What makes Technology fun?

Last night in class, Laura demonstrated her iPod Touch. We all had a great laugh over the tiny device packed with interesting features that could have an educational implication. However, this got me thinking about gadgets. Stereotypically, women are not the “gadget” fiends, but last night 6 women were giggling at a tiny device that one could download a harmonica to. What makes technology interesting to some and not others? Is it past experience? Is it promotion on a parent level that technology and gadgets are interesting and fun. Because the flip side to this is the technophobia that haunts many of my teachers. Sometimes, its not even just women, but men – sometimes those who teach the more “science” or “mathematical” subjects. Is it maybe one of Gardner’s multiple intelligences – that people who are more technologically inclined are more tactile or visual? I have always tried to approach any new technology situation I find myself in with a sense of fearlessness, that no matter what I did I would not break or destroy the technology by sheer ignorance of how it functions. Interestingly enough, I never thought of myself as a particularly hands on learner, I always learned by books and reading and tests. But to find myself in technology, promoting a way of learning that is foreign to myself, is interesting to me. Especially in light of my research on problem-based learning, I find myself understanding why technology is still fun to me after being a technology hobbieist for over twenty years and being in Ed. Tech. for almost five. Inherently, technology for me is solving a problem – how does this work and how can I entertain myself with this? I guess I am fortunate enough to still believe that a new gadget is like a toy – that the instructions are useless and I will be able to master it on my own. Now, the problem becomes how do I get my students to feel the same way? How do I get all of my students to believe that technology is something fun, even when the classroom part of it always isn’t?

Technology and Legality

Last night’s conversation during Christine’s presentation really intrigued me. When she brought up the teacher who would play WoW with his students, it really got me thinking about pedagogy and the legal constraints many educators find themselves dealing with. How often does litigation stop innovation in the classroom? All it takes is a disgruntled parent or colleague to turn something that helps students to learn into something that is pulled before a school board and argued. A case could be made that these students are actually in a safer environment, because feasibly, they are safely gaming with a trusted adult. This confusion can be echoed in the larger problem of “what technology is appropriate for students to use in school.” Cell phones have been a huge part of this particular debate. Do we allow students cell phones or other communicative devices in school – other than being a disruption – is it a problem? Or do we not allow it and then in the case of an intruder or other threat – students cannot act as a conduit for communication? This ties into the Cisco article we were reading last night as well. Can school policy keep up with technology? If we say okay to phones, but a student is surfing the Internet during class, are they accountable to rules that don’t necessarily cover that particular behavior. For example, if a student uses a proxy server – are they violating the acceptable use policy? Or are they circumventing the system because the policy has not kept up with the technology – or even worse, are these students optimizing the ignorance of educators regarding emergent technology. Of course, this all goes back to the idea that while the students can operate a high tech cell phone but cannot manage to type a sentence in Word or save something to a hard drive, all of which is extremely frustrating.

Is Technology Necessary?

In our discussions over the last few weeks, we have analyzed the concepts of technology integration and meaningful learning. As I listened to the Tech Buzz presentations and then learned about the different pedagogical approaches, I began to wonder about technology and its role in education. Obviously, I have to be all for it, it’s the bread and butter of my existence. But, does the technology facilitate learning – does it make learning happen more effectively? That is curious to me because as the Tech. Associate here, its my job to keep the equipment running, but I haven’t really had a chance to see teachers anywhere use it in a way that has made me say wow (except in one or two cases in the last year). We so often say that the reason why something in educational technology will work is because the kids like anything electronic. Is that true? I have had several students (boys as well as girls) that have been extremely technology phobic. We presume that the kids all come in to school in regards to technology on the reverse bell curve –that they will be enthusiastic about technology just because they are kids. But I have also seen some of the traditionally “anti” technology people – older teachers, approach technology with enthusiasm and an open mind, while some students have a hard time using the technology – so much that they need to be lead to it – worse, they decide they want nothing to do with “school” technology, but still use the iPod and the cell phone. I think using some of the pedagogical approaches may address some of these issues, but how do we make “educational tech” interesting and useful to students? Does this then require us to redefine what “technology literacy” in students really means? Is a student who can use a cell phone more “technology savvy” than a student who can use Word or is just less fearful or resistant to new technology? Just something to think about.

Meaningful learning and technology proficiency

After our class discussion on 9/29, I really started thinking about meaningful learning as a future parent. How can one create meaningful learning experiences for their child? A good place to start, I feel, is to think about the types of things that are meaningful to oneself- or what is important for me to teach my child? As a teacher, one sifts through the curriculum and makes decisions about the things they want to focus on in teaching – specific skills or concepts that they place a value judgment on. We have discussed in the past that when teaching, we teach a variety of unintentional curriculums, each unique and some even student defined. We then defined “meaningful learning” as finding new ways to interact with the environment that creates a change in the person. What then, is meaningful teaching? How does one teach meaningfully? How can we control any teaching situation when there are so many variables and make the experience a meaningful learning experience for our students? That is why I was somewhat disappointed in the Edutopia module we looked at. The experience was good because I got to see what Edutopia saw as technology integration. I didn’t think that any one project stood out more than the other, as some were very clear in terms of student expectations and some just looked really pretty. This brings me to my benchmark project. I will try to make sure that the unit isn’t about technology for technology’s sake. In a brief aside, I had a colleague tell me today that broken technology makes technology really hard to integrate. I understand his frustrations, as I seem to forget that just because I am technologically proficient; integrating a technology piece into a lesson is much easier for me than for others. So, does that mean that my technology lessons are more meaningful? Probably not, but they just go smoother for me than for somebody who is trying to do an interesting technology project who doesn’t have the same level of proficiency. I think this is why we are doing the PD piece in the benchmark, so we as technology leaders, can assist our colleagues in really integrating technology.