Educational Question (s)
May 10, 2010
It is obvious that today’s technology is not the same as it was when we were kids. I can remember that in Jr. High I had a computer class where we would write programs using DOS…I don’t think anyone even remembers that anymore. I remember in high school that if you even had a walkman to listen to, you must be rich. Kids back in the day never really depended on videos or music to entertain themselves, or used the web to communicate. I was stimulated by just hanging out with my friends, or playing sports. I rarely ever watched TV, and browsing the web wasn’t a culture thing yet.
Now days every kid seems to be “wired” every minute of the day. They say they feel disconnected, or lost without their phones. I asked a few of my kids what they would do if their parents took away their cell phones, myspace, or facebook accounts. Their reactions were startling because they thought their lives were going to end. Their culture is so much different than ours. Their social acceptance is not just face to face anymore, it is almost all online. It seems that their main form of communication is online because they feel like they can type out all their feeling and just hit send. It seems that they are more apt to talk about all their feelings online, even private things that shouldn’t be made public.
So dealing with education, should we use technology in the classroom? Studies have shown that technology in the classrooms has actually helped students. Some professors say it helps them stay stimulated when they would otherwise be bored and zoning out. Other studies have shown that students today are always doing more than one thing at a time. Like they would be listening to music, browsing you tube, checking facebook, all while doing their research paper. The kids say they are great at multi tasking. Research is showing that all this milti tasking is creating a kid with a short attention span, making reading a long novel, or writing an essay a serious problem. So is this a serious issue if we are considering bringing in more technology in the classroom? Will technology distract kids more than if there wasn’t technology? Can we use technology in a way that will enhance our lessons. Can technology really help our kids? Would bringing in technology be the answer, or should we radically change our teaching style to something different than what they have been used to all these years?
I totally remember DOS! In college, I actually had to build an entire video game using only text though DOS programming… most boring video game ever… its out on the web SOMEWHERE!
But, anyhoo…
I think this is the real question that we are facing today as new teaching on this cusp of technology integration. There are studies going both ways about whether technology actually improves learning or decreases it. We need to find these ways to ENGAGE students using technology, all while TEACHING them the content. There have always been distractions in the classroom and there always will be, whether they are technology, boys/girls, home drama etc., and as teachers we are always going to need to find ways to overcome them, bring order and purpose to the classroom. I think multi-tasking is our future no matter what, so if we can’t beat them, why not join them and develop ways to use the multitasking to our advantage and to the advantage of the student? Cheers.