I teach math in a high school which calls itself a technology efficient school. I agree up to a certain point. We have smart boards in classes, every student has a laptop - school provided. We are on the verge of buying smart slates for each teacher, so teachers are not stuck near computers or in the front of the class, they can circulate in the classroom while teaching.
When I first saw the video, I thought hmm.. I fall in the Baby Boomers category and I am teaching post millennials (Gen Z) group of students. This is skipping one generation in between. I am fortunate enough that my own children who are millennial generation kids played a big role in my digital literacy.
In Prensky's article, I love the way he has differentiated between Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. I don't mind being called a Digital Immigrant, as I know that I do have to print out documents sometimes to understand the content. In my classroom, as I have mentioned previously, students have their own laptops. Sometimes they use the calculator on it and sometimes listen to the music. Sometimes they switch back and forth between my content and assignment on Google classroom to a basketball game and sometimes they watch Khan Academy simultaneously when I am teaching the same concept. It boggles my mind as to how can they focus. But after reading these articles, now I have a new thinking.
I am used to students listening to music while doing practice. Some tell me that it helps them to focus, some tell me that they can shut down the distractions around them. We teachers use Kahoot a lot. This is a game which helps review the concepts already taught in a way of game. Our students use the laptops and play the game. They get extremely excited when I announce that, "Fire up your laptops, we are playing Kahoot". Here is the link, https://getkahoot.com/.
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It is great that your school offers computer devices to the students. Implementing the latest technologies in schools is one way to narrow the gap that exists between different socioeconomic classes. Having access to technologies in the classroom is better than not having access to them at all. Do they take these devices with them or do they only use them in the school?
ReplyDeleteYou have touched upon a point which is very controversial. The fact that these students have the computers in front of them is also a source of distraction. I used to see this with my students and it drove me crazy. Sometimes I would walk around the classroom in the middle of giving a lecture and find some of them watching programs or playing video games on their laptops. That never occurred to me as multitasking but more of disrespect. I personally have tried to study while watching TV or listening to music and it was never a success. I was born in 1985 so I don’t think my brain structure is a lot different than the millennials. What seems to be the case with them is that they got used to the stimulation of the technologies around them. It has become an addiction. And that has caused them to have short attention spans where they lose their interest easily.
I think that using the kahoot games for revision is a good way to ensure that the students have understood the content. Using games, activities, visuals, and technological tools as supplements is a great addition to the lessons, but what do you think about what Prensky suggested? Do you believe that we should only deliver information through games and “fun” activities?
Sara, the students are assigned laptops, so as long as they are enrolled in the school they can keep them. I started in the October at this school, so the students had already formed bad habits about not using the technology for academic purposes. It was tough for me to do that, but with the start of the new semester, I am having a better discipline system in place.
DeleteSara, games and activities can be supplemental for academics. I don't agree that they could be the means to deliver instruction, rather strengthen skills.
I agreed with most of what Pensky said about Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. Just as yourself, I feel more comfortable printing out things off my computer while I've notices that most students (Millennials / Edge) tend to rely solely on their cell phones. Pensky did a great job in pointing out the differences in how both Natives and Immigrants view technology. I also believe in the opinion that younger students seemed to be wired differently. Whereas older generations seem to value the art of doing things meticulously, younger generations (digital natives) seem value multitasking and speed more. Some of the task we put great value on just aren't that important to them (reading a clock, learning cursive writing, etc.). There is definitely a difference, but in truth, technology can be the tool that helps bridge the differences.
ReplyDeleteHere's a question: we often hear that student performance is stagnant or declining, yet technology usage (often thought of as a 'fix' for education) has been increasing steadily. What's the problem? The same applies to multitasking (i.e., they call this generation great at multitasking, but research indicates that is a myth and performance declines across the board with task-switching).
ReplyDeleteAs for music, I focus better with music BUT only if it lacks lyrics (classical, jazz, etc.).
To your first comment about technology being brought in to fix the problems in education... I feel that we indeed both a lot of technology in, but we did not give teacher the support they need in order to effectively integrate technology into instruction. Many schools have very little professional development around technology use and implementation. So instead of technology being a part of how we teach... it becomes a one hour computer lab.
DeleteUnfortunately,technology hasn't been proven to be a 'fix' regardless of how much it has been used. quantity doesn't guarantee quality! Based on research, there are many barriers to using technology in the classrooms. And those barriers hinder the success that technology might offer to students. some of these barriers are:
Delete1. Resources: hardware and software, internet access, time, teacher prep time, technical support, lack of preparing the resources before integrating them.
2. Knowledge and Skills: professional development for teachers. Teachers need an extensive training on the tools before integrating it in the classrooms, but this doesn’t always happen.
3. Institutional Barriers: the leadership mindset has a strong effect on the integration of technology in schools. Integrating the technology depends on the leaders in the school.
4. Attitudes and Beliefs: The attitude of the teacher and his/her acceptance of the technological tool has a strong influence on its failure or success. If the teacher is forced to use a tool, he/she will not be motivated to make the best out of it and will hardly ever use it. During my student teaching, I worked with an older teacher that hated the IWB and never used it. To me, it felt like such a waste of a resource that maybe some other classroom will benefit from.
5. Assessment: the pressure to succeed on standardized tests repels teachers from using technological tools because it’s time consuming.
6. Subject Culture: some subjects are better taught without the integration of technology because it doesn’t apply to the subject.
Well put. I would argue that it's a lack of definition of the problem as well. If students aren't performing well, technology 'may' be helpful if technology can alleviate the underlying issues. If you think tech will solve the problem because it allows for quicker feedback, yet the underlying problem is that the students are reading below grade level, then until that problem is addressed (with or w/o tech), you won't see a change in outcomes.
DeleteI would say teaching with technology is getting popular. Teachers are going to lot of professional developments. Also there is a lot of pressure from school administration about using technology in class for teaching. The real question is, are the students using technology to learn? Are the laptops provided by the school to every student inspiring them to learn using the world wide web? In my school we are using the Marzano strategies. We teach 2.0 level skills, give them assessments, then teach 3.0 level skills. Students are expected to learn the 4.0 skills independently by using Khan Academy. I have a few students who regularly use Khan academy and score a 4.0 on the test. Where as most of the students use laptops to watch videos and listen to the music. I think as educators we may have gone lengths to use technology in the education, have we taught our kids to use technology for learning?
DeleteI must agree with you regarding that feel you get when the Gen. Edge is multitasking while you talk to them. Until I read these articles, I felt like they weren't paying attention. Likewise, I loved it when the professor play a game with kahoot for learning.
ReplyDeleteI must agree with you regarding that feel you get when the Gen. Edge is multitasking while you talk to them. Until I read these articles, I felt like they weren't paying attention. Likewise, I loved it when the professor play a game with kahoot for learning.
ReplyDeleteI must agree with you regarding that feeling you get when the Gen. Edge is multitasking while you talk to them. Until I read these articles, I felt like they weren't paying attention. Likewise, I loved it when the professor play a game with kahoot for learning.
ReplyDeleteI must agree with you regarding that feeling you get when the Gen. Edge is multitasking while you talk to them. Until I read these articles, I felt like they weren't paying attention. Likewise, I loved it when the professor play a game with kahoot for learning.
ReplyDelete