculum I'm teaching. Data collection on computers for labs, programming a microprocessor for a project, using a calculator, even creating a digital presence on a blog or website is a skill necessary to advance in STEM fields.
Bring on SkyNet! (Terminator reference)
Ben
To post this I had to prove I was not a robot. Test was inconclusive.
Delete;o) - thanks!
DeleteMe too, Ben! My test wanted me to type a string of random numbers... I wonder what that says about me...?
DeleteAs a child of the technological era, I am a huge proponent of incorporating technology in the classroom. While I can appreciate the ways in which technology can have an impersonal impact when used in certain applications, its potential extends far beyond this.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most critical impacts on technology in the classroom will be resources and budgets. While it would be wonderful to provide each student with an iPad for the classroom, iClickers to check in and vote on practice questions throughout a lecture, and high tech equipment for procuring more accurate data in lab experiments, schools rarely have this kind of budget. At Analy High School, for example, one instructor is still using computers from the 90s in his classroom for lack of funding. And he is the only science instructor who actually has computers. In a perfect world, budgets would be endless, grants would be easy to procure, and students would be able to learn from every resource available to them in every socioeconomic school district. But we do not live in a perfect world.
One of my favorite current models for incorporating technology in the curriculum is the Ladibug. This simple camera projects an image of a document on a screen and allows the instructor to write on the actual document while projecting your live writing on a screen for the students. This technology alone would be extremely useful for students to learn reading strategies, note taking, or simply to watch you annotate an article while reading. It provides a "follow along" mechanism much more effective than verbalizing everything. This way, they can see you writing the steps in action on the paper they will themselves be using. I also think technology can be useful for vocabulary lessons. I would like to encourage my students to get out their cell phones and look up definitions for key vocabulary words in the unit. I would perhaps start the class by announcing what the vocabulary words are, give them a few minutes to look up some definitions, and then popcorn call on them to read out what they found. This not only encourages them to learn new academic language, but impresses on them how easy it is to look up something on a device they use all the time!
In short, while I am aware there are pros and cons to over incorporating technology in the classroom, I believe the pros highly outweigh the cons and would like to see it implemented in the curriculum as much as possible. I believe it will not only encourage student participation but help them connect with the material through familiar mechanisms.
When I was a kid, we had a Betamax video player…. And an 8-track cassette player and that was super groovy…
ReplyDeleteI am all for the advancement of tech. literacy in the classroom setting. I am not a natural tech. person but I am no longer in the denial phase that I only need to be able to access e-mail and be able to make power points to survive. Advancements that take place in the tech. world used to feel removed and extremely delayed in reaching the general public. That is no longer the case, and if you are not on board for the quick shifts and upgrades, it will no doubt slow you down….unless your Woody Allen who still types all his scripts on the same typewriter that he’s used for every screenplay. For the rest of the world, if you are not tech literate, the pool of potential jobs will only get smaller, and potentially less appealing. As teachers, we can instill a literacy of technology in a multitude of creative ways, and take learning to a level where we are not only inspiring critical thinking of the content that we teach, but also preparing students for the world that awaits them beyond graduation.
…That said, I can appreciate the second quote presented. Balance is the key…
Thank you for the provocative quotes, Roberta. Great commentary, everyone.
ReplyDelete