Techno-teaching - how far should we go?

A question raised by Inspiring Education is how can we appropriately use technology in engaging students in learning?

I have to say that like most parents I am a little fearful of an onslaught of technology in the classroom. I still value cursive writing and good grammar, although struggle with both myself. (Its got to the point that I can’t actually think about writing without a keyboard in front of me.) I limit my teenager’s computer game time, have given him an email address but not allowed him to start with Facebook yet. He is one of a small percentage of his peers that doesn’t pack a cellphone to school. The logic is, he goes to a school in the neighbourhood, needs to be able to problem-solve his own issues since my work does not always allow me to take phone calls at random times of the day and finally, in a real emergency, he can use the phone in the school office where there are also adults who can help him if required.

But my thinking around technology in the classroom is thawing. The first nail in the coffin was a compelling presentation by a professor in Library and Information Studies at U of A at Literacy & Learning Day last year. She described her research of interviewing young adults about their experiences when gaming, reading and watching a movie. They were gamers, but as it turns out, also avid readers. They described how they got very different things out of each experience, but most identified reading as the richest experience. She also analyzed “strategy-based” computer games in terms of the information inputs and the complex, strategic thinking and problem-solving involved. Finally, she pointed to indications that many gamers are also avid readers and when gaming is in the mix, TV viewing, not reading, is the victim. Almost sold.

Next, the propositions put by various speakers during Inspiring Education about what sort of thinkers our children will need to be to be successful in the future is aligned with what I have experienced. That is, people who can take in a lot of disparate information and make sense of it all will be sought out, highly valued and lead a fulfilled, productive life. And the role that technology plays in that? The internet is the gateway is a vast amorphous sea of information and opinion. What we know or think we know is not containable in textbooks any more. Those that can find a sustainable path of action in the morass of fact and fiction will lead the rest. Sort of like a strategy-based computer game – lots of inputs, its all about what you do with it. We can’t therefore exclude it from the classroom – it’s the world they are entering into.

But the caution is, they need to be avid readers and scribes first – they need to experience the richness of imagination that books and the well-constructed written word allows. They need to understand the human condition, the social tapestry. They need to understand that often answers are not instant - even if information delivery might be. That solutions are not constant- they need to evolve. Their success will lie in taking time, contemplating and coming up with a measured response – using both logic and intuition – with technology as the slave, not the master.